Chocolate chiffon cake with cocoa cream filling

It's time for a back-to-school cake!  I almost forgot about this little tradition of mine because time has been flying by and there just doesn't seem to be much time to think or plan too far ahead.  Luckily, I remembered in time.  What we usually do is very simple...we have a little celebration dinner after the first day of school.  The idea of having a "back-to-school" cake to cap it off is just a fun excuse for us to make and enjoy a cake together.

I was inspired to make a chocolate chiffon cake for this year's back-to-school cake for a few reason.  I just love plain chiffon cake - the fluffy, light, moist texture with the lovely richness from using not only egg whites (i.e., angel food cake) but also egg yolks.  I'm devoted to its simplicity though I've made (and adored) a banana-chocolate version as well.  And not long ago, someone asked me about suggestions on how to make a chocolate chiffon cake.  That got me thinking that I would like to try a full-on chocolate version myself!  Being that the little guy loves chocolate almost as much as I do, I thought I'd make it for our back-to-school cake.  

Since my now fourth-grader adores frosting and creamy fillings (way more than I do!), I thought I'd add some to this chiffon cake.  The original recipe for this cake suggested mocha whipped cream as well as a chocolate glaze.  My son's love of coffee-flavored treats seems to have waned recently so I went with cocoa - rather than mocha - cream.  To keep things simple and a bit less decadent, I opted not to glaze the cake.  This had me thinking about a delicious cake, called the "Windmill" at New York's Veniero's that I love and have not had in way too long.  This isn't quite the same but will do until I get a chance to go there and share a slice or two of it with my fellas.

I'm glad I decided to skip the chocolate glaze.  I mean, it would take a lot to cover this tower of a chiffon cake!  And seeing how lofty it turned out, I decided to slice it into 3 layers to divvy up the cocoa cream between.  I used a cup of cream and you'll have just enough to give it a relatively modest coating between the layers.

I may be firmly on team "plain chiffon" but if you're looking to change things up or hankering for a light, spongy cake with some chocolate flavor (instead of a dense chocolate overload - which is not by any means a bad thing, in my book), this is one to consider. 

The cake is as light, moist, and bouncy as you'd expect and require a chiffon to be.  The chocolate flavor is relatively mild. For more of a chocolate hit, adding a chocolate glaze or grating some chocolate into the batter (like I did here) are good options.  Whereas I would not want to detract from a plain version in any way (I adore the pure egg flavor of it without cream or other accompaniments), I think the cream filling works really well for this chocolate rendition.  My fellas (my husband and my son) certainly enjoyed it.

This is a lot of cake, yes, but you'd be surprised by how easily it goes down and how quickly a big slice disappears!  Back-to-school day this year also happened to be my brother's birthday and I was able to deliver a few slices for the birthday boy to enjoy at his leisure.  There was plenty of cake to go around and that's a good thing because cakes are made for sharing (I only hoard occasionally).

The base recipe for this chocolate chiffon cake comes from Joy of Baking.  I made a few changes, including simply using 6 eggs for this cake rather than 6 eggs plus an additional egg white.  I didn't think omitting the egg white would make a big difference and I can tell you from my experience that you can keep it simple and just use 6 whole eggs. 

To be totally specific, I actually used 4 large eggs and 2 extra-large eggs (I usually have both in my fridge).  It's a bit random, I know, but I find that with this type of recipe, going with extra-large eggs doesn't hurt and I used a couple of them as extra insurance since I didn't want to bother with that extra egg white (I still haven't figure out a way to keep egg yolks for more than a few hours).  My cake puffed and was substantial so go ahead and just use 6 large eggs if you don't have any extra-large ones on hand.  Just be sure to fold the batter gently. Investing in a really large rubber spatula is great for folding batter like this.

It goes into the tube pan looking like this:

After baking (about 50 minutes in my case), be prepared to set the pan upside down until completely cooled so that the cake doesn't deflate at all.  It is quite a big cake!  You can see why I decided to slice it into 3 layers.

Now I won't go into the obvious about how rustic my cake looks so no one feels the obligation to kindly reassure me other wise.  Suffice is to say, I was just glad I got the layers sliced and the cake relatively presentable.

More importantly, the end result was a moist, spongy cake with a kiss of chocolate flavor.  Chiffon cakes are unassuming but totally reliable. 

I hope you have an excuse (I mean...occasion) to make a cake real soon!


Recipe:

Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Cocoa Cream Filling
Adapted from Joy of Baking

- Serves 10 to 12 easily - 

For chocolate chiffon cake:
6 large eggs, separated 
2 cups (200 grams) sifted cake flour
1/4 cup (25 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch-process but you can also use natural)
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar, divided
2 teaspoons (8 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (120 ml) canola or vegetable oil
3/4 cup (180 ml) freshly brewed coffee, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

For cocoa cream filling:
1 cup cold heavy cream
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Make cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Have a 10-inch ungreased tube pan ready.  

In a large bowl, sift cake flour, cocoa, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.  In a medium-size bowl, whisk egg yolks together with the oil, coffee, and vanilla.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth.

Place egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until soft peaks emerge, then gradually add remaining 3/4 cup of sugar and beat until whites are just stiff and glossy.  

Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter in 3 increments until just blended.  Avoid deflating the batter as much as possible.

Pour batter into the ungreased tube can.  Run a knife through the batter to eliminate air bubbles and smooth the top.  Bake until cake springs back lightly to the touch and a cake tester comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes.  Remove cake from the oven and immediately invert the cake (upside down over a cup or large bottle) to cool completely (allow up to 3 hours).

Remove the cake by running a sharp knife around the sides of the pan and the center core, angling the knife towards the pan to try to keep the crust intact on the cake.   

Make cocoa cream filling: Place the cold heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer (preferably also cold) fitted with the whisk attachment.  Add sugar and cocoa powder and being beating together.  Add vanilla extract and continue to beat until stiff peaks.

Assemble cake: Using a serrated knife, slice cake horizontally into equal 3 layers.  Spread half of the cocoa cream onto the bottom layer.  Place the middle layer on top of it and spread remaining cream evenly across.  Top with the last layer of cake.  (You could reserve a bit of the cream to pipe a decoration on top of the cake, if desired.  You could also dust the top of the cake with some unsweetened cocoa powder.)

The cake can be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 days.  Cut slices and bring to room temperature before serving.