Pandan Chiffon Cake

Winter is here in Brisbane and its been one of the coldest since I’ve been here. To warm the house up I’ve started baking quite a fair bit. I used to find baking quite hard and tedious, so I stayed away from It. I remember when I was young, watching my auntie bake; she used to measure everything to the gram, made sure the timing was right and waited in front of the oven till her cake was done. Oh Boy, I loved eating it, but so much hassle.

Whilst browsing through a “Gourmet” food magazine, I saw a fancy looking plate of something that look so familiar, It was a pandan chiffon cake. Then the flashbacks and craving started; my dad used to get us a pandan chiffon cake every time he goes to the Pasar Malam( Night markets in Malaysia), well “us” would be an overstatement...It was mainly for me...cos I would devourer half of it before bedtime.

The chubby boy inside of me was shouting “get this cake!!!”. So that night I looked up the ingredients and started baking..

Ingredients :

• 5 egg whites
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 5 tbs coconut milk
• 4 tbs vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup caster sugar, extra
• 150g plain flour, sifted
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder, sifted
• pinch of salt
• pandan essence (preferably green for colour)

How?

1. Preheat oven at 170°C or there abouts
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and beat thoroughly after each addition until you achieve stiff peaks. Set aside. Almost like a meringue.
3. In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks with extra caster sugar until thick, pale and fluffy. Add coconut milk, vegetable oil, pandan assents, flour and baking powder, and whisk until combined by folding the egg whites into the yolk mixture three batches.
4. Pour into baking tray. To make it easy to take the cake out, I covered the tray with baking paper. Bake for half an hour, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean; personally I like the skewer method.
5. When cake is out of the oven, leave it to cool down in the tin for a while.

Extra stuff :

- Blended coconut caramel : How?

1. Boil water and sugar(brown/dark sugar if available) till tick and caramelised

2. Mix the caramel and coconut flakes.

3. Let it cool down till harden

4. Then Blend it in a blended(i used a coffee bean blender), It look like sand.

And lastly cut a slice for you

And A slice for me!