Orange chiffon cake

California's revolutionary cake: the first new cake in 100 years, baked with oil not butter, lifted by stiff egg whites, fragrant with California orange zest: Harry Baker's 1927 Los Angeles secret that changed American baking

Origin: USA

From the journey of Orange.

The chiffon cake is one of the most significant American culinary inventions of the 20th century: a genuinely new kind of cake developed in secret by Harry Baker, a Los Angeles insurance salesman turned professional baker, in 1927. Baker's insight was structural: by using vegetable oil instead of butter, and by folding stiffly beaten egg whites into an oil-enriched batter, he produced a cake that combined the moisture and richness of a butter cake with the lightness and height of an angel food cake. The flavour he chose was orange: the California orange, grown in the San Gabriel Valley groves that defined Southern California's landscape and economy in the 1920s. Baker kept the recipe secret for 20 years, selling the cakes exclusively to the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood. In 1947 he sold the recipe to General Mills, who published it in 1948 as 'the first new cake in 100 years.' The orange chiffon cake became a sensation: a celebration of California abundance, postwar optimism, and the orange as the symbol of American health and prosperity. The California citrus industry had been selling oranges under the Sunkist brand since 1908; the chiffon cake was the orange's definitive American culinary moment.

Ingredients

Dry

225 g plain flour (cake flour if available, lower protein produces a more tender crumb)
300 g caster sugar, divided (200g for the yolk batter; 100g for the egg whites)
1 tbsp baking powder
0.5 tsp salt

Wet

120 ml neutral vegetable oil (NOT olive oil or butter, the neutral oil is structural to the chiffon technique)
5 large eggs, separated (yolks and whites in separate bowls)
180 ml fresh orange juice (from 2–3 oranges)
2 tbsp orange zest, finely grated (from the same oranges)

Egg whites

0.5 tsp cream of tartar (stabilises the egg white foam)

Glaze

150 g icing sugar, sifted (for the orange glaze)
3 tbsp fresh orange juice (for the glaze)
1 tsp orange zest (for the glaze)

Method

Preheat the oven to 165°C (fan 145°C / 325°F). Have ready an ungreased 25cm tube pan (angel food cake tin); DO NOT grease it. The ungreased sides allow the batter to cling as it rises.
Sift together the flour, 200g caster sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Add the oil, egg yolks, orange juice, and orange zest. Beat with a whisk until smooth.
In a spotlessly clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar using an electric mixer until foamy. Gradually add the remaining 100g sugar, beating to stiff, glossy peaks; the whites should stand straight up when the beaters are lifted.
Fold one-third of the egg whites into the flour-oil batter to lighten it. Then gently fold in the remaining egg whites in two additions, using a large spatula with broad, sweeping strokes. Stop when just combined; streaks of white are acceptable; overfolding deflates the cake.
Pour into the ungreased tube pan. Bake for 50–55 minutes until the top is golden and springs back when lightly pressed. A skewer inserted comes out clean.
Immediately invert the pan and allow the cake to cool completely upside-down in the pan; at least 1.5 hours. The inversion prevents the cake from collapsing as it cools.
Run a thin knife around the pan sides and tube to release the cake. Make the glaze: whisk the icing sugar, orange juice, and zest to a smooth, pourable consistency. Drizzle over the cooled cake. Allow to set.

Notes

Harry Baker's original recipe used soybean oil and contained 20 eggs: a recipe designed for the professional kitchen rather than the home. Betty Crocker's published adaptation scaled it to home proportions and substituted more readily available salad oil. The fundamental innovation; oil instead of butter, egg whites folded in separately; remains the same. The chiffon technique is now used for a wide range of flavours (lemon, coffee, matcha, chocolate), but orange remains the original and most associated variety: the embodiment of Baker's California inspiration, the sun and citrus of 1920s Los Angeles set into a golden cake.

The Gastrographer

Name: Orange chiffon cake
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 10
Cuisine: USA
Ingredients: 225 g plain flour (cake flour if available, lower protein produces a more tender crumb); 300 g caster sugar, divided (200g for the yolk batter; 100g for the egg whites); 1 tbsp baking powder; 0.5 tsp salt; 120 ml neutral vegetable oil (NOT olive oil or butter, the neutral oil is structural to the chiffon technique); 5 large eggs, separated (yolks and whites in separate bowls); 180 ml fresh orange juice (from 2–3 oranges); 2 tbsp orange zest, finely grated (from the same oranges); 0.5 tsp cream of tartar (stabilises the egg white foam); 150 g icing sugar, sifted (for the orange glaze); 3 tbsp fresh orange juice (for the glaze); 1 tsp orange zest (for the glaze)

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control