Pandan Chiffon Cake

This was a special request from my brother. The first time I tried to make this cake, it failed horribly. Fortunately I've now worked out the correct temperature and cooking times and the cake turned out perfectly. The aroma is amazing and the cake is really light and spongy.

What is pandan I hear you ask? Pandanus amaryllifolius is a tropical plant in the screwpine genus which is known commonly as pandan and used widely in Southeast Asian cooking. It is an upright green plant with fan-shaped sprays of long, narrow, bladelike leaves and woody aerial roots. The plant is sterile, flowers only very rarely, and is propagated by cuttings.

The plant is rare in the wild but cultivated widely for use as a flavoring in cooking. The leaves are used fresh or wilted, and are commercially available in frozen form in Asian grocery stores in nations where the plant does not grow. They have a nutty, botanical fragrance which enhances the flavor of Indonesian, Singaporean, Filipino, Malaysian, Thai, Bangladeshi, Vietnamese and Burmese foods, especially rice dishes and cakes.

Addendum 7/4/15 

I'm entering this to Formula 1 Foods hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. It's a new blog challenge where the idea is to cook something from the country that is hosting the Formula 1 race. This year, the race was in Malaysia on March 28/29. This cake is very popular in Malaysia.

egg white foam 

ready to go in the oven 

Egg white foam

6 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

100g caster sugar

Egg yolk batter

6 egg yolks

150g coconut milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon pandan juice (I omitted this as I didn't have any)

1/4 teaspoon pandan essence (I used 1 teaspoon as I didn't have any pandan juice)

few drops green colouring

4 tablespoon cooking oil

80g caster sugar

140g plain flour

• To make egg yolk batter, combine egg yolks, coconut milk, salt, cooking oil, pandan essence, colouring and caster sugar in a mixing bowl.  Fold in flour until it forms a batter.
• To make egg white foam, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until mixture forms soft peaks. 
• Gradually add in sugar, beating at high speed until frothy and stiff peaks form. 
• Gently fold beaten egg white foam into egg yolk batter until well mixed.
• Pour batter into ungreased tin.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 130C for 35 minutes and then at 160C for a further 25 minutes. 
• Remove from the oven and invert the cake tin onto a wire rack. 
• Allow to cool completely before unmoulding from tin.

Orange Chiffon Cake

My second attempt at making chiffon cake which turned out even better than the first :) I made an orange one this time using my mum's recipe and it tasted much nicer than the chocolate one. Everyone loved it. It was really light, moist, spongy and citrusy.

Beautiful egg whites

Cake batter

Look how much it rose in the tin!

Egg white foam
5 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
100g caster sugar

Egg yolk batter
5 egg yolks
252g plain flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
152g caster sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest of 2 oranges

• Make egg white foam by beating egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.
• Add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
• Sieve flour, baking powder and salt twice and set aside.
• Add egg yolks, orange juice and orange zest, oil and water and beat until well mixed.
• Blend into egg white foam gently until everything is incorporated.
• Pour batter in an UNGREASED 22cm tube pan.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 130C for 35 minutes then 160C for a further 25minutes.
• Remove from the oven and invert the cake tin onto a wire rack.
• Allow to cool completely before unmoulding from tin.

 

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

As you can tell, I got a KitchenAid recently. I also have a few other new kitchen gadgets including a chiffon cake tin/tube pan. When I got my new KitchenAid, I tried to make a chiffon cake which failed miserably. I'm glad to report I finally perfected it and it turned out beautifully the second time round. I have the best neighbour ever so I made this as a thank you as she has been particularly helpful lately.

From baking911.com: The Chiffon Cake is its most well-known member of the foam cake family. A Chiffon Cake contains vegetable oil, similar to Sponge Cakes. Since oil is always liquid at room temperature, a chiffon cake stays soft and moist. It is less likely to lose moisture and stays fresher than other foam type cakes, such as an Angel Food Cake.  A Chiffon Cake is made with vegetable oil and egg yolks beaten into the flour and dry ingredients. The fat coats the flour proteins, much like a raincoat, which protect them against the moisture and from forming gluten when mixed. This results in a very tender cake. Although the recipe contains fat, the pans should not be greased.

In 1948 Betty Crocker introduced the Chiffon Cake and hailed it as "the cake discovery of the century!" Up to this point cakes were either the light sponge cake or a heavier butter or shortening cake. The Chiffon Cake mysteriously combined the richness of the butter cake, but with the light spring of the Angel Food and Sponge Cakes.


A California insurance salesman, Harry Baker, invented the recipe in 1927. He baked his cakes in the Los Angeles area and for Hollywood restaurants, but he never divulged the secret recipe. Harry decided that Betty Crocker should share in his special recipe and he traveled to Minneapolis to finally divulge the secret. And the Chiffon Cake was given to cooks across the nation.

I made a simple chocolate chiffon cake mainly because I didn't have any other ingredients to hand and didn't want to run out to the shops. It was really moist and light and not too chocolatey. I'm sure there will be more chiffon cakes coming out of this kitchen soon. My mum made an orange chiffon cake which is amazing so will have to give that a try.

I worked out why it didn't work the first time round - wrong temperature and cooking time (I followed the recipe exactly which is not always a good thing) and also because I didn't leave it to cool in the tin long enough before turning it out.

my new chiffon cake tin :)

egg white foam

ready to go in the oven

fresh from the oven. So pleased that it rose properly

Egg yolk batter

80g chocolate

150ml milk

60ml cooking oil

6 egg yolks

110g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Egg white foam

6 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

150g caster sugar

• To make egg yolk batter - melt chocolate and milk in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Combine with oil and egg yolks.
• Fold in flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda until it forms a batter.
• Next make egg white foam by beating egg whites and cream of tartar until the mixture forms soft peaks.
• Gradually add in sugar, beating at high speed until frothy and stiff peaks form.
• GENTLY (do not over mix) fold beaten egg white foam into egg yolk batter until just blended.
• Pour batter in an UNGREASED 22cm tube pan.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 130C for 35 minutes then 160C for a further 25minutes. (This is what worked for me)
• Remove from the oven and invert the cake tin onto a wire rack.
• Allow to cool completely before unmoulding from tin.