Pandan Chiffon

a few weeks ago, a teacher proudly brought her orange chiffon cake for us to taste. it was nice, though a tad tangy. i was thinking, if she could make a chiffon cake, that also means i could too.

so today, i bought a tubed pan, and made the cake. seriously, 10 years ago, i wouldnt have dreamed of making the cake. especially light and airy cakes. i was pleasantly surprised to see that mine is really a chiffon, springy, wobbly, airy pandan chiffon!

here's the recipe, which i've taken from amy beh's column in the star

ingredients
6 egg whites
125g castor sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
6 egg yolks
100g sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
5 tbsp corn oil
2 tbsp pandan juice
100ml thick coconut milk (squeezed from 1/2 a grated coconut)
140g self-raising flour, sift

Pandan juice:
5-6 pandan leaves, cut into small pieces
3-4 tbsp water

Method
To obtain pandan juice, put pandan leaves and water in an electric blender and blend to a fine pulp. Strain the juice and measure out two tablespoonfuls for use.

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Whisk egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in an electric mixer until just stiff.Whisk egg yolks, sugar and vanilla essence until light and creamy. Add in corn oil, pandan juice and thick coconut milk. Mix well.Stir in sifted flour and fold in carefully and gently to mix.Pour egg yolk mixture lightly into the egg white mixture. Mix evenly with a metal spoon or a plastic spatula.Pour batter into an ungreased 22cm tube pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until cake is well browned and firm to the touch.Remove cake from oven. Invert pan immediately. Leave to cool, then remove cake from pan with the help of a thin-bladed knife.