Pandan Chiffon Cake

Chiffon cake brings a bundle of childhood memory for me. My late grandma used to bake cookies and cakes for us every week without failed. She was a good baker (she was baking teacher at church), and chiffon cake was one of her forte (her best one was chocolate chips flavour). Pity I never find anything like hers in Sydney. Well, there are 2 shops that sell chiffon, but they are a bit dry for my liking and at around $5-8 per slice, of course I am not happy. I decided to make my own and this is how my Pandan Chiffon lab started. I was telling myself, I am sure I have a bit of my grandma's baking gen on me, how hard will this be? It was not an easy journey I can tell you that...but is not hard once know the tricks. My Pandan Chiffon project was not that smooth, I tried 4 different basic recipes, and I modified each of the recipe too, so if I multiplied the no. of recipes x my modifications = a lot trials (I kinda lost count). I had great ones and I also had failed ones as well - hard as rock, the sinker, the raw, you name it. 

My recipe is adapted from Cookingcrave, I just love her recipe, the facts that I dont have to waste any egg yolks and she gave good tips too. Some recipes ask you to use more egg whites and to be honest I cant tell the difference when I use more egg whites. Plus what am I going to do with the remaining egg yolks? I dont think I can use egg yolks for my face mask right....A friend suggested making hair mask (mixing egg yolk with avocado & olive oil)..no thanx. So far this recipe works best for me, soft, fluffy and not dry..and sinker no more. Shape wise it still needs some work coz it's still a bit bended on the side. But it's ok for me, I prefer flavour and texture than shape. When I took my chiffon cake to my friend's birthday during the weekend, they loved it and one of the lady asked me for the recipe coz her son loves it. Woww...not bad at all!!

Original Recipe:

http://cookingcrave.blogspot.com.au/2009/07/pandan-chiffon.html

My Adapted Recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

(A) Coconut Milk + Pandan extract mixture:

• 150 ml coconut milk
• 10 pandan leaves (they are approx. 40-50cm long)
• 1/4 teaspoon pandan essence (I use koepoe koepoe brand)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

(B) Egg Yolks Batter:

• 7 egg yolks
• 60g caster sugar
• 6 tbsp sunflower oil
• 140g plain flour

(C) Egg Whites Foam:

• 7 egg whites
• 15 gr corn flour
• 75g caster sugar

METHOD:

      1. Make (A) Coconut milk + Pandan extract mixture:

• Pandan leaves – wash, wipe dry with paper towel, cut ugly bits (yellowish part), cut into pieces
• Put pandan leaves + coconut milk in food processor – squeeze out
• Remeasure mixture again, ensure total liquid = 165ml (from 150ml coconut milk + pandan leaves extract)
• Add salt and vanilla essence

Fresh Pandan leaves

Pandan leaves pulp + coconut milk = green coconut milk

      2. Make (B) Egg yolks batter: 

• Hand whisk egg yolks with sugar
• Add mixture (A) coconut milk + pandan - hand whisk, mix well
• Add cooking oil, mix well
• Fold in plain flour slowly until it forms batter and no lumps
• Set aside

      3. Make (C) Egg whites foam:   

• In another bowl, beat egg whites till it form soft peak
• Gradually add in sugar till it finished (it will be white, glossy & stiff)
• Add in corn flour and continue beating at high speed till stiff peaks form

Egg whites foam - stiff and glossy

     4. Next steps:   

• Gently fold mixture (C) egg white into (B) egg yolks
• Pour batter into ungreased chiffon pan (with removable base). I use 25 cm diameter
• Tap top side/ side of the pan a few times to get rid of air bubbles (dont bang to the table as the batter might run wild if slip from the base)
• Bake in preheated oven at 160c for 30-40mins or until it is cooked.
• Remove cake from oven, immediately invert cake
• Wait until it is completely cooled before removing it from the mould

Note:

• Approximate time required: about 2.5 hours (including preparation)
• Pandan is also know as screwpine
• 1/2 recipe can make about 12 cupcakes. If you are making cupcakes, then it's ok to bang to the table after you poured the batter into the mould
• Use fresh eggs at room temperature
• Use 60gr egg for this recipe
• To extract coconut milk + pandan juice mix, use cheese cloth for best result (I used strainer and it was not that great)
• Mixing bowls have to be dry
• Dont overwork your egg yolk batter & when mixing mixture (B) to (C)
• Some recipes do not recommend greasing the pan, however, I always grease my pan then lining it with good baking paper (Glad) & it makes washing up much easier

Where to buy Pandan leaves & Pandan essence: 

Pontip (Thai grocery store)

• 16 Campbell St, Haymarket (Chinatown), Sydney
• Phone.(02) 9211 2208

Lucky Thai (Thai grocery store)

• 50/40 Campbell st, Haymarket (Chinatown), Sydney
• Phone.(02) 9211 3163

Chiffon pan with removable base

Shape aint perfect yet but it tastes great for me...

Pandan Chiffon Cupcakes version