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Orange Chiffon Cake Recipe – Airy, light, cottony, and to-die-for orange sponge cake. You’ve got to make it!
Chiffon cake—much like angel cake in the US (but tastes better)—is one of the most popular cakes in Malaysia and Singapore.
Walk into any cake shops or supermarkets, you can always find various flavors of chiffon cake for sale.
Chiffon cake is prized for its very light, soft, and cottony texture.
Everyone loves it.
Believe it or not, I was quite a Orange chiffon cake baker when I was in high school.
During one of my high school years, I remember my eldest sister-in-law started baking chiffon cake at home.
She had learned how to bake chiffon cake from her co-worker and started testing out the recipe.
I loved pottering in the kitchen, watching the preparation and baking process.
She started teaching me her recipe.
I remember vividly she had to beat the egg whites until soft peaks formed, during which she would turn the container with the egg whites upside down to test the readiness.
She cautioned me that if the egg whites were runny, the cake would fail.
The foamy texture of the egg whites mesmerized me…I thought it was amazing that the egg whites defy gravity!
Soon after that, I started testing out her chiffon cake recipe, with great success.
While the most popular is pandan chiffon cake, I loved making orange chiffon cake.
My late aunt would always buy me oranges.
Once in a while, I would bake coffee chiffon cake and she would ask her friend from the coffee shop for some Nescafe coffee mix.
For a month or two, my favorite pass time was baking orange chiffon cake.
I loved the citrusy fragrance and the mild tangy flavor of orange chiffon cake.
As with many teenage obsessions, soon I found another hobby and I stopped baking.
Fast forward to many years later, the last chiffon cake I made was this lemon chiffon cake I posted many years ago.
If you asked me if I still remember my sister-in-law’s recipe, the answer is a clear no.
However, I am happy that my contributor CP Choong is sharing her Orange Chiffon Cake recipe with us, which brings back many memories of my high school days.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 537 calories per serving.
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Orange Chiffon Cake
Ingredients
- 7 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup superfine sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil
- 2 tablespoons grated orange rind
- 4 tbsp orange juice
- few drops of orange colouring (I omitted)
- 4 oz (125g) self-raising flour
- 7 egg whites
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar (I substitute with 1 tsp lemon juice)
- 2/3 cup superfine sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170°C (325°F). Prepare a 9-in (22 cm) tube pan, ungreased.
- To make egg yolk batter, beat egg yolks with sugar till pale, then add in salt and oil, mix briefly till looks like mayonnaise.
- Add in grated orange rind, orange juice and orange colouring (I omitted) and mix well. Fold in sieved flour until forms batter.
- To make egg white foam, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until mixture forms soft peaks. Gradually add in sugar, beating at high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold beaten egg white foam into egg yolk batter in 3 batches until fully combined. (Do not overmix)
- Pour batter into ungreased 9-in (22 cm) tube pan. Tap the pan a few times on table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
- Bake in preheated oven at 170°C (325°F) for 50-60 minutes or until cooked. (When lightly pressed, the cake will spring back)
- Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven invert the pan (turn upside down) and place on a bottle or flat surface so it is suspended over the counter. Let cool completely before removing the cake from pan.
- To remove cake from pan, run a thin bladed knife or a palette knife around the side of the pan and center core, release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove cake.
Notes
Nutrition
Very fluffy. Second time making it. It’s nicer than the pandan cake.
How can you make the cake more orange tasting? What can I add more?
You can add more orange peel, or a bit of orange essence.
its look fluffy and beautiful. will try soon. thanks for the recipe and tips
Can I use all purpose flour instead of self rising flour?
Yes and add baking powder.
I want to make. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Hi Bee,
Great cake! My mother in law requested an orange chiffon cake for her birthday! I have now made this cake 3 times and it’s always wonderful. But mine turns out considerably darker than yours. Am I over baking? Or is there a way to make it not so dark because your is way more beautiful. I used avocado oil as my oil.
I don’t know why it’s darker, maybe over baking. Not sure about avocado oil.
Hi,
I just wanted to say your recipe looks great and the pictures of the chiffon cake look devine! Could I please ask how much of each ingredient you would need if you used a 10-inch tube pan?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Rasa Malaysia!
Is it ok if I use a regular baking tin instead of a chiffon cake tin?
Yes, you can try!
Made it with a regular baking tin and it works.
Thank you so much!
I want to make. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Hi, thank you for all the lovely recipes you shared.
I noticed your orange chiffon cake don’t have baking powder is that correct or you miss out.?
No need because it’s using self raising flour (which already has baking powder inside).
Can I use any pan
Sure but it’s best with tube pan.
Hi, i made this cake once and my son loved it so much. I’m going to bake this for second time but wonder if i can reduce the amount of sugar in white eggs as i felt the cake is a little bit sweet.
Thanks
Yes you can reduce some sugar but do not change too much or it won’t work.
This is absolutely amazing. I have tried many recipes and none came out right. This recipe is exactly like the orange chiffon cake that i used to buy from the shops in my little hometown in Malaysia. As a sidenote, for those wondering why your cake might have sunk to the bottom and became like a thick batter, try leaving the eggs out until it gets to room temperature before starting to follow the recipe.
Hi Bee, thank you for sharing this lovely recipe! I live in Singapore where most people would relate a chiffon cake with the Pandan flavoured Chiffon cake. As a novice baker, I’m a little worried initially about attempting this recipe …so I read it a few times. This is my first attempt at baking an Orange Chiffon cake and I must say the fragrance is so wonderful… I followed your recipe very closely and didn’t use any artificial flavouring, only used orange zest and freshly squeezed orange juice. I baked it for my friends and they absolutely loved it, although I didn’t get to taste it myself, the feedback I got was very positive. I will definitely bake this again very soon. Thanks again and keep well!
Hi Ainie, you didn’t get to taste it??? Please do make it again and try. :)
I will, for sure… maybe this weekend! Cheers!
Absolutely fabulous! Kids went totally gaga over this! It was soooh soft and fluffy! Cake was gone in a wink…this received the thumbs-up from grandparents too!
Hi Bee, Thanks for recipe. Is superfine sugar castor sugar?
Yes.
I had very good feedback on the end result of this recipe from my picky eaters. This is my first attempt on Orange Chiffon Cake. It’s Top Recommendations for anyone whom would like a good recipe! Thank you very much…