The Pandan Project - Part 2

There is a saying 'Why change something when you know it works?' But then again why not? There was nothing wrong with Betty Saw's 'Never Fail Pandan Cake Recipe'. My only concern about it is that it is quite heavily laden with sugar!!! 300g is quite a lot in my opinion.Well if you limit yourself to just one piece a day it may not be that bad for you but try telling that to a 3 year old! There has to be a way round this. My ultimate aim after all was to try to give D a gluten-sugar-diary free diet as much as possible. Would the recipe work if I replace sugar with stevia blend and self raising flour with a gluten free version?

I did a search on the web and found that it was possible to make chiffon cake with gluten free flour if xanthum gum was added to the mixture. It was also possible to make it with stevia in combination with cane sugar (in this case a reduced amount of sugar was used). However I have not found a combination for a sugar free/gluten free version. Was it possible to create one?

Baking is pretty much a science like chemistry and to substitute ingredients we need to understand what part it plays in the baking process. From what I've read sugar does not only sweeten but also adds bulk and volume. Chiffon cakes depend on sugar for its lift and volume. Gluten in the flour serves to form the network which holds the cake together. If we took some of the sugar and gluten out of the equation and compensated the loss of sugar with extra liquid (coconut milk) would it still work?

The only way of knowing is to experiment and find out. Good lab practice usually entails replacing one thing at a time but ... :P

Experiment 1:
Replace self raising flour with gluten free self-raising flour. The gluten free self-raising flour (Dove's brand) has xanthum gum premixed in it.
Added 100g sugar instead of 300g to egg white
Added 50g stevia blend plus 2 tbls of maple syrup to egg yolks
Increase volume of coconut milk from 125ml to 300ml

The cake was rather fragile and broke apart when getting out of the tin

Cross-section of the cake it. Doesn't look too bad!

The result:
The cake did rise but was rather fragile and part of it fell apart when removing from the tin. Other than that it still looked and tasted like pandan cake even though it was slightly 'wetter' than usual (probably as a result of the extra coconut milk).

Experiment 2:
Same as the above except I added a tsp of xanthum gum and reduce the amt of coconut milk to 200ml!

Slightly better looking cake but still rather fragile

Cross section of the cake

The result:
The cake was still fragile but a bit more stable than previous. Taste wise I still preferred the one from the first experiment. Xanthum gum makes the mixture a bit too 'gummy' for my liking!

Conclusion:
It is possible to have a gluten free and low sugar version of the cake but you'll have to sacrifice the presentation so I think I'll save this version for my kids only. Guests at my house can have the Betty Saw version!

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!!!