Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

So I was faced with a dilemma recently... 3 expiring eggs... What should I bake with them?!  I quickly looked to see what I had on hand in the kitchen... 3 earl gray teabags (originally reserved for cookies).  A Google search gave me the perfect solution... earl grey chiffon cake!  I admit, I’m not a huge fan of making cakes... It’s not easy to distribute out to people and I usually need a special occasion.  Well this seemed to be a ‘special’ enough occasion... ;)

I had fun making this cake... At first, it looked like the egg whites would not stiffen and hold up without cream of tartar (coz I didn’t have any) but miraculously, it worked out fine!  It was fairly easy to put together all the ingredients and when it finished baking, the cake came out with a nice golden brown top and spongy middle.  I eagerly awaited to taste the results... Wow... Big FAIL... I dunno what happened but this ended up being salty!  Now before you jump to conclusions, I assure you that I did not mix up the amount of sugar and salt used.  I was sorely disappointed coz it was almost perfect except for the weird salty-sweet combination of the cake... Unless that’s the way it’s supposed to taste... o_O

Anyway I might try this recipe again sometime, but I’d reduce the salt maybe about a half of what it says to use?  I’m stumped as to where I went wrong...

Ingredients (makes one 7 inch diameter cake):
A:
3 egg yolks
30g caster sugar
50ml vegetable oil
75ml water
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
100g flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp earl grey tea leaves (3 sachets)

B:
3 egg whites
40g caster sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method:

1. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature.
3. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add in sugar, in 3 separate additions and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turn pale.
4. Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the water. Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. Add in the earl grey leaves and mix well.
5. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
6. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
7. Pour batter into a 7 inch tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
8. Bake in preheated oven at 170 C for 45 minutes or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before taking out of the mold. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the centre core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.