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I am baking more often these days using wholegrain flour, coconut sugar, and coconut oil. I can’t really take much dessert because of the gestational diabetes, so I am trying to bake for some cheat days when craving strikes :p
I have to be honest that I really am not a fan of anything-coconut (lol!), but I am glad that my condition “forced” me to try coconut products. Because coconut carries a lovely flavor, really!
My husband has been asking me to bake pandan cake, because that is his favourite cake flavor. To be honest, I have not baked anything pandan before! Hahaha!
若想阅读中文版本，请在网页的右边 “Google Translate” 点击选择 中文简体 (Chinese Simplified）或 繁体 (Chinese Traditional) 翻译。可能食谱读起来会怪怪的，所以如果有疑问都可以问哦！
Pandan, or also known as the pandanus screwpine leaves, is a unique South-East Asia flavor.
We love to use it in cakes and pastries, which the green pandan cake is very famous for!
So a couple of days back, I saw a bunch of really green and nice pandan leaves, and decided to make a pandan cake. My cake is brownish-green here (again) due to the use of the coconut sugar – well, my entire meringue was light brown in color! Haha!
I feel that this cake seems slightly denser; however it is soft and moist. Perhaps the next time I would try to add 1 more egg white into the meringue and see if it lightens up the cake 🙂
In this recipe, I find that the flavors from pandan and coconut sugar pair very well together. I can also imagine pandan with gula melaka for this soft cake!
Opps! I didn’t slice the cake properly, in a rush :p
I am using Prima superfine wholegrain flour. You can of course use other brands of wholemeal flour, but it might have a difference in the texture of the cake, since most wholemeal flour carries coarser grains.
I really enjoy baking with Prima’s superfine wholegrain flour because the grains are so fine, they don’t make any significant difference to my bakes!
>> MORE YUMMY CHIFFON CAKE RECIPES:
This pandan sponge cake is a healthier version of the usual pandan chiffon cake. It uses meringue method, together with steam baking, for a soft and moist cake, which is great for sweet breakfast or tea time!
- 6 egg yolks
- 70 g coconut oil or veg oil
- 70 g plain flour + 30g Prima superfine wholegrain flour, or 100g plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 60 g coconut milk
- 40 g homemade pandan extract*
- 6 egg whites
- 100 g coconut sugar or caster sugar
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Line the base of your pan. Or if you are using removable base, you can skip lining the pan. Place flour into a large bowl.
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Place oil in a small saucepan. Heat on low heat until just simmering (about 70C). You should see some "oil streaks". Remove and pour the oil into flour. Immediately whisk till smooth.
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Add coconut milk and pandan extract into flour mixture. Stir to combine well. The batter will be thick and lumpy.
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Add in the egg yolks, whisk until batter is smooth and runny. Set aside.
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If you are feeling lazy (like me, lol), it is ok to not heat up the oil. Simply skip steps (2) to (4), just whisk together the egg yolk + coconut milk + pandan extract + oil in a large bowl, and continue below.
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Using your mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually and beat until firm peaks form. Firm peaks will be a shiny meringue, and when you lift the whisk up, it will form a firm hook.
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Preheat your oven to 180C. Place a small bowl of water at the most bottom part of your oven.
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Add 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk batter. Using your whisk, while rotating your bowl as you do it, mix the meringue using a cutting motion (up and down). Add in the next 1/3 portion, and switch to gentle folding using spatula.
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Add in the last 1/3 portion of the meringue, and continue to fold gently. When you see that most of the meringue has been folded into the batter, be sure to reach the bottom of the bowl, still using the folding method, to "scoop" up any unmixed yolk batter. Fold gently until you see uniform color in the batter.
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Pour into cake pan. Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 15 mins before lowering to 140C for 60 mins.
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Remove from oven when it is baked. Cool it slightly for a 1-2mins before unmolding. Remove baking paper at the bottom of cake, and cool completely on wire rack.
Please adjust the temperature according to your oven. My oven tends to be hotter and would split the cake, so I baked at 160C for 15 mins, then 140C for 60 mins. -
If you are like me, watching sugar intake, you can reduce the sugar to about 60g (caster sugar) or 65g (coconut sugar).
If you do not have pandan extract on hand, you can also make a vanilla version by substituting the pandan extract with water, and add in 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract.
For natural pandan extract, simply blend 30g pandan leaves (cut into small pcs) with 300g water. Drain the mixture over sieve or muslin cloth. Keep the pandan water in a glass container in the fridge for about 3-5 days. You will be able to see that the pandan extract will settle to the bottom of the container. Pour away the clearer water on top - tadah! That's your extract!
Recipe adapted from Jeannie Tay. This makes either an 8" round cake or 7" square cake.
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