Moreish Pandan Chiffon Cake

Patrick Food

Pandan ChiffonI was catching up with Suz and Al this weekend before heading off to the UK (thanks for the awesome BBQ!) and I had offered to bring dessert. Last time they came around for dinner, my attempts at dessert literally crumbled and I ended up making trifle out of it. This time, Saturday’s attempt in the form of a Pandan Chiffon cake went much better and was well received all around. Pandan flavour is used moreso in southern pacific and asian countries where the leaves sourced from the fragrant screwpine tree are much more readily available. Its subtle fragrance and flavour is then traditionally used to impart flavour when used to wrap various fillings or extracted when soaked in various liquids. Although Pandan leaves are available in Australia, it is typically easier and much more affordable to use the extract or essence sourced from stores in a Chinatown.

It is hard to describe the delicate flavour of Pandan, but is an unmistakable delight when joined with the delicate texture of a chiffon cake, combining both that is light and moreish in nature.

17 Replies to “Moreish Pandan Chiffon Cake”

  1. Yum, yum, yummeeee!
    Thanks Pat- that was awesome. The picture is making my mouth water all over again!

  4. Hi Ida Ghani!

    I used a variation of the recipe that you can find here. I tend to reduce the oil content as I don’t like my cake to be excessively greasy to the touch. Hope you enjoy!

  5. Hi Patrick…

    i was looking for a pandan cake recipe and came across ur blog….
    the picture of ur pandan chiffon looks very yummy!!
    I saw the recipe u used….may i know if u used pandan leaves…is it ok if i only use pandan extract? I stay in Adelaide but so far, haven’t seen any fresh pandan leaves despite being told that pandan leaves r grown in the tropical parts of Australia…

    thanks!!!

    Joyce

  6. Hi Joyce,

    Thanks for your comment and compliment. I have always used the pandan extract myself as it is much easier than trying to get flavour out of the leaves. I have found the leaves in one or two places in Chinatown but you’re right that the extract is easier.

    Cheers,

    Patrick

  8. I’m not too sure how to extract the juice from the leaves properly since I’ve never done it. After looking around a bit though, apparently you can do it by pounding it with a mortar and pestel. Check out this link here.

  9. may i know how much of oil you used? did you cut down on the sugar?do you do baking often? yr pandan chiffon cake looks great to me! i can see it’s a soft texture.Will be tasting great too!!!

  10. Hi Cheryl,

    Thanks for your comment. I dropped the oil content from the recipe to about 1/2 cup instead of 3/4. I did cut down a little on the sugar too (maybe 1/4 cup less) because it was pretty sweet. I used to do a fair amount of baking and cooking, but since coming to London I haven’t really had the time. Good luck and I look forward to hearing how your’s turns out.

  11. what is the way to make good chiffon cake? i strongly believe yr chiffon cake is good.is there any tip in making it? like not overbeat it or?

  13. I think there are two key things to making a good chiffon cake:
    – Not over beating the eggs whites making it to soft peaks, and after adding sugar, stiff; and
    – Folding in the egg whites with the mixture – I like to take a little bit of the stiffened egg whites and mix it in with the other batter before I fold the rest in. This makes the other batter lighter and easier to fold thoroughly.

    I also tend to cool the cake upside down so it doesn’t have a chance to collapse (balanced carefully on a bottle standing upright.

    I haven’t had a chance to bake the thousand layer cake before, so unfortunately I have no advice for you there.

  14. Hi!! I know it’s a bit late to comment but maybe you’ll respond. They do not sell pandan leaves in the asian markets I go to but they do sell pandan essence. How much essence do i substitute for a pandan leave? I want to make some dessert containing pandan Thank you :3

  15. Hi Helen,

    It’s never too late to comment. For my cake I used a combination of the pandan essence and the pandan paste. I think 1/2 teaspoon of both works quite well. Those flavours with the coconut milk help give it that nice subtle flavour.

    Cheers.

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