Baked this pandan chiffon cake last week. It was not my first experience making chiffon cakes. My first chiffon cake debuted about a year ago, some time in the last quarter of 2010. It was a pandan chiffon cake and it took quite a few days of self-persuasion before finally gathering all the necessary utensils and ingredients and most importantly, chiffon cake recipe, to make this cake.
I love chiffon cakes, especially pandan chiffon cakes. That's because it is something that has intimate associations with childhood memories. I remember Mum making pandan chiffon cakes, sometimes with success (which I will bring to school for Children's Day party), but quite a number of times, her chiffon cake attempts ended in failure. At that time, there seemed to be some sort of superstition that you cannot mention "kueh" when making chiffon cake else it will really turn into "chiffon kueh". In my family, this is the curse of the "chiffon kueh". And you were supposed to keep your mouth shut when Mum was busy whisking up the egg whites furiously. But the problem, especially on those occasions when her chiffon cake failed, was that Dad would be around and would casually comment "Oh you are making kueh today!" Eeeeeeek! Dad, you just chanted the cursed incantation! At that point, the clanking of the whisk against the bowl would stop and we would see Mum turn around, with that "I am going to kill you for saying that cursed word" look, a quick argument on the inappropriateness of word choice would ensue, Dad would retreat to the living room and the clanking of the whisk would resume. Unfortunately, Mum's mood would be totally spoiled, she lost concentration as she got consumed by the fear of the curse of the "chiffon kueh", the egg white meringue would not be whisked to the right stiffness and finally the self-fulfilling prophecy worked its magic. She produced the pandan chiffon keuh, all blames were served to the unsuspecting poor Dad.
When I had decided to try making pandan chiffon cake, the possible curse from the "chiffon kueh"(though I know very well that it was not true) still lingered at the back of my mind. But I had told myself that it is after all a superstition and the real reason for Mum's failure (despite the fact that those failures always coincided with Dad's casual cursed incantation of "Oh you are making kueh today") lies in the fact that the meringue was not whisked properly. As for the recipe, Mum did give me hers but there is a problem with it. The measurements were in soup spoons, cups and bowls. My standard for measurement differ very largely, I work in the grams, millilitres and litres mode. So of course I turned to the net for some recipes to refer and I found this, from the much acclaimed blog ieat.ishoot.ipost. It is a fantastic start for those interested in trying out chiffon cakes as this particular post spell out observations in many areas of chiffon cake making, from impacts of ingredients used to techniques in preparing the meringue, mixing the batter, when to take the cake out of the oven and overturning the cake to let it cool. I tried out two of the four variations offered and found that I loved the last one best, the one that says "Extra whites". The curse of the "chiffon kueh" never caught up with me, and I had went on the try out variations in flavors, made more tweaks to the basic recipe until I am happy with the sweetness, firmness and springiness of the chiffon cakes.
Having said all that, I am still very far from claiming success at making chiffon cakes. The usual problems with chiffon cakes would be the cake shrinks upon removal from the oven. I do not have too much of the problem. Yes, my cake will shrink, but just a little and the dome will still be there, like this.
The other problem is that the cake would not be appropriately browned or too burnt. Yes, my chiffon cake does show signs of the former problem. But a word of defense is necessary here. I like it this way actually. Not too browned on the sides and the bottom. I always felt that those chiffon cakes with an all-rounded copper tan, beautiful there is no denying, tended to taste slightly dry. I like mine moist. And so my chiffon cake would always look like a silly little thing spotting a successful tan on the face but is pale every where else! Like the one above and the one I am showing now.
Finally, a problem that I am still facing, and almost happily resigned to and accepting, is the large and beautiful smile my chiffon cakes would always greet me with.
The cake would rise... ...
And rise... ...
And finally present me with a cracks of smiles... ...
Pandan chiffon cake
(adapted with modifications from ieat.ishoot.ipost)
Makes 1x16cm tube pan and 2x12cm tube pans
Ingredients
Group 1
3 egg yolks
50g castor sugar
50ml corn oil
70ml thick coconut milk
100g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp pandan juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pandan essence
Group 2
5 egg whites
50g castor sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
Method
** Preheat oven to 160deg C. I use a small Tefal Crousty oven, hence the low temperature.
1. Sift cake flour, baking powder together and set aside. Add salt to the sifted mixture.
2. Whisk sugar and egg yolks from Group 1 until creamy.
3. Add coconut milk and oil, whisk together until well incorporated.
4. Add pandan juice, vanilla extract and pandan essence and quickly whisk together until well incorporated.
5. Add sifted flour mixture in 3-4 batches, whisking quickly at each addition and finally until all flour is combined and a smooth flowing mixture is achieved.
