The Great Chiffon Cake Mystery!
Harry Baker and his cake of the century
What’s in a Name?
Chiffon Cake. The name itself suggests something light and delicious. But what exactly is this cake? Without getting too technical, chiffon cake is a member of the so-called foam cake family, meaning that it’s made with whipped eggs in some form. Angel food cake has beaten egg whites; sponge cakes incorporate whipped egg whites and egg yolks; Génoise features whipped whole eggs; and chiffon?
Ah! It’s a sponge cake with an added ingredient that had remained a well-kept secret until the cake’s creator, Harry Baker—yes, that’s his name—sold his recipe to Betty Crocker for an undisclosed sum in 1947. General Mills introduced the recipe to the world in 1948. See the picture above.
The picture above shows the back cover of the 20-page pamphlet, where we see the company proclaiming chiffon cake as “The biggest cake news in 100 years!”
Truth or hype? A bit of both, actually.
The Magic Ingredient
What makes chiffon cake unique is salad oil. One half cup of it gives the cake its special richness and texture. Mr. Baker arrived at this quirky addition to what is basically a sponge cake through hundreds of trials.
Harry Baker arrived in Hollywood in 1923 after abandoning his job, his wife, and children in Ohio. (I’ll explain later). To make a living he made and sold fudge, but his real passion was baking. He tinkered for years trying to make a moister, richer, angel food cake, when “something cosmic,” he says steered him to salad oil. And that did it.
By 1928, Harry Baker had full confidence in his recipe for chiffon cake. He found the perfect place to market his cakes in the Brown Derby restaurant. This relatively new place, in the same neighborhood where Baker lived, hosted the Hollywood glitterati.
Baker walked into the restaurant one day bearing samples of his fantastic cake, and the restaurant commissioned him to provide them the cakes exclusively. Harry’s chiffon cake soon became one of the Brown Derby’s signature offerings.
Only Baker knew the recipe for his cake and he baked them all in his apartment. Movie stars clamored for them to serve at their parties. Harry Baker was a celebrity!
Harry baked all his cakes in a spare bedroom, making the batter for each cake individually and baking the cakes using twelve tin hot plate ovens. He cooled the cakes on his porch. Customers picked up the cakes, stuck the $2 payments into a mail slot, and left. In one 18-hour-day, Baker produced 42 cakes, which earned him $84. In today’s dollars, that comes to about $1,500. A day. Harry, who had always wanted to get rich, achieved his ambition.
No one could enter Baker’s kitchen. He prepared the batter for each cake unobserved. He also hid his garbage, afraid that spies might see his multitude of empty salad oil bottles.
During the 1930s, the reputation for Baker’s cakes kept spreading. The orders kept coming in so fast he couldn’t keep up. But the Brown Derbys--there were two such restaurants now--always had their orders filled.
The Recipe—Orange Chiffon Cake
This recipe is for Orange Chiffon Cake. It’s one of my favorites. The cake bakes up light and tender and has a terrific aroma.
Note: Cake flour is sold in 2-pound boxes. Softasilk and Swans Down are the two brands I use.
2 1/4 cups (8 ounces) sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Finely grated zest of 2 large oranges
2/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure orange extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil, such as corn, safflower, or grapeseed
7 large eggs, separated
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 325˚F. Have ready a perfectly clean, grease-free, 10 x 4-inch two-piece angel cake pan. Do not use a nonstick pan.
2. Place the flour, 1 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk together well for 1 minute. Add the zest, orange juice, both extracts, vegetable oil, and the 7 egg yolks. Stir to combine well, then whisk vigorously for 1 full minute. The batter should be smooth.
3. Place the 9 egg whites into the large bowl of an electric mixer equipped with the whip attachment. Start beating on medium low and beat until the whites are foamy, about 1 minute. Stop the machine, add the cream of tartar, then continue beating on medium low until the whites form peaks that droop and curl softly at their tips when the whip is raised. While beating on medium low, sprinkle in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar 2 tablespoons at a time and beat about 15 seconds between additions. When all the sugar has been added, increase the speed to medium high and beat until the whites are shiny and form stiff peaks when the beater is raised. This won't take more than a minute or so, so watch it closely. It’s okay if the beaten whites curl a bit at their tips. Do not overbeat.
4. Spoon about one quarter of the whites over the yolks and fold them together with a large rubber spatula, rotating the bowl as you do, until the two are only partly combined. Scoop the remaining whites over the batter and fold them in gently but thoroughly, only until no whites show. Rotate the bowl as you fold. Carefully scrape the batter into the pan, pouring it in a circle around the tube. The pan will be about 2/3 full and the batter will level itself.
5. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 55 minutes at 325˚F until the top of the cake is well browned, has a few cracks, and the cake springs back when gently pressed in a few places.
6. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately invert the cake over a narrow-necked bottle set on your countertop. Let the cake cool completely, about 3 hours, in this position.
7. To remove the cake from the pan, use a long sharp thin-bladed knife (I use a filleting knife). Holding the knife vertically, insert it between the cake and the side of the pan. Use a slow motion as you rotate the pan, pressing the knife blade against it, and work your way all around to release the cake. Run the knife between the cake and the central tube. Lift the cake out of the pan by its tube and release the cake from the bottom of the pan with the knife. Carefully turn the cake out onto a square of waxed paper placed on the countertop. Cover the bottom of the cake with a wire rack and reinvert so that the cake is right side up. Remove the waxed paper. Transfer the cake to a cake plate. To serve, cut with a serrated knife using a gentle sawing motion.
Some Photos to Guide You
Afterword
Harry Baker fled to Hollywood after he had been caught in flagrante delicto with a man in a public rest room. This created a local scandal and great financial hardship for his wife and children. There is no evidence that Harry ever sent them money.
For full details on Harry Baker and his cake, please read When Harry Met Betty by Joseph Hart. It’s a well-written, humdinger of a story.
What an intriguing story. I was trying to imagine how he baked in his spare bedroom. I guess he had to convert it into a kitchen. He was very determined!
Both my mom and grandmom used to make chiffon cakes and angel food cakes. They were adamant that the oven must NOT be opened during the bake lest the cake should fall and I had to tiptoe around in the kitchen, too!