Pandan Cake Recipe
- Grace
- Jun 26, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 15, 2020
A pandan cake is a type of chiffon cake coloured and flavoured with pandan leaves. It originated in Southeast Asia and is particularly popular in Malaysia and Singapore. CNN named it Singapore and Malaysia's national cake. It is believed to have evolved from the American chiffon cake which was popularised during the 1940s and 50s. (Tan)
In this recipe, I will take you through how to make a delicious pandan cake with detailed instructions and extra tips and tricks at the end.
Pandan Cake Recipe
(Adapted from Grace Teo from Nyonya Cooking's recipe.)
Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 50 minutes Total Time: 2 hours
Yield: 8-12 servings
Ingredients:
100ml coconut milk
5 eggs, separated
15 pandan leaves
80g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
70ml oil
1 ½ tsp baking powder
100g cake flour
½ tsp vinegar
½ tsp salt
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 150°C.
Line the bottom of a 17 cm diameter chiffon cake tin. (If you are using a bundt tin with details you do not need to line it).
Blend together the pandan leaves, 2 tablespoons of water and 3 tablespoons of the coconut milk until they form a paste, remembering to scrape down the sides to get any stuck leaves.
Place the paste in a strainer above a small bowl and use a spoon to extract as much of the juice as possible, leaving it to sit until needed.
In a large bowl, whip the egg whites to soft peaks, about four minutes.
Add 60 grams of the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating for 40 seconds after each addition or until the sugar has dissolved. If it dissolved, when you rub a bit of the meringue between your fingers, you should not be able to feel any granules.
Once you have added the last tablespoon of sugar, scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat the meringue for 1 more minute.
Add the vanilla, salt and vinegar and fold them in with a spatula.
In a new bowl, whip together the egg yolks and sugar until they are thick, light and the sugar has dissolved.
Add the oil, coconut milk and the pandan leaf juice and mix well.
Sift in the flour, baking powder and mix until combined.
Add your meringue to the batter ⅓ at a time, gently folding it in so you do not lose the air but making sure you do not have any streaks of meringue.
Carefully pour your batter into your tin, not moving the tin but only pouring into one spot.
Bake for 50 minutes to an hour or until golden brown. Once you have removed it from the oven, quickly invert the pan over a wire rack and allow to cool fully before serving. This cake is best served on the day it is made but can be stored in a sealed container for up to five days.
Photo Guides:
Whipping the egg whites to soft peaks: Finished meringue:
Folding in the meringue: Baked cake:
Cooling the cake:
Tips & Tricks:
You can replace the pandan juice with 1/2 teaspoon of store-bought pandan paste and 2 tablespoons of water.
Using coconut oil will add extra coconut flavour.
Any milk can be used in place of the coconut milk if needed.
Egg yolk can stop your meringue from whipping up so to make sure you don't get any in your egg whites, I recommend first separating each egg into two cups before pouring the egg yolks and egg whites into their bowls.
If you don't have cake flour you can replace it by measuring 100g of all-purpose flour, then replacing one tablespoon of it with cornstarch.
You can also turn this into a plain chiffon cake by replacing the pandan juice with water and adding 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. For a chocolate chiffon cake, replace 2 tablespoons of the flour with cocoa powder.
Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts:
Works Cited:
Tan, Guan Zhen. "S'pore Pandan Cake Is One Of CNN's Favourite Cakes From Around The World. Okay. Sure.".Mothership, 2017, https://mothership.sg/2017/04/spore-pandan-cake-is-one-of-cnns-favourite-cakes-from-around-the-world-okay-sure/. Accessed 8 June 2020.
Teo, Grace. "Pandan Chiffon Cake - Southeast Asian Recipes".Nyonya Cooking, 2016, https://www.nyonyacooking.com/recipes/pandan-chiffon-cake~HyFfdDiwzcWQ. Accessed 7 June 2020.
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