Pandan Chiffon Cake - A Singaporean Childhood Favourite

Was just watching Liverpool vs Arsenal on TV earlier, it was painful to watch (mebeing a Liverpool fan) that I switched off my TV set and decided to blog instead. Recently, 2 of colleagues departed from the company and the week seemed like a week of farewell - saying our goodbyes and well wishes to each of them. It felt sad, yet at the same time happy for them to be moving on to a new and better place. And in the midst of that, I also received a couple of requests for chiffon cakes, so here goes :).

Singaporeans first knew chiffon cakes in pandan flavour. Personally, I never knew other flavours existed till I started baking. I love its light, fluffy texture with its gentle sweetness that makes eating this feels like a treat! Having seen my mum gone through her fair share of chiffon cake failures, I never dared to try making it, though the Pandan Chiffon Cake has always been my favourite. I tried a couple of Pandan Chiffon Cake recipes following the success of my Chocolate, Marbled & Yuzu Tea Chiffon Cakes, but they never quite satisfied my tastebuds. Yet at the same, I had to make one by Monday...hence I picked a new recipe by Chef Judy Koh of Creative Culinaire and hope that it works out well eventually.

The recipe was easy to follow, but the cake batter turned out too little for my 22cm pan. I would recommend using this recipe on a 20cm pan instead, as I prefer my chiffon cakes tall :).

Guess I'll have to wait with bated breath till Monday to find out how it tastes! Since I can't cut it in advance now >.<.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

5 pandan leaves, finely chopped

3 Tbsps water

48g egg yolk, from about 4 small eggs

70g castor sugar

1/8 tsp sale

20ml corn oil

36ml thick coconut milk (I used the chilled version that is more suited to my tastes)

1/4 tsp pandan paste

54g cake flour

120g egg white, from about 4 small eggs

1/8 cream of tartar (i replaced this with corn flour)

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

2. Blend the pandan leaves with water to a fine pulp. Wrap the pulp in muslin cloth and squeeze to extract the juice. Discard the pulp and set aside the juice.

3. Whisk together the egg yolks, 30g sugar, salt, corn oil, coconut milk, pandan paste and pandan juice until well incorporated.

4. Sieve the cake flour into the pandan mixture and continue to whisk till smooth. Set aside.

5. Whisk the egg whites till foamy, add the sugar and cream of tartar and whisk till stiff peak form.

6. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the cake batter, 1/3 at a time, until well incorporated.

7. Pour the batter into a 20cm tube pan and bake for 40 minutes.

8. Remove the cake from the oven and invert it on a rack to cool before removing from the mould.