pandan cake...two way

I made two pandan cakes this week. The two ingredient lists were almost identical but the preparation method differs slightly.

I wouldn't call this a pandan chiffon cake. Although it was made using separate eggs method, the texture was closer to a sponge cake instead. The preparation method is slightly different from making a chiffon cake. To make this cake, the egg whites are first beaten still close to stiff peak. The yolks are then added directly to the meringue, followed by vegetable oil, coconut milk, vanilla extract and pandan paste...all dump in together. The mixture is then combined with a balloon whisk. The last step is to fold in the flour with a spatula. The cake is baked in a bundt pan or a tube pan...which has to be well greased and floured. After baking, the cake pan is inverted and the cake will slip off from the pan right away.

This pandan cake didn't rise too much upon baking. Either I have deflated the batter when trying to fold in the flour, or it could be due to the smaller sized eggs that I used...the cake pan was only half filled. I didn't do a good job in preparing the pan either...there was a thin layer of flour on the surface of the cake :(

Once the cake was released from the pan, I cut a slice to taste it. The crust is quite crisp and the crumb tasted moist and soft. The cake didn't taste as moist upon cooling but I still find it delicious.

With some left over coconut milk, I made another pandan cake...this time, it is a real chiffon cake. The cake rose quite well during baking despite the fact that I must have deflated the batter since the finished batter was not as thick as I would expect.

Closer to the end of the baking, the cake started to sink a little. Fortunately it managed to stay well above the rim upon cooling. I am quite satisfied with the height of the finished cake. I have deliberately omitted cream of tar tar and baking powder which are called for in the original recipe. Apparently this didn't cause any damage.

I really like the airy texture of this cake! It is cottony soft, moist, light and fluffy.  This recipe is certainly a keeper. The only thing I need to improve upon is to enhance the flavour. I have left out the pandan juice since I do not have a blender or a mortar and pestle to extract the juice from pandan leaves. I will have to think of a way to get around this problem before I could make the perfect pandan cake.

(I will be leaving for a short trip and will not be able to access blogger during the time I am away. You may leave your comments and questions and I will respond to them when I return.)



Pandan Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:
(for 7" tube pan)

3 egg yolks (use large eggs, 60g without shell)
35g caster sugar
70g coconut milk
55g vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pandan paste
1 tablespoon pandan juice  
pinch of salt
100g cake flour

4 egg whites (use large eggs, 60g without shell)
50g caster sugar
(Note: I omitted the baking powder and cream of tar tar which is called for in the original recipe.)


Method:

1. Sieve flour and set aside.
2. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl. With a manual hand whisk, whisk the yolks a little. Add in sugar and whisk till the mixture turns pale and thick. Add coconut milk gradually, stir to combine. Add vegetable oil gradually, stir to combine. Add vanilla extract, pandan paste, pandan juice (I replaced with water) and salt. Stir to combine. Sieve over the flour and whisk till the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over mix. Set aside.
3. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with a handheld electric mixer on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy.  Add half of the sugar amount and turn to high speed and beat the mixture. Continue to add in the remaining sugar and beat until the egg whites reaches the soft peak stage.The soft peak stage is reached when the peaks of the whites curl over and droop slightly. The egg whites should appear smooth and glossy. (Do not over beat the whites still stiff, it is better to beat the whites still soft peaks for easy folding with the yolk batter.)
4. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
5. Pour batter into a 17cm tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
6. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 35 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, when lightly pressed the cake will spring back. Invert the pan immediately and let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.

Recipe source: adapted from ieatishootipost

baking for a friend

This is a much delayed post...exactly two weeks late, pardon my tardiness!

I thought I could manage to squeeze in sometime to update my blog before we left for a short trip to Malaysia. Alas, I was so tight up with booking the accommodations, drawing up the itinerary, looking up google maps for addresses for places of interest and ploughing through websites and blogs to hunt down famous eating places along our drive up to Penang. I couldn't post this up soon after we were back home as I was busy cleaning up the house and washing and ironing loads after loads of laundry :(

Back to the theme of this post...

