There is something so charming about chiffon cakes. It is humble, comforting, nothing not to love. Originating from the US, popularized in Japan, and probably consumed a little too often over here, chiffon cakes can literally be found in every bakery. For the number of flavors they come in, there is no denying we love our cotton-like airy chiffons just as much as we do our local bakes and kuihs.
For a variation with distinctive South East Asian flair, I made pandan chiffon cake. I used natural pandan extract. It gives the most wonderful fragrance and light emerald hue.
You can of course use store-bought pandan extracts, but I would highly recommend making them on your own. It is effortless and stores well. Click HERE to see how I make my own natural extract.
Unlike angel food cakes, liquid fats are the heart of any chiffon cake, which is why vegetable oil and yolks are used to give it that delicate crumb. To further enhance the flavor, I will also be using coconut milk as it has a higher oil content to achieve a rich, moist cake.
Traditionally, chiffon cakes are made using tube pans. Regular pans work too, but not the non-stick ones. You should never grease the pan as the cake needs the support from the side and center tube to climb. A good chiffon cake should rise to the top without caving in.
You are to let the cake cool upside down. Only attempt to remove it from the tin when it is cool. You may use a palette knife, but I find you run the risk of damaging the surface of the cake. Instead, I use my hands to remove the cake from the pan by gently pressing it inwards from the edges. Check out my video below to see how I remove the chiffon cake! Be gentle, the structure of a chiffon cake is very soft, so be patient and whatever you do, do not try to yank or shake it out.
I hope you will have as much fun making this lovely pandan chiffon cake as I did. Let me know how it went in the comments section below!
Pandan Chiffon Cake
Ingredients
Egg Yolk Batter
- 6 large egg yolks at room temperature
- 80 g castor / granulated sugar
- 60 ml neutral flavoured oil (i.e. vegetable/canola oil)
- 100 ml coconut milk
- 60 ml pandan juice + extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- 150 g superfine cake flour refer to notes for substitutes
- 1 tsp baking powder can be omitted
Egg White Meringue
- 6 large egg whites
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- 60 g castor / granulated sugar at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170°C. Sift flour and baking powder, set aside.
- Separate your eggs, placing the whites in one clean and dry large bowl, and the yolks in another clean bowl.
Pandan Juice & Extract Mixture
- Start by making your natural pandan juice + extract at least one day in advance, following the steps HERE. You may opt to use 60ml of the pandan juice straight away, but I would suggest letting it sit overnight to allow the chlorophyll to sink to the bottom like shown in the image below.
- You will find the juice segregated into two layers the following day. Pour out the less concentrated juice into a clean bowl until you are left with the thick green layer at the very bottom as shown in image below.
- You should have approximately 27-30g of thick concentrated pandan extract. Add the less concentrated pandan juice from (2) to make up to a total of 60ml of pandan juice + extract. Stir the pandan mixture into the coconut milk, and set aside.
Egg Yolk Batter
- Using either a whisk to beat manually by hand, or flat beater on your stand mixer, combine egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and beat until mixture becomes light and colour turns pale.
- Add oil, stir to lightly combine. Then add the pandan and coconut mixture. Whisk until well combined. If using an electronic mixer, use the slowest speed setting.
- Add salt, followed by flour gradually in 4-5 folds, and mix until batter is well incorporated without any lumps. Set aside.
Egg White Meringue
- Using a stand mixer with balloon whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium low speed until foamy then add in cream of tartar.
- When the mixture starts to get bubbly, add half portion of sugar and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-high then add remaining sugar gradually and beat until egg whites are glossy, with stiff peaks. When you lift your whisk, your egg white meringue would stand straight up with the tip slightly bent over. Also be sure to check the bottom of the bowl to ensure that there is no liquidy mixture – this is considered under-beating. Note that under-beating or over-beating the meringue mixture would cause the cake to either not rise, or it would rise and collapse.
Fold In
- Using a spatula, add ⅓ of meringue into egg yolk mixture and fold in lightly. You'd want to be as gentle as you can so as to ensure you do not deflate the egg whites too much.
- Add in another ⅓ of the meringue and fold – again, remember to be gentle. This is to ensure you'd achieve a fluffy cake.
- Finally add the remaining meringue and fold to incorporate completely. If your meringue is not completely homogenous with your egg yolk mixture, when the cake is baked, you would find white streaks.
