Pandan Chiffon Cake

Beautifully Risen Pandan Chiffon Cake

On 31st of August, it was Malaysia's 53th Birthday. As a Malaysian myself, I tried making Pandan Chiffon Cake first time ever on our Independence Day to bring out the patriotism in me. Also after receiving a few demands from friends who crave for Pandan Chiffon Cake badly but didn't have the magic hands to make it perfect. 

Unfortunately for me, I didn't inherit any family recipe from my mom nor my grands, but thank heaven for internet, I could easily find a good recipe online. I used this recipe from Nyonya Food (My recent discover for Nyonya recipes) of which received lotsa great comment.

Extracting Pandan Juice

Ingredient A:
8no Medium Egg Yolk
2oz or 56.7grm Sugar
2oz or 1/4cup Pandan Juice(Made from blending 6 Pandan Leaves with 1/4 -1/3 of water)
3oz or 1/3cup Olive oil/Corn oil (I used olive oil in this case)
5 oz or 142grm Self Raising Flour

Ingredient B:
8no. Medium Egg White
15oz or 42grm Caster Sugar
Pinch of salt

*I've converted the unit from Oz to Grams or Cup as we're more likely to be using these units. 

Step 1 & 2

Method:
1. Beat yolks and sugar lightly using a whisk til sugar dissolve.
2. Stir in Pandan Juice and Oil into mixture.
3. Fold self raising flour into egg mixture (like a slightly thick batter consistency).
4. Set aside.
5. On another big bowl, beat egg whites til light & frothy (make sure bowl is clean and not oily).
6. Slowly add in sugar and pinch of salt while beating at high speed.

Step 7, 9 & 10

7. Beat until the egg white is stiff and shiny (you can try putting the bowl upside down on your head, if it doesn't fall on ya, that's a great meringue).
8. Preheat oven at 175 degrees.
9. Using a spatula gently fold in egg yolk mixture into egg white mixture (meringue).
10. Once that's done, pour mixture into an ungreased 26cm tube pan (*try lining baking paper at the bottom of pan and side of pan).
11. Bake in the oven for 40 - 45mins.   
12. Once cake is cooked, remove cake from oven immediately and invert pan onto wire rack to cool before removing cake from pan.

* I didn't line any baking paper while making them, hence wrinkly & ugly appearance. 

Old people's hands

I was quite impressed with the height but not very happy with how it looked, as I was planning on giving it out as a birthday present to a friend of mine. Having said that, the flavour was incredible so as the cottony light texture. It is one of those after meal desserts that wouldn't make you feel guilty and bloated, because it is so light, one can easily finish it off.

Souffle like texture

It wasn't as green as those you get from Asian groceries, I suspect they put Pandan essence instead of extracting Pandan juice from its leaf. Pandan is a national flavour that are well-liked by everyone in Malaysia despite their difference in culture and social status. It is easily grown just as rosemary, you can find it in almost every household in Malaysia, and there's a big big bunch at my grandparents' place. We adore the aroma very much that we use it on almost everything, we even put it into the car to replace a car perfume. Well, back to Pandan Chiffon Cake, if you've never tried making it, you probably should because it wasn't as hard as I imagined. 

Happy baking XD!