I have in mind to bake this classic chocolate torte for my cake friend just before the end of the school term. I thought it would be a good way for her to celebrate the start of the school holidays with her children. I was quite confident that even the most picky eater would not be able to reject a slice of chocolate cake :)

So far this is the 'safest', almost fool-proof cake for me to bake and give away.

The ingredients are simple enough...they are items that are easily retrieved from most home bakers' pantries.

The preparation method is almost similar to baking a chiffon cake...the only difference is, this cake is baked using a normal round cake pan.

There is no worry about the cake not rising tall and mighty in the oven, what we really want to achieve is a dense, sunken and cracked cake!

There is no frosting required to decorate the cake. Just a simple light dusting of icing sugar does the trick.

Even though I have not made this cake for ages, I was very satisfied with the result...at least it was something that I wasn't too shy to give away, especially to a fellow home baker.

This time I managed to deliver the cake in one piece :)
It was indeed a delight to hear that my cake friend liked it, and to top if off, this is the exact same cake which brought her to my blog. She was wondering why someone would blog about a cracked and sunken cake (^^''')

After hearing from my friend how the texture of the cake turned out...smooth and soft...just the way it should be, I couldn't resist the temptation and went on to bake another one a few days later. This time it was for my husband when he came home to spend a week with us.

This second cake appeared to crack more than the previous one even though I didn't do anything different. The cake produced a nice dome while baking in the oven. Towards the end of the baking time, it started to sink. Upon cooling, the cake collapsed further forming a very sunken centre and kinked sides.

Don't be deceived by its ugly appearance...the cake was wonderfully moist and chocolatey. However, I must alert those with sweet tooth...the semi-sweet dark chocolates, with at least 60% cocoa content, plus the unsweetened cocoa powder I used, made this cake tasted a little bitter. But for those who prefer dark chocolates to milk chocolates, this is the cake to make whenever you crave for something with a very intense chocolate taste.

Although the cake looks dense and 'kueh-like', the texture is actually very smooth and soft, almost like eating a slice of cheesecake. I attribute the soft and fine crumbs to the minimal flour used in the recipe. This cake is best eaten at room temperature and as with most chocolate cakes, the cake tastes even better when left overnight. I have planned to submit this post for the last Aspiring Bakers event, but I didn't manage to meet the deadline, hope I am able to participate in the next round.



Classic Chocolate Torte

Ingredients:
(make one 18cm cake)

150g dark chocolate
100g unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
30g cake flour
15g cocoa powder

3 egg whites
50g caster sugar

icing sugar for dusting


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degC. Line the bottom of an 18cm round pan (with removable base) with parchment paper. Grease and flour the sides. Separate egg whites from egg yolks when the eggs are still cold from the fridge. (It's easier to separate eggs while they are cold). Sift together flour and cocoa powder, twice, set aside.
2. Melt dark chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bowl is able to sit above the water and it should cover the pot so that steam will not get inside the bowl). Remove from heat. Let cool.
3. With a manual whisk, whisk egg yolks with 20g of the caster sugar, till the mixture turns pale, becomes thick and creamy. Add in the melted chocolate/butter mixture. Whisk till well mixed. Add in flour mixture and fold gently with a spatula. Set aside.
4. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with a handheld electric mixer on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy.  Add half of the sugar amount and turn to high speed and beat the mixture. Continue to add in the remaining sugar and beat until the egg whites reaches the soft peak stage.The soft peak stage is reached when the peaks of the whites curl over and droop slightly. The egg whites should appear smooth and glossy. (Do not over beat the whites still stiff, it is better to beat the whites still soft peaks for easy folding with the yolk batter.)
5. Add the egg white to the egg yolk mixture in three addition. Each time, fold in gently with a spatula, making sure all the egg whites are incorporated into the batter. Note that any unmixed egg white lumps may cause holes in the final product.
6. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan. Tap the cake pan slightly on tabletop a few times to release any trapped bubbles in the batter. Bake at 170 degC for 30 ~ 35 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with a few moist crumb. The cake surface will start to crack while still in the oven.
7. Remove cake from oven, leave it in the pan for about 5mins. Unmould and let cool, right side up (do not invert) on wire rack. The cake is best eaten at room temperature. If stored in fridge, bring the cake to room temperature before serving.

Recipe source: adapted from Delicious!! Baked Cakes