Pandan Chiffon Cake (with coconut oil)

I realise I never actually posted a pandan chiffon cake recipe before. @_@ Weird I know...that is probably one of the most baked and blogged about recipe on this whole media platform. :P I probably thought I did a write up before but I never did. Talk about goldfish memory. What's better was I came up with this recipe because I wanted to use up that bunch of fresh cut pandan leaves that is wilting by the day!

Well I guess it is better late then never! And better yet, this bake is a healthier rendition. Skipping the use of coconut milk and incorporate it's healthier counter part, coconut oil instead. WooHoo! Me love coconut oil!

Difference in taste is pretty much insignificant to me. And the thought of this being the healthier bake, even if it was not as amazing as the original, I would still go with this one. Like I always say, eat healthy and stays healthy...if possible lah. By removing the coconut milk, it reduces much of the cholesterol. Using superfood coconut oil, it is still really fragrant and 

Note that I did not want to introduce other forms of liquid (i.e. water) into the batter, so I used the evaporated milk to blend with the pandan leaves.

Ingredients for Pandan Chiffon Cake (Makes a 20-22cm tube pan size)

70 g egg yolk (~4 large)

8 pandan leaves

160ml evaporated milk

100 ml coconut oil

120 g cake flour

180 g egg white (~4 large)

100 g caster sugar

• Snip the pandan leaves into smaller pieces. Place them into the blender together with the evaporated milk.
• Blend till all the pandan leaves are pulverised and well combined with the evaporated milk.

• In a large mixing bowl, add in the egg yolks and using a kitchen gauze cloth, sieve the pandan mixture through it and into the mixing bowl. Be careful not to get any of the pandan leaves into the bowl, you don't want to taste that in the cake.

• Weigh and add in coconut oil.

• Whisk the mixture till it is well combined. Sift in the cake flour and mix it well again.
• Preheat the oven to 165C.
• Beat the egg whites till foamy, then gradually add in the caste sugar and beat till stiff peaks.

• Fold in the egg whites in 3 separate portions to the egg yolk batter. Making sure it is well incorporated and at the same time not over beating it.

• Pour the batter into a 20-22 cm tube pan. And use a tooth pick to run through the batter to remove any air pockets that might be trapped inside.

• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or till the cake tester comes out clean.
• Once baked, remove from the oven and invert to cool completely before removing from the tube pan.

I suck big time at removing the chiffon from the tube pan...and that is why that 50 shades of brown. :P But a well baked chiffon should not give you too much of a problem in removing it anyways. 

The fluffy soft texture of the cake. Nope, the coconut oil replacing the coconut milk did not make it any less tasty...at least it is that for my end. Do try it out and find out on your own.

Hope this last shot is enough to convince you to give this healthier rendition a try. ;) 

Where you can buy coconut oil:

• NTUC finest or Xtra where the organic food section is.
• Gobuylah.sg, search for "Coconut oil", a couple results will pop up. Delivery is free of charge.

Happy baking guys!