Today I whipped this up as a super quick birthday cake for a friend- it really was that easy. I might have taken a shortcut or two – like cooling it down in the freezer to save time, but at least you know you can! A chiffon cake is meant to be light and airy, so be sure to follow the instructions for whipping up the egg whites separately. Also, it’s not meant to be made heavy with icing which is why I opted for the “naked” light icing technique. It should be like eating a cloud…

Here’s what goes in:

6 large eggs, separated

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

350g of self-raising flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

A pinch of salt

One and a quarter cups of castor sugar

Half a cup (125ml) cooking oil

200ml water

Half a teaspoon of cream of tartar

Butter icing or just icing sugar for dusting

How to do it:

Pre-heat your oven to 180* and line and grease a baking tin of your choice. You can use a chiffon tube tin or 2 small round tins, like I did today, to make a small but taller cake.

Separate the eggs into two large mixing bowls. Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form and then set this aside. In the meantime, add the sugar and vanilla essence to the egg yolks and beat them using a hand blender until they are pale yellow. Then add the flour, baking powder, salt, water and oil and continue to blend until everything is combined. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter taking care to not lose the airy consistency. Pour the mixture into your tin or share it evenly between the two tins and bake for anything between 30 and 45 minutes. One larger cake will bake for longer. Don’t open the oven door until the cake has risen and at least 25 minutes has passed, at which point you can insert a skewer to check if the cake is cooked or not. The cake should be completely cool before you turn it out and ice it, and it’s just as delicious with a dusting of icing sugar – totally hassle free!