This is normally known to us as Japanese Cotton Cheesecake. So I was rather surprised to see this cake included as a Chiffon Cheesecake. I was expecting something light and bouncy. This was served to the class and each of us got a generous slice. It is rather tasty except that I found the cake began sticking to the throat when more of it was swallowed.
The Dark Chocolate rum chiffon cake was the next bake. During the unmolding, the cake slipped out and later cave in slightly on the top. Chef Christopher said that if the mold is new and hardly use, then that would happened. The remedy is to use a brush and scrub the surface area in contact.
The taste of rum is much enhanced in the dark chocolate and they really compliment each other well.
The last recipe is the best. What makes this recipe unique is the combination of mandarin and orange, even the zest as well. Due to this, the fragrance of the chiffon is very intense.
The crux of this class lies in the beating of the egg whites. Chef Christopher used manual beating for all the chiffon cakes which he baked. The texture of the beatened egg whites was also different from the texture taught by other instructors. I suppose this texture is what the Japanese recipe books mentioned - moist peak stage. Chef Christopher really took pain to explain and demostrate to the class the different stage of egg whites. I had really gained much in this class.
