Almond Shamah Chiffon

Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Page 199: Almond Shamah Chiffon

Initially i wanted to be lazy and just use ground almonds instead of grinding it myself. However, i changed my mind and decided to follow Rose's instruction to toast & grind the sliced almonds . Since it is impossible for me to get Wondra flour here, i used the substitute as provided by Rose under her "note"... use the grams version cos that's what i learn in school and it's so much easier imo.

8 egg yolks measured only 145g so i used 155g of eggwhites instead. Not sure if that makes any difference..but i thought i might as well balance the difference. Since my spring-form pans are dark non-stick ones, i baked at 155C for 22mins. My oven can only take in one 9" pan, second pan had to wait. I was worried that the wait will cause the batter in the second pan to deflate. In the end, the 2nd cake turned out alright, still as soft & light. Folding in the meringue with a balloon whisk was very tiring..my wrist ached quite a bit.

Amaretto Syrup was easy to make and i am delighted to say that i have amaretto in my pantry this time..yay! I'll be getting Bourbon soon. LOL! After i brushed the chiffon cakes, i still have lots of syrup left. Am i suppose to brush them all or what? I figured i don't really like too wet sponge cake, so i brushed only a little.

I didn't make the Raspberry Jam Whipped Cream but instead i made the Raspberry Mousseline (page 149). I used raspberry preserves cos i can't find the seedless ones at all!! Hence you can see a lot of black dots on my buttercream. LOL! Oh and another thing, fyi Rose's Raspberry Mousseline is only good to cover the entire cake just exactly - no wastage! No extra left for making decorations either and I really had to scrimp on the buttercream in order to cover the entire cake! LOL! I had to scrape every last drop and i'm not kidding! Hahahaha! I didn't follow the mousseline buttercream exactly because weather here is pretty hot & humid at 28c-30c, so i just took the butter from the fridge and in less than 2 mins the butter is already soft and i add to it to the meringue piece by piece. Oh..i used salted butter cos i didn't want the buttercream to be too sweet cos of the sweet raspberry preserves.

Verdict? I L-O-V-E the cake!! The cake is so light and soft with strong almond flavor and when paired with the raspberry mousseline cream is heavenly!! Absolutely YUMMY! :9 Everyone in my family loves the cake. I left the cake in the fridge and next day brought some slices to my office colleagues, all said it's delicious except one said is a bit dry. I think probably it's because the fridge absorbed some of the moisture in the chiffon and partly also i didn't brush enough syrup, but i like my sponge/chiffon cake dry though. I still have left over syrup which i guess if anyone wants the cake more moist can brush it on. :P