Pandan Chiffon Cake

Ingredients 

• 4 large eggs (with egg whites and yolks separated)
  • Make sure you keep the egg whites in the fridge to keep them cold, but the egg yolks should be at room temperature.
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 2/3 cup (84g) all purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons (10g) cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk
  • I actually used 1 tablespoon heavy cream and 1 tablespoon water, but you should be able to substitute with any kind of milk here, like whole milk, oat milk, soy milk, etc.
• 1/2 teaspoon pandan extract
  • You can substitute with other flavors too. If the extract is the liquid kind, use 1/2 teaspoon. If it’s more the gel kind, you should use just 3-4 drops.

This makes approximately a dozen cupcakes. You can also use ramekins too.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
2. First, let’s make the roll cake. In a large bowl, add egg yolks and whisk until evenly mixed. Add half of the sugar and whisk until the mixture has approximately doubled in volume. I hand-whisked for approximately 7 minutes. The mixture should be a lighter yellow color and be at a ribbon stage (when you lift the whisk up, the mixture should fall back into the bowl in ribbons that will hold its shape until disappearing back into the mixture).
3. In bowl of a stand mixer, add cold egg whites and beat on low speed until foamy (approximately 2 minutes).
4. Add the other half of the sugar over 2 separate times and beat on medium high speed until the egg whites reach stiff peaks (approximately 7 minutes). Make sure to keep checking the egg whites to not overbeat them.
5. Add 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Gently hand whisk until evenly combined.
6. Add the egg yolk and egg white mixture back into the egg whites. Using a silicon spatula, gently fold in the egg whites until evenly combined.
7. Add flour, cornstarch, and baking powder. I sifted these dry ingredients together first, but you can omit this step if you’d like. Using a silicon spatula, gently fold in the dry ingredients until evenly combined.
8. Add lukewarm milk, vanilla, and pandan extract. Using a silicon spatula, gently fold until evenly combined.
9. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched. You’re done!

Pandan Chiffon Cake is a super fluffy and light cake that’s a perfect introduction to the pandan flavor. Pandan is a super fragrant leaf that has this delicious botanical vanilla flavor that is popular in Southeast Asia. It pairs perfectly with coconut and is definitely the highlight of the show here. This cake is definitely one of my favorite bases with it’s light texture that has an awesome mouthfeel. I eat it alone without any frosting or anything, but feel free to dress it up or down. Let me know if you try out my recipe for this Pandan Chiffon Cake in the comments below!