Steamed Orange & Egg Cake

This is a non-dairy cake which uses freshly squeeze orange juice in place of milk. The addition of orange peel enhances the fresh aroma of the cake. The texture is surprising soft and can last till the next day. I am not sure about keeping it beyond 2 days as the small cake was gobbled down before it could reach the end of the second day :)

Yield: one 14 cm round cake

Ingredients 

All ingredients in room temperature 

75g top/cake flour 低筋面粉

1/4 tsp baking powder 泡打粉

2 egg whites 蛋白

1/4 tsp lemon juice 柠檬汁

55g fine sugar 细糖

2 egg yolks 蛋黄

55g orange juice 橙汁

1 tsp grated orange peel 橙皮削

15g vegetable oil 植物油

A few thin orange rind for decoration 一些橙皮丝做装饰用

Direction 

1. Line a 14cm cake tin with parchment paper. Set aside.

把一个14cm的蛋糕模铺上不沾粘烘烤纸。

2. Loosen flour with baking powder using a hand whisk.

将低筋面粉与泡打粉混均。

3. Mix orange juice, grated orange peel and vegetable oil in a bowl. Set aside.

将橙汁,橙皮削和油先倒入一个碗中。待用。

4. Beat egg whites in a clean and grease free mixing bowl at high speed using an electric mixer till frothy. This takes about 15 seconds. 

以高速将蛋白打成泡沫状，大约需15秒。

After the egg white turns frothy, add in the lemon juice, and beat at low speed for about 10 seconds.

当蛋白呈泡沫状，加入柠檬汁，继续以低速打发10秒钟。

5. Keep the mixer speed at low, add in the sugar in three lots. When the sugar is well incorporated to the batter, adjust the mixer speed to high, and beat the egg white batter for about 1~ 2 minutes, or till soft peaks formed (when lift up the whisks, the tip of the egg white slightly bent). Beat the egg white for another 1/2 minute at low speed.

将电动打蛋器减速至最低，分三次将糖加入蛋白中。待混均，再以高速打发蛋白至湿性发泡，大约1到2分钟。当举起打蛋器，蛋白的尖角会弯曲。最后以低速打1/2到1分钟，让蛋白更细密。

6. Add in egg yolks, one at a time, to the egg white batter and mix well.

加入蛋黄，混均才加入另一颗蛋黄。

7. Start to boil a small pot of water, to be ready for steaming the cake later.

可开始煮热水于一锅中。

8. Sieve in 1/3 of the flour mixture from (2), and mix manually using the whisks removed from the electric mixer. Stop mixing after about 3 to 4 strokes. This is to prevent deflating the batter too much and too fast.

将1/3面粉混合料分筛入蛋糊中，用打蛋器以手操作混合。

Streaks of flour are alright. They will disappear in the subsequent mixing.

蛋糕糊留有些许面粉无大碍，在稍后的搅拌会慢慢消失。

9. Add in 1/2 of the orange mixture from (3) to the batter using the whisks. 

将1/2的橙汁混合物 （3）慢慢的倒入面糊上，用打蛋器轻轻的和上层的面糊混均才做整体混合。

Add in the remaining flour and orange mixture in alternating sequence, in the pattern of 

Flour➡️orange➡️flour➡️orange➡️flour

将剩余的面粉和橙汁混合物轮流加入混合。

面粉➡️橙汁➡️面粉➡️橙汁➡️面粉

10. Finally, use a spatula to make a more thorough mixing by scrapping the side and bottom of the mixing bowl up. While scrapping and mixing, try to bang the mixing bowl a few times to get rid of trapped air.

Similarly, try to mix the batter with minimum mixing stroke.

最后一面轻敲钢盆，一面用刮刀从底部将面糊翻上，直至面糊细滑无汽泡。

10.  Pour the batter slowly into the lined cake tin. This helps to break the trapped air bubbles when the batter flows down. Give the cake tin a few hard sturdy jerks to get rid of trapped air parcel in the batter.

再将蛋糕面糊一面慢慢倒入，一面轻敲蛋糕模，以铺平面糊和震掉汽泡。

Decorate the cake with the long orange peel.

以长条橙皮装饰蛋糕表面。

11. Put a steamer stand into the pot with boling water. Lower the cake tin into the pot. Steam the cake at medium high temperature for 9 minutes. Then reduce the heat to medium low for another 9 minutes.

将蒸架放入滚着沸水的锅，放入装着蛋糕糊的蛋糕模，用中高火，蒸9分钟，再转中小火，蒸9分钟，直至蛋糕熟透

12. Insert a thin stick into the middle of the cake to test the readiness of the cake. If the cake is done, remove from the pot. Before transferring the cake to a cooling rack, drop the cake and tin from about 15cm height to the work top. This helps to prevent the cake from excessive shrinking. 

插入竹签查看蛋糕是否已熟。在将蛋糕移到架上降温前，趁热将蛋糕连同蛋糕模从大约15cm高处摔在台面1次，这有助避免蛋糕缩小太多。

13. Remove the cake from the cake tin after about 5 minutes and let it cool on the wire rack.

五分钟后给蛋糕脱模，继续置架上降温。

Baking tips:

1. Peel the orange rind without the whitish part as the whitish part is bitter.

2. It's best to steam using a glass lid as you'll be able to keep a closer look at the rising cake. The ingredients or the batter temperature will determine the steaming time. 

When the cake rises from a concave top  to a convex top, you can start to reduce the heat slightly. Over risen cake may shrink and have a tougher top when cool down.