6. Using a very clean and dry whisk, whisk egg whites from Group 2 until foamy. Add sugar and whisk for about 30 seconds, then add cream of tartar. Continue to whisk until STIFF peaks are formed (like the picture below). This step is the spell that can break the curse of the "chiffon kueh". But be careful not to over whisk the egg whites as the cake may end up dry.
7. Add 1/3 of the meringue in Step 6 to the batter mixture in Step 5. Fold the meringue in gently, the mixture should appear slightly foamy.
8. Add the rest of the meringue to the mixture in Step 7, folding very gently until a uniform batter is achieved.
9. Pour into chiffon cake tube pan until 80% full. Drop the tube pan onto working surface from a low height of 3-5cm. This is to get rid of large air bubbles that may be caught into the batter when pouring.
10. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes (if a pale looking chiffon cake is preferred) or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. For a well tanned cake, of course stretch the baking time longer for about 5-10 minutes.
11. Take the cake out of the oven (I did so at exactly 40 minutes for a pale cake) and immediately turn the tube pan upside down. Let the cake cool completely before delicately extracting the cake from its tube pan casing.
Note:
* When chiffon cake is not fully browned around the sides and bottom, there is a risk of the cake dropping out from the tube pan when overturning the cake to cool! ^_^ That was what happened when I baked this chiffon cake. Well, what I did was to pop the cake back into the tube pan, let it rest right side up for 30 seconds before turning it upside down again. Stayed put in the pan! Strange though really funny, as this is the first time it had happened. All my previous pale looking cakes were not this enthusiastic about leaving their warm casing!
50g castor sugar
50ml corn oil
70ml thick coconut milk
100g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp pandan juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pandan essence
Group 2
5 egg whites
50g castor sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
Method
** Preheat oven to 160deg C. I use a small Tefal Crousty oven, hence the low temperature.
1. Sift cake flour, baking powder together and set aside. Add salt to the sifted mixture.
2. Whisk sugar and egg yolks from Group 1 until creamy.
3. Add coconut milk and oil, whisk together until well incorporated.
4. Add pandan juice, vanilla extract and pandan essence and quickly whisk together until well incorporated.
5. Add sifted flour mixture in 3-4 batches, whisking quickly at each addition and finally until all flour is combined and a smooth flowing mixture is achieved.
6. Using a very clean and dry whisk, whisk egg whites from Group 2 until foamy. Add sugar and whisk for about 30 seconds, then add cream of tartar. Continue to whisk until STIFF peaks are formed (like the picture below). This step is the spell that can break the curse of the "chiffon kueh". But be careful not to over whisk the egg whites as the cake may end up dry.
7. Add 1/3 of the meringue in Step 6 to the batter mixture in Step 5. Fold the meringue in gently, the mixture should appear slightly foamy.
8. Add the rest of the meringue to the mixture in Step 7, folding very gently until a uniform batter is achieved.
9. Pour into chiffon cake tube pan until 80% full. Drop the tube pan onto working surface from a low height of 3-5cm. This is to get rid of large air bubbles that may be caught into the batter when pouring.
10. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes (if a pale looking chiffon cake is preferred) or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. For a well tanned cake, of course stretch the baking time longer for about 5-10 minutes.
11. Take the cake out of the oven (I did so at exactly 40 minutes for a pale cake) and immediately turn the tube pan upside down. Let the cake cool completely before delicately extracting the cake from its tube pan casing.
Note:
* When chiffon cake is not fully browned around the sides and bottom, there is a risk of the cake dropping out from the tube pan when overturning the cake to cool! ^_^ That was what happened when I baked this chiffon cake. Well, what I did was to pop the cake back into the tube pan, let it rest right side up for 30 seconds before turning it upside down again. Stayed put in the pan! Strange though really funny, as this is the first time it had happened. All my previous pale looking cakes were not this enthusiastic about leaving their warm casing!
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