The Pandan Project - Part 1

When you have lived overseas for a long time there will be some things that you will inadvertently miss about home ... family, friends and food that was once part and parcel of your life. One of these which I have often long for since I left home is the Pandan Chiffon Cake. You can get Pandan Chiffon Cakes in England but you have to go down to Chinatown in London and as I don't live anyway near London that's pretty much out of my reach. Yeah yeah I can take the train but that's going to cost a bit and as much as I miss Pandan Cake I'm not that desperate to spend so much money on train fares to satisfy my cravings ... honestly! :) Of course baking it is an option but ... I've never had luck with Chiffon Cakes and besides I couldn't find any Pandan Paste or Pandan Leaves (also known as screwpine leaves) down at the Chinese Supermarket in Sheffield. However through a stroke of luck I happened to discover that there was an asian store in Doncaster and so persuaded my hubby to go there one Saturday so that I could 'kaypo' (nose) around just to see what they stocked. I was in the shop out of curiousity and wasn't looking for anything in particular so it was an unexpected surprise that while browsing through some shelves I found the pandan paste! Yippee!

There is a SE Asian Cooking FB group which has loads of recipes and one of the members had posted a recipe of the 'Never Fail Pandan Cake Recipe' by Betty Saw. Having seen some of the successful attempts by the members of the group inspired me to have a go at making my own. Remembering all my failed attempts at chiffon cake baking I was skeptical if mine would turn out alright. But much to my surprise and delight it did! The recipe was truly a 'never fail'. ;)

First attempt at making Pandan Chiffon Cake

A slice of Pandan cake for D

 The Recipe

 

• Ingredients
  7 large egg whites
  150 gm castor sugar
  ½ tsp cream of tartar
  7 egg yolks
  150 gm castor sugar
  
  Mixture A
  6 tbsp corn oil
  ¼ tsp cream of tartar
  2 tbsp pandan juice (or ½ tbsp pandan paste)
  1 tsp vanilla essence
  125 ml/½ cup thick coconut milk
  
  150 gm self-raising flour
  
  Procedure
  Whisk egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a electric mixer until stiff and mixture holds its shape.
  
  In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy. Stir in Mixture A. Sift in self-raising flour and fold gently. Pour egg yolk mixture into egg white mixture and carefully mix gently and evenly.
  
  Pour into an ungreased 23 cm tube pan and bake in a moderate oven (175 C/340 F) for 45-50 minutes until lightly browned on surface. Remove from the oven and invert mould immediately. Allow to cool thoroughly before removing from pan.

The kids love this cake and I was glad to share a bit of 'Singapore' with them. D especially seem to have fallen in love with this lovely, soft and velvety green cake and kept asking me to make some more. Hmmmm ... I'll have to think about that!!!