Hi everyone, this is my first post here. I’ve been trying to figure out a Chinese bakery style chiffon cake for quite some time now but I’m not having much success. The clock is ticking for me since I wanted to get this recipe down by Thanksgiving, so I figured it might be time to consult Reddit.

My main issue right now is that the top of my cake ends up concaving into itself after it finishes baking. It also doesn’t have that fluffy crumb that I see in most recipe videos.

I do have a few suspicions as to what the issue(s) might be:

I could be overmixing when combining my meringue with the rest of my batter. The thing is, I’m having a problem with the meringue “clumping” together when I try to fold it with the batter, which has been forcing me to mix more than I would like. 1.

After several failures, I halved the recipe so that I don’t burn through as many eggs. However I’m still using an 8“ cake tin. Can a halved recipe work in the same size tin, or would the cake never be able to support itself b/c it’s the same surface area, half the height? 1.

I’m baking at 300F for 50 minutes. I think the cake looks pretty “well done” by the time I pull it out, but maybe I’m under/over baking?

I’d really appreciate any thoughts on which one of the above issues I should fix, or if it’s something else entirely. I can’t figure out how to attach more pictures to the post, but I have other pictures from my attempt today that I can share if helpful!

Here’s a link to the video recipe I’ve been following. My current recipe is

35g grapeseed oil

50g cake flour (I’ve been substituting with 45g of AP flour + 5g of cornstarch)

50g milk (I’ve been substituting with 25g heavy cream + 25g water)

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g sugar

3 eggs

My current process:

Combine the oil, flour, milk, vanilla, and egg yolks in one bowl.

Beat the egg whites and sugar to stiff peaks in another. (This usually takes me about 6-8 minutes with my handheld mixer)

Take 1/3 of the meringue and whisk it together with the batter.

Pour the lightened batter into the remaining meringue.

Gently fold the batter and meringue together with a spatula (as best as I can, while still getting rid of all the meringue lumps).

Pour everything into an 8“ cake tin. I’m using a Fat Daddio’s 8“ x 3“ anodized aluminum cake tin.

Bake at 300F for 50 min.

Invert and cool on a wire rack.