Pandan Chiffon Cake

So, the other night I was watching My Kitchen Rules and our SA pair Leigh and Jen made custard pandan chiffon cake. Pandan chiffon cake is a light and soft textured cake which is a popular dessert or anytime snack in Malaysia so of course watching the show had me craving chiffon cake. It can be made in other flavours such as lemon, orange, coffee or even rosewater if you like. All you have to do is change the juice that you use. My all time favourite however is pandan. Pandan leaves or screwpine leaves just have this beautiful incomparable fragrance to me. Anyway after watching my recorded episode at 10.30pm at night I decided I conveniently had pandan leaves in the freezer and thus it was a sign. I must satisfy my craving! Unfortunately I did not have a chiffon cake pan (the one with a hole in the middle) so I was prepared for the middle to be undercooked and subsequently cut out or I will end up burning the sides. 

Ingredients

The recipe I used is tweaked slightly from one of my favourite reads Nyonya Food by Rasa Malaysia.

Ingredients:

8 medium eggs (separate yolk and white)

55g sugar for egg yolk mix

4 tbsp pandan leaves juice (Blend 6 pandan/screwpine leaves with 100mL water)

1/3 cup olive oil

150g self raising flour

150g sugar for egg white mix

pinch of salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 175 degrees Celcius
2. Beat egg yolk and 50g sugar lightly until sugar dissolves. Stir in pandan juice and oil
3. Fold self raising flour into mixture and set aside.
4. Beat egg whites until frothy. Slowly add in 150g sugar and pinch of salt while beating at high speed with mixer.
5. Beat until the egg white mixture is stiff and shining but not dry.
6. Using a spatula, gently fold egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture.
7. Pour into an ungreased 25cm tube pan and bake for 40-45 minutes.
8. Once cake is cooked, remove cake from oven immediately and invert pan onto wire rack. Let it cool before removing cake from pan.

The cake turned out well despite the undercooked centre as I expected. I was happy that my cravings were satisfied. Try this recipe some time, it's quick and easy. Definitely a delicious snack on its own or served with ice cream.