Lemon Chiffon Cake Recipe: How to Make Lemon Chiffon Cake
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Apr 14, 2022 • 3 min read
Light, tangy lemon chiffon cake features lemon juice and lemon zest in the batter, yielding a dessert that is moist, fluffy, and refreshing. Learn how to make this foam cake with fresh lemons.
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What Is Lemon Chiffon Cake?
Lemon chiffon cake is a light, lemony cake made from flour, eggs, sugar, and oil. This classic dessert is a hybrid between a foam cake (a cake that relies on egg whites for volume and contains no fat) and a butter cake (a cake that includes butter or another fat, like oil). In a chiffon cake recipe, egg whites and egg yolks are incorporated separately to allow the egg whites to provide a more pillowy, sky-high texture.
Chiffon cakes are traditionally baked in a tube pan like angel food cake, but they can also be made in standard cake pans and assembled into a layer cake. You can serve the cake on its own, with fresh fruit, or cover it in a lemon glaze, whipped cream, or buttercream frosting.
4 Tips for Making Lemon Chiffon Cake
Lemon chiffon cake is the best of both worlds—the right equipment and a few specific techniques will help it hit the right notes. Consider the following baking tips:
- 1. Whisk the batter. While most conventional foam cake wisdom states that bakers should fold the meringue into the batter with a rubber spatula, you can lose precious air bubbles in the process and unevenly disperse the volume. Whisking the meringue in increments with a large balloon whisk ensures an even distribution of volume and won’t break up the meringue.
- 2. Use fresh lemons. Instead of lemon extract, use fresh lemon juice and zest in the cake batter for a fresh lemon flavor. Drizzle the cake with a simple glaze of confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice or spread with lemon curd for an elevated touch.
- 3. Use an angel food cake pan. Chiffon cakes bake best in a baking pan known as a tube pan, which bakers commonly use to make angel food cake. While it can be tempting to use a non-stick Bundt pan—a different type of tube pan with fluted sides—a standard tube pan is uncoated, which helps chiffon cakes rise.
- 4. Invert the cake to cool it. You’ll need to bring the cake to room temperature before removing it from the pan to prevent the air bubbles from collapsing. Cool your chiffon cake upside-down in the pan to maintain the cake’s height.
Simple Lemon Chiffon Cake Recipe
makes
prep time
10 mintotal time
1 hr 10 mincook time
1 hrIngredients
For the lemon cake:
For the glaze:
- 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the center position.
- 2
In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar and lemon zest. Mix together with your hands until fragrant. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and whisk to combine.
- 3
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, egg yolks, milk, and vanilla extract.
- 4
Add the yolk mixture to the dry ingredients in small increments, whisking to combine. Whisk in the lemon juice.
- 5
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites, cream of tartar, and the remaining ⅓ cup of sugar on medium speed until foamy, then increase to high speed and whip until stiff peaks form. Incorporate into the flour mixture a third at a time, and whisk to blend with a balloon whisk.
- 6
Transfer the cake batter into a tube pan, and bake it until the cake has risen to the top of the pan and is golden brown, about 50 minutes to 1 hour, depending on your oven.
- 7
Remove the cake from the oven and immediately invert the pan and set aside to cool completely, about 1 hour.
- 8
Once the cake is cooled, run a knife or offset spatula around the edges to loosen. Invert the cake onto a serving plate or cake stand.
- 9
In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle or spread on top of the cake.
Note: Total time does not include 1 hour of inactive time.
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