Pandan Chiffon Cake

So I was food blogging and saw a recipe for Pandan Chiffon Cake. I had bought my Chiffon Cake tin yonkers ago at Sun Lik Trading Pte Ltd http://sunliktrading.com/ and never really had a recipe to try it out. Recipe called for pandan juice so I did some errands at the mall and bought my pandan leaves together with a few other groceries that you really don't need but just bought it anyways because you were there. Haiz. 

So I started my prep on Sunday. Step 1 was to extract the juice from the pandan leaves. One way was to pound the life out of it using a mortar and pestle. Wasn't feeling particularly strong that day and therefore opted to blitz it with some water in my sturdy Preethi blender. Squeezed out all the fragrant juice and et voila 1/2 cup of pandan juice. 

Then I mixed the egg yolks, oil, pandan juice, suagr,  flour a baking soda into an emulsion. In a separate bowl I whisked the egg whites to soft peaks, added sugar and continued whisking to achieve stiff glossy peaks. Then began folding the egg whites into the emulsion and it was a total pain ! The egg whites had to be folded in gently so as to not lose all the air. I kept folding and folding and most of the egg whites did get incorporated sans for a few small lumps that were really beginning to annoy me. Eventually I reached a point where I went enough is enough and poured the batter into the cake tin. Baked for 55 mins and the fragrance of the pandan filled the whole house. Dad was particularly excited as tea time was just around the corner as well.

Dad's verdict was that the cake was fluffy and moist but needed more pandan flavour. For me it was 'wet'  well actually moist but I guess that's because I was expecting the drier store bought versions. Aunt loved it too.


Pandan Chiffon Cake  Recipe adapted from pickyin.blogspot.sg


For the 94ml Pandan leaf juice:
10-12 pieces pandan leaves 
3-4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons coconut milk (optional) 

For the flour batter:
135gm self-rising flour
75gm castor sugar
6 egg yolks
4.5 tablespoon corn oil
¼ tablespoon baking of soda

For the meringue:
6 egg whites
75gm castor sugar
½ tablespoon cream of tartar

Pre-heat oven to 170°C and position a wire rack at the lower third rack. Prepare a clean 23cm chiffon cake tin, do not grease!

Wash and cut the spears of pandan leaves into ½ inch pieces. Place into a blender and add 3 tablespoons of the water. Blend to form a thick paste, add another tablespoon of water if it is difficult to blend. Remove and squeeze out all the liquid from the paste through a fine strainer. You can either add some coconut milk, which will go nicely with the pandan  flavor, or add more water.

Sift the flour and baking soda into a small bowl. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the corn oil to form an emulsion. Add the pandan leaf juice or pandan leaf juice plus coconut milk mixture. Mix well before adding the sugar and whisk till sugar has dissolved. Add sifted dry ingredients and whisk well into a smooth batter, there should be no lumps. Set aside.

Whisk together the egg whites and cream of tartar. Once the egg whites begin to foam, start adding the sugar gradually in 3 additions. Beat till the meringue is smooth and glossy, with stiff peaks. Be careful not to overbeat the egg whites.

Immediately stir in approximately 1/3 of the meringue into the batter. With a flexible rubber or silicon spatula, fold in the meringue gently and mix well. Once a roughly homogenous mixture is achieved, add the rest of the meringue and repeat the gentle, light-handed folding process till the cake batter is well combined. Scoop from the bottom of the bowl to ensure no meringue or flour batter is left unmixed. Do not beat or overwork the batter as this will knock out the air you've put into the meringue.

Pour the cake mixture into the cake tin. Using your spatula, dip it into the batter right to the bottom and make circles around the tin twice. This is to remove any large air bubbles possibly trapped while pouring in the cake batter.

Bake at 170°C for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 160°C and bake for another 45 to 50 minutes or until cake is done. The cake tester should come out clean. Don't fret if the top of your cake cracks a little, this is normal.

Remove the cake from the oven and immediately overturn it to cool completely, up to 2 hours. Release the cake by running a sharp, thin knife along the sides of the cake tin and subsequently the bottom of the tube. 

Cake keeps well chilled in an airtight container or cling wrapped up to five days (three if using coconut milk).