Singaporean Food
Singapore is famous for FOOD. Pandan Chiffon Cake, I think it is one of the most famous iconic food here. You either use store-bought Pandan Paste or make your own Pandan juice and added into the cake batter. A nick name for Pandan paste is called ‘Asian Vanilla extract’, from this name, I think you probably can image how fragrant it is. When I opened the bottle of Pandan paste, seriously … it smelt so GOOD!
As a baker, I particularly look out of the bakes here. One of my favourite cakes in Singapore is Pandan Chiffon Cake.
Shop-bought Pandan Chiffon Cake
Since my husband and I relocated to Singapore seven months ago, I kept buying Pandan Chiffon Cakes from the local bakery. Actually, the cakes taste good but sometimes we found that some cakes were a bit dry. Even though sometimes they were not always that fluffy and spongy, we still finished the cake in one day, maximum one and a half!
Interestingly, I never thought of baking one in my home kitchen. The reason for this is because it is a kind of local authentic delight, as a new expat, I thought I could never ever bake one as good as the local ones. Also, I found most of the recipes use Pandan juice as one of the ingredients. Although there are two ways of making Pandan chiffon cake, it seemed like using Pandan juice was more authentic than using Pandan paste.
Pandan juice
Pandan juice is made from pandan leaves and water. Where can you buy pandan leaves? It’s pretty easy – in the wet market or simply just go to the supermarket. Then you need to wash it and cut it into small pieces. Put the pieces into a blender and add some water. Blend them for about 1 minute until it becomes a pandan pulp. After that, you also need to pour the pandan pulp into a fine strainer and use the back of the spoon to press on the pulp to get the juice out. Then you will have your homemade pandan juice for cooking or baking. It sounds quite a complicated process for a pandan cake beginner. That’s why I kept buying the pandan chiffon cake in the local bakery…
Pandan Paste
One day, I found a little green bottle sitting on a shelf in the baking section of a supermarket. It was Pandan paste! Why not avoid the complicated process (making Pandan juice) to start with? I decided to give it a try. I adapted the recipe from an awesome blog, thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com which is one of my very favourites. I reduced the amount of caster sugar and I used vegetable oil instead of coconut oil (which is what I had in my kitchen).
When I opened the Pandan paste, it has an unbelievably full and aromatic Asian scent. I combined it with the coconut milk into the cake batter and I was amazed by the bright green colour. I knew, immediately, that the cake was going to taste really delicious. I was pleased that I used this green paste as my first local authentic attempt.
Beating the Egg Whites
An important part of the process is to beat the egg whites properly. The purpose of mixing the egg whites until a stiff peak forms is to give the cake an airy, light and spongy texture.
Remember, when you start beating the egg whites, it has to be at a slow speed (using any kind of electric mixer). After beating on a slow speed for around one minute, gradually increase the speed until the egg whites reach their full volume. Meantime, you also need to add the sugar, spoonful by spoonful. This process needs patience. Otherwise, they will not reach full volume.
Then it is time to combine the green cake batter and the egg whites together. This is the fun part. It was just like going to a painting class mixing the bright green and white together. The batter will become a lighter shade of green because it is mixed with a lot of white. In the end, it turns out a pale green cake batter, which is really pretty.
Baking the chiffon cake
While the cake is baking in the oven, the whole house fills with such aromatic smells that it is almost irresistible!!! Once the cake was baked, I had to invert the pan immediately and let it cool completely to avoid the cake sinking down (remember this!). Actually, at the moment it came out of the oven, my husband and I almost couldn’t wait to eat it. The hardest part was waiting. When it had cool completely, I un-moulded it.
Immediately, we could feel the sponginess of the cake and it felt light as a feather. Of course, the next step was to taste it. It tasted fabulous, full of Pandan flavour and the cake was very fluffy in texture. Pandan Chiffon cake is one of those things that you just want to stuff into your mouth! We basically could not stop eating it! Since then, I have kept baking this cake by using Pandan paste. My friend even asked me to bake one for her too. You can imagine how popular this cake is!
Pandan Chiffon Cake
INGREDIENTS
Cake mixture
- 4 pcs egg yolks
- 13 g caster sugar
- 26 ml vegetable oil
- 1/4 tsp pandan paste
- 53 ml coconut milk
- 53 g cake flour ((sifted))
Egg Whites
- 4 pcs egg whites
- 53 g caster sugar
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put the egg yolks and sugar into a mixing bowl and start mixing them. Mix them about 4-5 minutes until it turns a lighter shade. Then add vegetable oil and continue beating.
- Once the oil has been incorporated, add coconut milk and pandan paste. The colour will change into light green.
- Gradually add the sifted cake flour and mix until it just combined. Then set the mixture aside.
- Use white vinegar to wipe the other clean mixing bowl and the whisk before beating the egg whites.
- Whisk the egg whites at low speedy until foamy, approx. 1-2 mins.
- Add cream of tartar and continue whisking. Then gradually add in the sugar into the egg white.
- Turn the speed up to high and keep whisking all the time until the egg whites form a stiff peak. It takes around 5-7 minutes. Be patient!
- Gently fold 1/3 of the meringue into the green yolk mixture.
- Then, fold the remaining meringue into the mixture in 2 batches until all well combined.
- Transfer the cake into an NON-GREASED tube pan and bake at 160 degrees for about 40-45 minutes or until insert a skewer withdraws clean. If the top of the cake cracks or become too dark, place a sheet of aluminium foil over it and continue baking.
- Once the cake is baked, invert the pan and place it on a raised wire rack to cool completely.
- Use a small platte knife gently scrape along the side of the pan, do not forget the edge of the tube of the pan and the bottom to unmold the cake.
- Enjoy the delicious pandan cake!
NOTES
- This recipe is for a 8-inch tube pan.
NUTRITION
Bake it
Give this recipe a try! Let me know how it goes for you! I love connecting and seeing your pictures. It really makes my day.
More chiffon cake recipes for your next bakes
Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you will enjoy this recipe.
If you’ve tried my Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe, please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you thought. The more we chat the more I know what recipes I should be making and sharing. If you have any recipe suggestions I would also love to hear them.
Rating the recipe once you’ve made this Pandan Chiffon Cake may also help other readers decide whether to make my bakes, so I would love it if you could come back and let everyone know what you think.
Happy baking!
