Pandan Chiffon Cake




Pandan chiffon cake is one of my comfort food from Malaysia and Singapore. It is so yummy ! The fragrance of pandan and softness of the cake will encourage you to savor every bite.

I have only learnt that pandan leaves are also known as screwpine leaves when I am in US. You can normally find them in Asian grocery stores. I managed to find them from a Vietnamese store near Argyle, Chicago.

I must admit that it is quite challenging to bake a chiffon cake. My first attempt resulted in a partial failure as I was not aware of the tricks in baking a chiffon cake. After doing some research on the recipes, I managed to find out what were the causes. The egg white was underbeat as I did not have a mixer and only used a whisk. You can imaging how tiring it would be to beat the egg white continuously for 10 minutes merely by hand. Besides, I also found out that cake flour is more suitable for chiffon cake. If you also cannot find cake flour, the substitution will be 1 cup of cake flour equal to 1 cup minus 2 Tablespoon of all purpose flour plus 2 Tablespoon of corn starch.

After getting a hand mixer and an improved recipe, my second attempt was considered successful except the colour was not green enough as I only use the pure pandan leaves juice without any artificial colouring.

Finally, I'm quite happy with the pandan chiffon cake from the third attempt. I managed to get the cake flour from a Japanese supermarket as well as green colouring from a nearby supermarket. The texture of the cake was really soft by using the cake flour.

I guess baking a chiffon cake is a trial and error process. You have to find the best combination of ingredients, right temperature and timing which suit your oven. Good luck! : )


Ingredients:

(A)
  • 2 cup of cake flour (can substitute with 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour and 1/4 cup corn starch)
  • 2 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp of salt

(B)
  • 7 egg white
  • 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
  • 3/4 tsp of cream of tartar

(C)
  • 7 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup of flavorless vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup coconut milk
  • 2 Tbsp pandan juice or 1 tsp pandan essence

Preparation:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degree F.
  2. For (A): Sift flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Add in sugar and salt. Mix until well combined.
  3. For (B): Place egg whites in a large, clean stainless or glass mixing bowl. Use mixer to whip egg whites until foamy (about 30 seconds) and add cream of tartar. Continue to whip the egg whites until opague, about 3 minutes. Add sugar gradually to the egg whites. Continue to whip until stiff and glossy. (e.g. it should not fall out when you turn the mixing bowl upside down quickly)
  4. For (C): Mix all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl until well blended.
  5. Make a well in the center of (A) dry ingredients. Add (C) yolk mixture and mix until batter is smooth.
  6. Fold 1/3 of the (B) egg whites mixture into the batter by using a spatula. Gently fold the remaining one third at a time.
  7. Gently pour batter into an ungreased 10 inch tube pan and bake for an hour or until a skewer comes out clean when tested.
  8. Invert the cake immediately onto the wire rack (or by using a bottle) and let the cake cool completely in the pan upside down.
  9. Loosen the outer and tube edge of the pan with a knife. Use a skewer to loosen the cake from the center tube. Remove cake from pan.

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