Mini Osmanthus Chiffon Cake

Osmanthus  aka 'Gui Hua' are tiny golden yellow flowers that impart a pleasant and sweet smelling fragrance which can be detected from afar.  My first encounter with this flower was during my trip to Hangzhou, China.  Our tour group was taken to some historical museum and I was standing under a tree full of beautiful golden little flowers which were very fragrant.   Out of curiosity, I enquired our tour guide and was told that, that was a "Gui-Hua' tree  which also brought to my mind the popular 'Gui Hua Gao' that was often mentioned as one of the sweet delicacies that only the ancient Chinese emperors and their royalties could enjoy.

Other than tossing some dried Osmanthus into my Pu-Er tea I was looking for some other ways to make use of these tiny weeny flowers.   What next, but to surf the net to find out.  I  was glad that I stumbled  upon  Vivian Pang's   post on  Brown sugar 'Gui Hua' chiffon cake.  I didn't bake a whole cake but instead made them in cupcake liners.  Tweaked the recipe a bit as I didn't strain out the Osmanthus, just use up the Osmanthus as  well as the brew to see how the cakes will turn out.  These cakes were very aromatic, fluffy, soft and the sweet smelling fragrance lingered in my kitchen even till the next day.

The tiny specks of flowers were barely visible but the sweet, strong flowery aroma said it all!

Recipe for Mini Osmanthus Chiffon Cake  

(adapted from Vivian Pang's Brown Sugar 'Gui-Hua' chiffon cake with slight modification)

Ingredients

(A)  50 gm brown sugar

       2  Tbsp dried Osmanthus

       150 ml water

(B)  4 egg yolks

       1/4  tsp salt

       40 ml vegetable oil

(C)  100 gm superfine flour, sifted

        1  tsp baking powder

(D)  5 egg whites

        30 gm caster sugar

Method

1. Bring (A) to the boil, let cool, set aside.
2. Cream (B) in a mixing bowl till creamy and light, add in the cooled syrup (A) on low speed.
3. Fold in sifted flour and baking powder.  Mix till smooth with a balloon whisk.
4. Whisk egg whites till frothy, add in sugar gradually and beat till stiff but not dry.
5. Fold in 1/3 egg whites into the yolk mixture till well incorporated.
6. Slowly pour in the remaining egg whites and fold in gently till well combined.
7. Spoon mixture into individual cupcake liners and arrange on a baking tray.
8. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg C for 15 mins., switch to 175 deg.C for another 15 mins. till golden brown.  Test with a skewer till it comes out clean.
9. Immediately invert the cup cakes onto a wire rack to cool before serving.

 I'm submitting this post to  Weekend Herb Blogging # 331 hosted by

Elena from Zibaldone Culinario