- Pour batter into a 22cm/9" chiffon cake tube pan. The best chiffon cake pan to use is the aluminium pan with removable base. The non-stick ones are not suitable and DO NOT grease your chiffon cake pan.
- Knock the cake pan lightly on the tabletop to remove air pockets. If you skip this step, you may find holes within your cake after baking.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. When cake is done, remove from oven and invert it on a wire rack, leaving it to cool. Please make sure the cake is left upside down until completely cool or the cake will collapse.
- Once cake has cooled completely, gently press onto the sides of the cake to loosen it up. Refer to my how-to video HERE to see how I do it. Alternatively, you may carefully run a palette knife or spatula around the sides of the cake to loosen it up before inverting onto a cake board or serving plate. The base of your cake, would be the top.
- Slice cake to your desired serving size, and enjoy.
Notes
Have you tried this recipe?
If you made this recipe, I’d love to see how it went!
Feel free to tag me on Instagram @thebakeanista
so I can have a look and re-post on my IG stories! ♥
Super delicious Pandan Chiffon Cake. My daughter and I tried baking it yesterday. The moist texture and airy crumb, just so perfect. The flavour of pandan juice and coconut milk are well blended at its equilibrium. This is pandan chiffon is surpassed Bangawan Solo’s Pandan Chiffon. A must keep recipe. Thanks Michelle for sharing this excellent recipe, a Pandan Chiffon Cake Recipe I have been hurting for for all these years. Finally I have found it. Well done Michelle!
Thank you so much Helen for your feedback! It’s such an honor to have my recipe put on the same level as Bengawan Solo. 😍
I’ve always been intimidated with chiffon cakes but my first try turned out so successful thanks to your recipe (so easy to follow)! The cake was fragrant, light and airy – truly everything you’d want in a pandan chiffon cake! I also followed your guide to make the pandan juice. Thanks Michelle, this recipe is definitely a keeper 🙂
Thank you for trusting my recipe! So glad your chiffon cake turned out soft, fluffy and boing boing. 😀
Super detailed recipe and the outcome is great! The cake is very fragrant, light and fluffy. Will make this again! 🙂
The pandan chiffon cake looks so fluffy😋
Would like to ask if u have chiffon cake recipe make with thermomix method?
Not as yet, hopefully soon.
That was the question I wanted to ask too! *eager anticipation* thank you for your lovely recipes!
I have saved this recipe and watched your video! I will be trying it very soon, I love pandan chiffon cakes! I am partial to santan and pandan 🙂
Keep me posted on how you go! 🙂
May i know what coconut milk did you use in this pandan chiffon cake recipe? Thanks!
I usually use Kara brand.
Thanks for the speedy reply! Do you mean Kara UHT coconut cream? Thanks!
Yup that’s the one! If you can easily get your hands on fresh coconut extract, of course you could use that too.
Thanks! Your cake looks delicious. I will try it when i get hold of all the ingredients. 🙂
May I know which brand of the super fine cake flour that you used ? I only see cake flour being sold have not seen superfine cake flour
Superfine flour is cake flour – just named differently, so you can go ahead to get cake flour 🙂
Thank you so much for such good recipe. I baked just now and daughter said ho sek! My first attempt and turned out perfect. Thanks again.
Thanks for this. Is it possible to replace cream of tartar with vinegar?
I’ve never tried with vinegar or lemon, but it’s an acidic alternative that many suggest is the best substitute for COT.
absolutely my go-to chiffon recipe now, your post also encouraged me to try making pandan extract on my own!! i think i won’t make pandan chiffon without natural pandan extract anymore after this lol it rly tastes different ✨
Hello! May i know if it’s too sweet? Can i reduce sugar? Thank you.
Ahh this is very subjective, I highly suggest you try first and if it’s too sweet for your liking, then readjust next time. But I would say my recipes are generally not too sweet to begin with.
Your pandan chiffon cake recipe is very well documented with video, this is especially useful for a baking novice like me. Whenever I make this cake, it is always well received by my family & friends, definitely is a great keep recipe !! Thank you so much for your generous sharing and replying to my questions 😊
Your Pandan chiffon cake recipe is well documented with video, this is especially useful for a baking novice like me. Whenever I make this cake, it is always well received by my family & friends, definitely a great keep recipe !! Thank you very much for your generous sharing and replying to my questions 😊