Thai Milk Tea Chiffon Cake

I like to drink Thai milk tea. I find that it has very special flavour. I will usually order this tea whenever I visit Thai cafes. However, I find that the Thai milk tea served in restaurants and cafes are very sweet. It caused toothaches when drinking them. 

I didn't think I would want to buy the tea leaves and make it myself though. Fortunately, my colleague brought in a packet of Thai tea leaves one day and gave some to me. I was happy to receive it since I can make for my children and use the tea leaves to bake too.

I've seen several bakes with Thai Milk Tea and I'm tempted to try it. Found a few recipes that looks good, like BakingTaiTai and HoneyBeeSweets. However, I decided on a lighter cake - chiffon, from Sumopocky. The recipe was easy to follow, and my chiffon turns out well. The fragrance of the Thai tea during baking smell wonderfully good. The cake also tasted rich with the Thai tea leaves. Next time, I shall try a frosted Thai Milk Tea Cake. :)
 
Recipe for Thai Milk Tea Chiffon Cake, modified from Sumopocky.

(Makes a 8" tube cake)

Ingredients:
150g Whole milk
15g Thai tea leaves
(yields 95g milk for me)

6 Egg yolks 
40g Caster sugar
60g Vegetable oil

90g Cake flour
1 tsp Baking powder

6 Egg whites
75g Caster sugar
1/4 tsp Corn flour

Method:
1. In a small pot, bring the milk and tea leaves to a simmer. Let the leaves steep for about 10 mins. Leave to cool.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks and caster sugar together.

3. Mix in the vegetable oil.

4. Sieve the milk and thai tea leaves into the egg yolk mixture. Mix in some of the thai tea leaves. I just scrap out the finer leaves from the sieve and add to the mixture. 

5. Sift the cake flour and baking powder into the mixture and mix well. Set aside.

6. In a clean mixing bowl, use a whisk, beat the egg whites on medium speed till it gets frothy.

7. Gradually add the sugar with cornflour into the egg whites. Beat until stiff peaks. 
8. Mix in 1/3 of the meringue into the egg yolk batter.

9. Add the rest of the meringue and gently fold into the mixture.
10. Transfer to the cake pan. Throw the pan from a height 2x to release big bubbles.

11. Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for about 50 mins. When baked, turn the pan upside down to let it cool completely.

Note:

1. I used 60g eggs without the shell.
2. The batter was full to the rim using a 8"pan. Probably a 9"pan will be better.
3. Can reduce baking powder to 1/2 tsp.
4. The egg yolk batter is quite watery as I used up all the milk tea at 95g.