Pandan Chiffon Cake

I felt like baking something for my coworkers because I haven't baked anything in a while. I was going to make oatmeal cookies, because I bought this bag of special oatmeal. It's a patented preparation to make the texture better...oooohh, fancy! But, I ended up making cake, because one of my coworkers was talking about how she likes soft cakes. I had this recipe saved for a while; it's about time that I made it. Incidentally, it was a green cake just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Pandan is a leaf, the juice of which is used in a lot of Vietnamese desserts.

Sorry, it's in metric...and I'm too lazy to convert it. I got it from http://roseskitchen.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/pandan-chiffon-cake

Pandan Chiffon Cake
225 grams cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
8 eggs, separated
300 grams sugar, separated in two
170 mL coconut cream
125 mL vegetable oil
2 tablespoons pandan juice
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1. So the real first step is to blend 12 pandan leaves with some water and strain out the juice...I used artificial flavoring so I skipped this.

2. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder in a smallish container.



3. In a medium bowl, mix the egg yolks and 150 grams of sugar with an electric hand blender.


4. When it's mixed, add the coconut cream, oil, pandan juice and a little bit of green food coloring.


This is what I used instead of pandan juice, for reference. I tried using just one tablespoon of this stuff (it's thick and goopy) and 1 tablespoon of water.


5. Add in the sifted flour and mix well until smooth.


6. Preheat your oven to 350 right now. In a separate large bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed until it's foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat for another minute.


Add in the rest of the sugar until the egg whites are shiny and stiff.




7. Scoop one third of the egg whites and mix it into the batter, the way you would normally mix. Then, add the rest of the egg whites and fold it in.


Pour the batter into a greased pan. I used a bundt pan. Look how pretty and green it is!


I baked it for 40-50 minutes or until a fork inserted comes out clean. If you the pat the cake it will be light and springy.