Lemon Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

Batter:

• 7 eggs, separated
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 4 tsp. grated lemon peel
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Lemon Frosting:

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 4 1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
• dash of salt

Directions:

1. Place egg whites in a large bowl; let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.
2. Place oven rack in the lowest position. Preheat oven to 325°. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks, water, oil, lemon peel and vanilla; add to dry ingredients and beat until well blended. Add cream of tartar to egg whites; with clean beaters, beat on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Fold a fourth of the whites into batter, then fold in remaining whites.
3. Gently spoon into an ungreased 10-in. tube pan. Cut through batter with a knife to remove air pockets. Bake 50-55 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert pan; cool completely, about 1 hour.
4. Run a knife around side and center tube of pan. Remove cake to a serving plate. In a small bowl, combine frosting ingredients; beat until smooth. Spread over top of cake, allowing frosting to drape down the sides.

Preparation Method:

I made a few mistakes in preparing this cake. First, while separating the eggs, i may have let a little egg yolk slip into the egg whites and when i was pouring the vanilla, i poured it over the egg white bowl and a little got in. I have no idea if that affected the cake in any way. I also did not wait thirty minutes, because i just simply did not feel like it. When mixing the batter ingredients, i forgot to add the lemon peel, so you can infer my cake did not taste like lemon. When i was mixing the egg whites, by hand, i realized this was going to be like the angel food cakes we made in class and take forever. i paused my mixing to try and find the electric hand mixer. I then used that for a majority of the rest of the mixing. It took me about twenty minutes to get it to a fifty-fifty chance that the peak would be stiff, like instructed. I decided to take my chances because my arm was tired and proceeded to fold the white as described into the batter. I cooked the cake for 46 minutes instead of 50. I let the cake cool for an hour on a cooling rack raised upon two glasses. The cake was a little difficult to take out because it was not fully cooled when i attempted to. For the lemon juice in the icing, i used mostly fresh lemon juice but i didnt feel like cutting up another lemon so i made 1/3 of the 1/4 needed not fresh and from a bottle. 

Critique:

To be honest, i did not like this cake. It was very spongy, dry, and a little crumbly. It was also bouncy, like if i squished it with a fork it would bounce back like a rubber band to its original position. The cake without the icing was very bland, but i later realized it was due to my absent mindedness. I did like the icing, it was very lemony but also sweet. 

Assessment:

I would not like to make this cake again. It was too much work and needed too much attention for something that wasn't even that good. Maybe it would have succeeded if i followed the recipe exactly as written, but I will live if i dont figure it out.