Recipe for Pandan Chiffon Cake (With Step-by-Step Photos)

Remember about the Banana Cake recipe which I have shared with all of you earlier? The recipe was taken and modify from a recipe book titled "Oishiixtu!! Yakikashi!!". The book was written by author "Ikuko Omori" which directly translated to "Delicious !! Baked Cakes" I have taken another of it's recipe - Chiffon Cake and converted the flavour to Singaporean's favourite cake - Pandan Chiffon Cake.

I made it weeks ago and the result was rather good. Below is the recipe with step-by-step pictures to guide you along if you are interested to bake one at home too.

Ingredients:

Plain Flour - 70 grams (Stiffed Twice)
Baking Soda - 3/4 Teaspoon
Pandan Paste - 1 and half Teaspoon
Vegetable Oil - 2 Tablespoon

A:
Egg Yolks - 3
Fine Sugar - 40 grams

B:
Egg White - 4 ( should weigh about 140 grams)
Fine Sugar - 40 grams

Optional:

Coconut Milk - 25 ml (A tablespoon)

or

Replace with Milk -25 ml ( A tablespoon)

Preparation:

• Line the bottom of the 17-inches chiffon cake tin with grease paper.
• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
• Mix the flour with baking soda first before stiffing. To incorporate the maximum amount of air, stiff the flour mixture twice or even thrice.
• We will need to use both the machine mixer and hand-whisk. Machine mixer to be use for egg white and hand-whisk for yolks.

Method:

I doubled the recipe to make a bigger cake, thus there are more egg yolks in the picture. If you wanted to do the same, doubled all the other recipes except the baking soda. I used a teaspoon instead of double it to prevent getting the "dry" aftertaste. For this recipe, it is not advisable to reduce the sugar content as it may dry out the cake too.

In a large bowl, whisk ingredient A - 3 yolks and 40 grams sugar thoroughly.

Start whisking the egg yolk and sugar using the hand-whisk in a large bowl. The bowl should be big enought to mix all ingredients later, thus use a very big bowl from start.

In the mixer bowl, put in ingredients B - 4 egg whites and 40 grams of sugar.

Use the machine to beat the mixure until the egg white turned into semi-firm peak. It should take about 10 to 15 minutes.

The recipe called for "Pandan Paste" (see above). Do note this is different from Pandan flavour or essense, thus do not use them to replace the Pandan paste. You can get Pandan paste from supermarkets, I have seen it in NTUC or even Shop-n-Save. Otherwise, get it from Redman - baking specialised shop.

Pandan paste has a vanila-like top note sweetness with a coconut taste base. Some recipes called for coconut milk, but not mine as I think the paste is coconutty enough.

Halfway through whisking the egg yolk mixture, add in the pandan paste and continue to whisk. You will notice that the mixture became paler as you whisk along. The mixture will also get thicker and denser when air is incorporated into it.

Eventually, the mixture should be thick enough to form a ribbon and the colour of the mixture should be in pale green.

At this stage, add in vegetable oil.

Followed by fresh milk. I suppose if you really want to taste a heavier coconut flavour, you could replace with coconut milk. I would think the fresh milk is sufficient and it is healthier too.

Stiff in the flour and mix the flour using a whisk. Take care not to over-mix the flour mixture, otherwise gluten will form and cake will become tough.

At this point, the egg white should be beaten to semi-firm peak. However do check on the egg white earlier than the stipulated time on whether it is in the correct texture already. Stop the machine when it has reached the correct texture.


Take about one third of the firm egg white and mix it into the flour mixture. You can anyhow mix the content with a hand whisk at this stage. This step is to "lighten" the cake batter so that it is easier to incorporate the rest of the egg white into it.

With the rest of the egg white, lightly fold them into the mixture preferably with a plastic specular. (I did not show the specular in the picture. ) Folding is a special way of mixing to prevent air from escaping from the mixture.

What is folding? Scrape the content from side of the bowl and pile it into the centre. Then scrape the bottom of the bowl and pile them on top. Repeat the movement until the egg white are fully incorporated.

To note - Air will escape if overmix and if the folding action is too rough or been mixing for too long.

Quickly pour the cake batter into a greaseless pan that has been lined with grease paper at the bottom. The reason for not greasing the pan is to ensure that the cake can have some fiction for it to cling on to and thus able to raise higher during baking.

Alternatively, can you also use tall muffin pan to bake the chiffon cake. It will take less time to bake. I suppose you can leave it to bake for 15 mins for muffin size and check if it needs another few minutes.


It should take about 35 minutes to bake a 17 inches Chiffon cake at 180 degrees celcius. See how high my baby cake has raised to. The sense of accomplishment one felt at this moment is priceless...

Once out of the oven, it is important to turn the cake tin upside down for it to cool down. Chiffon cake is a very delicate cake. By turning the cake upside down to cool down in its pan will prevent the cake from sinking due to its own weight...

My very own Pandan Chiffon Cake!

I must say this is not an easy cake to bake, thus do not feel disheartening if you failed to make it right the first time round. Just be more careful and read through the recipe a few times to get yourself familar with the details, like for example the mixing part, I am sure you get it right eventually.

If you ever try this out at home, do leave me a message if you like the recipe.

:)

Other Photosophize's Sweet Recipes:

• Chocolate Fondant Cake
• Delicious Banana Cake
• Orange Sponge Cake
• Cookies
• Honey Cone
• Chocolate Fondue
• Lychee Martini Jelly

Or refer to My Kitchen for other recipes.