Sift the cake flour and kinako together into a bowl. Separate the egg yolks and whites. Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Add 2/3 of granulated sugar little by little while whipping the egg whites to make a meringue with stiff peaks. Store in the refrigerator.

Add the rest of the granulated sugar into the bowl of egg yolks and whip until pale and fluffy. Add the brown sugar syrup, water, and vegetable oil.

Then, sift in the flour mixture from Step 1 into the bowl and mix well.

Add 1/3 of the meringue from Step 2 and fold. Add another half of the meringue and fold in the batter to mix.

Lastly, add the batter into the bowl of meringue and fold gently to avoid breaking the air bubbles. Fold gently from the bottom like using a knife to cut the meringue.

Pour the batter into a chiffon mold. Hold the middle of the mold and tap lightly against a flat surface to pop the trapped air bubbles.

Bake in the oven at 170°C for about 20 minutes. While baking, make 4-5 incisions with a bread knife (optional).

Lower the oven temperature to 160°C and bake for 10 more minutes (or you can keep it at 170°C). The cake is finished if a poked skewer comes out clean.

Cool the cake upside down on a cup. (The cake will fall apart if you try to remove the mold while it's hot).

Once the cake has cooled, run a palette knife along the side of the mold. Use skewers for the middle part. Drop the cake upside down onto a plate.

Garnish and it's ready to eat. It's really good if you pour kuromitsu over the dollop of whipped cream.

This is the kuromitsu I used. It's so convenient because I can use it for many dishes. I also used two 15 g packets of kinako.