So I first came up with this concept because my parents needed me to prepare a dessert for their friend’s 4th of July party (that I wasn’t even invited to)….bastards. Since they were all old anyways, my parents told me specifically to use less sugar….I’m starting to feel less salty about not being invited. No sugar? Sounds like a fucking snoozefest to me. So I decided to do a chiffon cake, because out of all of my cake recipes, it is the one that appeals the most to Asians; fun fact, most Asian bakeries that sell cake typically sell chiffon cakes, and you would know this too because they are so light, fluffy, and cloudlike. Since I was making a dessert for rich sugar-hating, old af, Asian people, I decided that this would be the best way to make them feel nostalgic about their childhoods.

For the cake, I chose to use toasted soy powder because it adds a nice nuttiness to the cake, while also bringing in that Asian feel to the cake even more so. That and by replacing flour with the powder, it will give the cake a lighter texture. My logic behind using fresh blackberries and coconut to garnish was for texture and freshness, and filling it with a lemon curd infused chantilly cream was to add tartness. Blackberries and coconut work well with lemon, and lemon will help keep the cake from feeling too sweet, so I felt like it was a win-win.

For the chiffon cake:
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup toasted soy powder
3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons soy milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup oil
3 egg yolks
6 egg whites

Whip egg whites with 1/2 cup of the sugar and the baking powder. In another bowl, whip the remaining sugar into the yolks with the oil and milk. Fold together with sifted flour and soy powder. Pour into a parchment lined sheet tray and bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. Take out and roll up into a scroll. Allow to cool in that shape so that it can roll back up easily.

For lemon curd cream chantilly:
2 lemons; zested and juiced
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cups heavy cream

Whip together sugar and egg yolk. In a pot, heat the lemon juice and zest. Temper and whisk over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Sieve and mix in the butter. Cool down. In a bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into the lemon curd. If you want to be fancy, you can only half-fold it and make it swirled.

For garnish:
Fresh blackberries
Toasted coconut flakes

For assembly:
Gently unroll the cake. It make crumble a little bit, but so long as the cake is still one piece, it does not matter how much it cracks. Just be gentle with it, like to a lover in bed unless they’re into weird 50 Shades shit, in which case, congratulations, you’re literally fucking crazy. Pipe a row of the cream, then follow with a row a blackberries. Continue doing that until you’ve lined basically the entire cake, except enough room from each end to fit one more row of cream and berries. You need that room so that your cake doesn’t explode when you roll it up. Roll it up, and then slice off the ends to reveal that gorgeous swirl. Using an offset spatula, smear cream onto one side of the cake and sprinkle on the coconut flakes. Garnish with more fresh blackberries and cream on top. If you’re not eating right away, wrap the exposed parts of the cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate so that the cake doesn’t go dry or bad.