Pandan Chiffon Cake is an extremely light, fragrant & sweet cake. I love the fragrance and the super light texture of this cake.  It is fairly easy to make but there are a few tricks that need attention in order to achieve a light and fluffy chiffon like texture.  The proportion of egg white to egg yolks, the baking temperature and the type of cake tin all play a part to ensure a success.

I have tried to bake this cake in a normal round cake tin but without any success. The texture is just not fluffy enough. So I decided to invest in a 8 inch chiffon cake tin - round cake tin with a hollow tube in the middle. It looks like this.

With this cake tin, it is easy to bake a beautifully risen and light pandan chiffon cake. Here is my recipe.

Video Link: https://youtu.be/acxraS8kgtA

Ingredients

(for a 8 inch chiffon cake tin)

• 4 egg yolks

• 50 gm  sugar

• 50 ml rice bran oil

• 100 ml coconut milk

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

• 1-2 drops of pandan paste

• 90 gm flour

• 1 tbsp cornflour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• Pinch of salt

• 5 egg whites

• 50 gm sugar

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 170°C. Place an oven tray on the top oven rack. This will help prevent the top of the cake from over browning.

2. Separate egg whites from the egg yolks.

3. Whisk egg whites till frothy.

4. Add sugar and continue to whisk till stiff peak. Set meringue aside.

5. Whisk egg yolks with sugar.

6. Add salt, oil, coconut milk and continue whisking till well combined.

7. Add pandan paste and vanilla essence. Stir to mix well.

8. Sift flour, cornflour and baking powder into the egg mixture and whisk to combine.

9. Mix 1/3 of the meringue into the batter. Stir to combine well.

10. Pour the batter into the remaining meringue and fold in gently.

11. Tap the bowl to release big bubbles.

12. Now pour the batter into the chiffon cake tin from one side. Keep pouring from the same side; do not turn the bowl as that will introduce air bubbles into the batter.

13. Use a bamboo skewer to stir the batter in one direction to release any trapped bubbles.

14. Place the cake tin on the lowest oven rack.

15. Bake at 170°C until the top of the cake starts to crack (around 20-25 mins).

16. Lower the oven temperature to 160°C. Continue to bake for another 25 mins. Total baking time: 45 mins. During baking, do not open the oven door or the cake will collapse.

17. Cool the cake by turning the cake tin over over a bowl. This will help prevent the cake from collapsing. The bowl will lift the cake over the table top, preventing condensation.

18. Cut the cake only when cooled- this may take an hour. Drape a wet towel over the bottom of tin to hasten cooling.

19. Once cooled, use a skewer to separate the sides and bottom of the cake from the tin.