Pandan Chiffon Cake

It sure took me a loooong time to get round to baking my very first chiffon cake. Have been obsessed with the thought of baking it lately, and did quite a bit of homework before deciding to try this one I found through baking mum's blog. The part in the recipe that bought me over was, "I actually like this recipe better than the other one I have shared. When I do this recipe, I only need one bowl to beat the egg whites. As for the egg yolks I only need to use a whisk and whisk it by hand. No need to be thick and creamy texture". I knew this had to be the one for me. I love doing things the simple way. If it works, why bother with complications, right? ;)

The only thing wrong with this recipe is that it is enough for an 18cm tin while mine is a gigantic 23cm. And just when I was about to get the baking tin ready, I noticed a part in it had a dent and that was bad! I did not have a receipt and I was dying to bake it after putting it off a whole week, and now that I had everything I needed in the recipe, I couldn't wait. So, I had to make do by using some foil to cover the outside of the tin. I do feel so cheated as the tin didn't come cheap. It was partly my fault for not having checked thoroughly before my purchase.

While preparing the mixture, the smell permeating from it was heavenly. There's nothing like the combination of pandan and coconut. Absolute match made in baking heaven.

This was what my cake looked like when ready. It wasn't all that bad. It's just shorter by half than the usual size you get at the bakeries.

Once out of the oven, it had to be turned upside down to cool. Now I know the purpose of those little feet jutting out of the tin.

The end result? I managed to get it out perfectly in one piece, and it had a lovely golden colour on the bottom which is now the top. Texture-wise, a bit denser than what you get at the bakeries. It's a great challenge, but really much cheaper to buy it from the baker's. Haha. Flavour-wise, I think sugar could be increased by another 20gm as it was a bit short on sweetness.

PANDAN CHIFFON CAKE (recipe taken from Prima's website)

100g Prima brand Top Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp Pandan Juice (I used 1tsp pandan paste)
100ml Coconut Milk
4 Egg Yolks
50ml Corn Oil
¼ tsp Green Colouring (omit this if using pandan paste)
5 Egg Whites
¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
100g Castor Sugar (can try adding another 20gm)
pinch of Salt

Instructions -

Preheat oven to 170°C. (I used 160-165deg on my fan forced oven)

Extract pandan juice from finely pounded pandan leaves and add to coconut milk.
(**) I did not use pandan juice but used about 1 tsp of pandan paste instead.

Add egg yolk, 50g sugar, oil, colouring and salt to the coconut mixture. Mix well using hand whisk.

Sift Prima brand Top Flour and baking powder and fold into mixture. Mix until smooth. Set aside.

Beat egg whites and tartar at high speed until foamy. Add remaining 50g sugar and
beat until stiff.

Add 1/3 beaten egg white to the yolk mixture and mix using a hand whisk.

Slowly fold in this mixture to the remaining 2/3 of beaten egg whites.

Pour mixture into an ungreased 18cm chiffon tin and bake for about 50mins. (I used a 23cm and it took me 40mins)

Turn tin over on a cake rack to cool before loosening cake using a sharp knife.