Pandan Chiffon Cake

Pandan paste- bought at Indonesian store

Meringue- Make sure that you whisk until soft peaks!! Most critical step of this cake. Without enough volume, the cake will not rise.

Be gentle about incorporating the meringue with the pandan mixture, but make sure to mix well.

When you are done baking, you should see that the cake will rise to the top of the tube pan. It's tempting to remove and eat immediately, but almost all of the recipes I read, said to led it cool completely before removing, and to put it upside down to cool.

Voila! After all your work! Rewarded with a nice and fluffy pandan cake!

You can see my first attempt vs second attempt. Definitely something was not right the first time!!

Tried making this as cupcakes! Baked at 325 for 15 min.

My test taster!

My mother-in-law's friend introduced this cake tome. I thought it was one of the most delicious cakes! It's light and airy. It's also one of my daughter's favorites. I went to the Indonesian store to by some pandan paste, which saves a lot of time from having to extract the juices from pandan leaves. The first time I made it, was dismal failure! Extremely dense and the cake was only 1.5 inches tall. Was very chewy. I think my problem was that I didn't make the meringue correctly. it wasn't stiff enough. Made it a few times more, and gotten better at making the cake.

Lessons learned:
1. I learned that it's important to make the meringue correctly and let it form soft peaks. First time, I don't think I did this correctly and didn't whisk it long enough, so my cake didn't rise and was extremely dense. When whipping up the meringue- make sure to do it in a big bowl since it will expand! But saw reviews to try not to over-whisk the meringue so it's stiff peaks or else the cake will be dry. Also, the bowl for mixing the meringue should be free from oil.
2. Can be tricky getting the cake out. It will stick to your pan. After baking, immediately put upside down on plate, and let cool completely. Also, helps to put a layer of parchment paper at the bottom of the pan.

Here's what I basically did:
1. Cut parchment paper and line 10 inch tube pan. Don't grease pan.
2. Separated 9 eggs- reserving 6 yolks in large mixing bowl for KitchenAid blender, and 9 egg whites in separate large bowl.
3. Mixed 6 egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar. Mixed in 1/2 cup veg oil. Then 3/4 cup coconut milk. Added in 3 teaspoons of pandan paste.
4. Measured 7 oz of cake flour, then mixed with 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Then added to pandan mixture gently.
5. Made meringue. Whisked 9 egg whites until foamy. Then added in 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar. Whisked more, and then added 1/2 cup sugar. Keep whisking until see soft, but not firm peaks.
6. Fold the egg white mixture into the pandan mixture very carefully and gently. I did this in fourths. Be sure to mix it well together too. Or else there will be pockets of darker color in your cake.
7. Pour into tub pan and gently tap to make get air bubbles out
8. Bake at 325 for 45 min  (convection oven temp- for me- I need to set my oven to 350 for a temp of 325).
9. After done, rest upside down. Let cool completely. To remove cake. Use knife to gently remove the cake from the outer and inner rim of the cake. Put it upside down again and gently tap it out.

If you want to make cupcakes (made 15 cupcakes- prob more if make smaller cupcakes):
1. Preheat oven to 325. Move rack lower
2. Line cupcake with paper liner or cupcake liners
3. Make batter as above
4. Bake for 15 min.
5. Turn off oven, and leave cupcakes in there with oven door cracked open a little for 10 min. (learned this as a tip to prevent the cupcake from deflating too much
6. Take cupcakes out

Pandan Chiffon Cake (from seriouseats.com; recipe by Yvonne Ruperti)

Ingredients

• 6 pandan leaves, washed and roughly chopped (didn't use this)
• 6 large eggs, separated, divided
• 1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup full fat coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons pandan extract (used 3 teaspoons)
• 1 3/4 cup (7 ounces) cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (I baked at 325, so set convection to 350). Line bottom of 10-inch tube pan with parchment paper (didn't do this a couple of times and had trouble getting cake out). Place chopped pandan leaves in food processor and add 2 tablespoons water. Blend until leaves are pulverized, about 1 minute (add an extra tablespoon water if mixture is too thick to blend). Strain mixture though cheesecloth, squeezing tightly to extract as much juice as possible. You should have 3 to 4 tablespoons juice.
2. In large bowl, whisk 6 yolks with 1/2 cup sugar until very light, about 1 minute. Whisk in oil until combined. Whisk in coconut milk, pandan extract, and 3 tablespoons pandan juice until combined.
    
3. Sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Gently whisk flour mixture into pandan mixture until smooth.
4. Using standing mixer fitted with whip attachment, beat 9 egg whites on medium low speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar, increase speed to medium, and continue to beat until meringue begins to look opaque. Increase speed to medium high and slowly add remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Continue to beat until meringue reaches stiff but not dry peak.
5. Fold 1/3 of meringue into batter until combined. Carefully fold in remaining meringue in two stages until just combined, being careful to not deflate meringue.
6. Pour batter into ungreased 10-inch tube pan and bake until cake is golden on top, set, and long skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Completely cool cake in pan, about 2 hours. Invert onto serving plate to serve.