Pandan chiffon cake
One of the best-loved cakes of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia: a tall, cloud-light chiffon cake, pale green, with pandan's vanilla-nutty aroma. Chiffon cake was invented in the 1920s in the US; in Southeast Asia it gained pandan and coconut milk. Its lightness comes from beaten egg whites, its moist softness from oil instead of butter. There are two conditions: an ungreased tube tin, because the batter must climb the sides, and cooling upside down, or it collapses.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Pandan juice 10 min
- Batter 20 min
- Baking 50 min
- Cooling upside down 90 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMake the pandan juice
Chop the pandan leaves, blend with the coconut milk and squeeze through a cloth. You need 100 ml of intensely green liquid; top up with a little coconut milk if needed. Heat the oven to 170°C.
Ingredients: 10 pcs pandan leaves, fresh or frozen · 100 ml coconut milk
Through a cloth — 100 ml of green juice.Make the yolk batter
Beat the yolks with 60 g sugar until pale, add the oil and pandan juice and whisk until combined. Sift in the flour with the baking powder and salt and whisk into a smooth, lump-free batter.
Ingredients: 5 pcs egg yolks · 60 g sugar · 80 ml neutral oil · 120 g cake flour · 1 tsp baking powder · ¼ tsp salt
Whisk a stiff meringue
In a clean, dry bowl whisk the whites with the lemon juice until foamy, then add the sugar a spoonful at a time and whisk until glossy and stiff, the tip just curling over. Overbeaten, dry meringue does not blend well with the batter.
Ingredients: 5 pcs egg whites · 70 g sugar · 1 tsp lemon juice
Fold in the meringue in three parts
Stir a third of the meringue into the batter to loosen it. Add the rest in two parts and fold gently with a balloon whisk or spatula, from the bottom up, until no white streaks remain. Work briefly — every stroke knocks out air.
Ingredients: 5 pcs egg whites · 70 g sugar · 1 tsp lemon juice
From the bottom up — until no white streaks remain.Pour into an ungreased tin
Pour the batter into a 20–22 cm tube tin, not greased or lined. Run a skewer through the batter to burst large bubbles and tap the tin on the worktop.
Ingredients: 5 pcs egg yolks · 60 g sugar · 80 ml neutral oil · 120 g cake flour · 1 tsp baking powder · ¼ tsp salt
Bake without opening the oven
Bake 45–50 minutes, until the cake rises above the rim, the top is pale golden and a skewer comes out dry. Do not open the oven for the first 30 minutes — a sudden drop in temperature makes the cake collapse.
Ingredients: 5 pcs egg yolks · 60 g sugar · 80 ml neutral oil · 120 g cake flour · 1 tsp baking powder · ¼ tsp salt
Cool upside down
As soon as it comes out, turn the tin upside down and set the tube over the neck of a bottle. Cool 1.5 hours. Clinging to the sides, the cake hangs and does not sink under its own weight until its structure sets.
Ingredients: 5 pcs egg yolks · 60 g sugar · 80 ml neutral oil · 120 g cake flour · 1 tsp baking powder · ¼ tsp salt
Upside down on a bottle — or it collapses.Release from the tin
Run a thin knife round the sides and the tube, lift off the sides and cut the cake from the base. Slice with a serrated knife in a sawing motion, without pressing.
Ingredients: 5 pcs egg yolks · 60 g sugar · 80 ml neutral oil · 120 g cake flour · 1 tsp baking powder · ¼ tsp salt
Before you start
Pandan
Fresh or frozen pandan leaves are sold in Asian shops. If you cannot get them, use 1 teaspoon of pandan extract and 100 ml plain coconut milk — the colour will be brighter and the flavour less complex.
A grease-free tin
Chiffon batter must cling to the sides to rise and not sink as it cools. A non-stick or greased tin lets it slip down and collapse.
Storage
The cake keeps 3 days tightly covered at room temperature. In the fridge it firms up and loses its fluffiness.
