Pandan Chiffon Cake

My all time favourite cake!

In fact, this is my second attempt in 4 days... the first one failed, half of the cake collapsed :(. Think I underbaked it. So this time, to use up my remaining pandan juice and also to find out if underbaking was the real cause of my previous failure , I tried again...after 3 days. This time round I baked slightly longer, using mainly the lower heat, and finally...I declare the attempt successful :)

However, still not satisfied with the fragrance of the pandan in the cake. Perhaps I diluted the juice too much, or perhaps, the leaves were not fragrant enough. Even though I bought two stalks, I can hardly smell its fragrance when the vegetable seller handed them to me. Will try again the next time when I get hold of really nice and fragrant leaves.

mixing still not even... more practice needed!!

Pandan Chiffon Cake
Adapted from: http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2011/06/pandan-chiffon-cake.html

Ingredients for batter: 
6 egg yolks (50g egg)
20g caster sugar
100g cake flour
100ml evaporated milk
2tbsp pandan juice (see below for making pandan juice)
40g vegetable oil
Ingredients for egg whites:
6 egg whites
70g caster sugar
1/2tsp cream of tartar

Ingredients of pandan juice:
20 pandan leaves
1 1/2 tbsp water

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 170deg.
2. Whisk the egg yolks with sugar till pale and creamy. Add evaporated milk, pandan juice. Combine well.
3. Sift in cake flour in three batches into the egg yolk mixture. Mix well. Lastly, add vegetable oil and mix well. Set aside.
4. Use a large clean bowl, making sure there’s no water or oil in it. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until bubbles form. Add the cream of tartar.
5. After mixing well, add the sugar in three batches, about one-third at a time, and beat well between additions. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
6. Spoon out 1/3 of the beaten egg whites and fold into the egg yolk mixture. Lightly fold in the rest of the beaten egg whites with a spatula, until just combined.
7. Pour into ungreased chiffon pan (23cm) and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes. After baking the first 15 minutes, if you find your cake gets browning, reduce heat to 150deg, continue to bake until cooked through. A needle comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
8. Remove cake from the oven. invert the pan immediately. Allow it to cool completely.

To make pandan juice: 
1. Cut pandan leaves into thin shreds, pop in a food processor and add about 1 1/2tbsp of water. Process to small pieces.
2. Place pandan leaves in a muslin bag and squeeze out the juice. You need about 2tbsp of it to make this cake. If you don’t have a muslin bag, just use your clean hand to squeeze out the juice.