Saturday, September 3, 2011

Black Sesame Paste Chiffon and Pandan Chiffon

School holiday has finally arrived...a much awaited one. Funny how it sounds like school holidays are like my personal break times. :)) No early mornings and chauffeuring for a week is indeed a nice break. Anyway, I am looking forward to have some time to bake moon cakes which has been on my mind for the past week. :P Plus a good friend will be dropping by my place for a visit this week....some quality "girly" time, lol! Hopefully more will come end of the week as well, fingers crossed. :)

Today will be posting 2 chiffon recipes which I find them pretty yummy. :) First up is Black Sesame Paste Chiffon Cake. Notice I said "paste" because I didn't use black sesame powder for this recipe, simple as that. My family has been helping me get black sesame paste from Taiwan since its quite $$$ here in Singapore.
I chance upon the recipe from 我的厨房乐园, which I was pretty intrigued by the usage of coconut milk in it. I trust that it'll be very fragrant plus the nutty aroma from the black sesame, should be good! :) And I was glad I did give it a try, thanks neyeeloh! Even my younger daughter whom is not fond of black sesame also gave praises to it. Anyway, here is the modified version of the recipe:

Ingredients for Black Sesame Paste Chiffon Cake: (fills a 21cm or 22cm tube pan)
Egg yolk batter:
5 egg yolks
20g caster sugar (my black sesame paste has some sugar added, so I reduced a little here)
1/4 tsp salt (if you are using box coconut milk, you can reduce it to a pinch)
64g cake flour
60g black sesame paste
1 tsp baking powder
50ml vegetable oil
100ml coconut milk

Egg white batter:
6 egg whites
80g caster sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method:
  • For egg yolk batter: In a large mixing bowl, add in egg yolks, caster sugar and salt and beat till it doubles in volume and the sugar has melted. (~4 to 5 minutes)
  • Add in black sesame paste, coconut milk and vegetable oil and mix well till combined. Then sift in the cake flour and baking powder into the yolk mixture and stir well till no visible flour.
  • Preheat the oven to 175C.
  • For egg white batter: In a large mixing bowl, beat the whites and cream of tartar at high speed till foamy. Gradually& slowly add in the caster sugar while its beating. Once the whites reaches stiff peaks, reduce the speed to lowest and let it stir for another 20 sec before switching it off. This step will help stabilize the bubbles.
  • In 3 separate portions, fold the whites into the yolk batter. Then pour the batter into the tube pan and bake for 28 to 30 minutes or till the tester comes out clean.
  • Once you remove the tube pan from the oven, immediately invert it to let it cool completely before removing the cake out from the pan.
This is actually my 2nd attempt baking a black sesame chiffon cake. The first time was pretty much a failure as the cake was quite dry. :P But this one turned out moist, soft and fluffy with a nice nutty sesame aroma. :) But I have to admit I totally suck at unmoulding chiffon...no matter how many time I did it, it's almost always with parts of it torn. *sigh*

I wonder if I replace the coconut milk with evaporated milk or half and half, will it still taste as good? I guess the only way to find out is to bake it out myself. :P

With the balance of the coconut milk, I decided to bake a Pandan chiffon. This recipe which I came up with was pretty good and I thought why not just post it up to share.
See what I mean about the unmoulding? *sigh sigh* Luckily the cake turns out heavenly soft and very yummy. :) Anyway, here is the recipe I came up with:

Ingredients for Pandan Chiffon Cake: (fills a 23 or 24cm tube pan)
Egg yolk batter:
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
1/8 tsp salt
8 pandan leaves, washed and cut into small strips
100ml coconut milk
50ml fresh whole milk
40ml vegetable oil
108g cake flour

Note: Blend the pandan strips together with the coconut milk and milk. Got this tip from Gertrude of Kitchen Snippets. Then sieve the greenish mixture through a fine sieve. Yes, NO pandan extract is needed.

Egg white mixture:
6 egg whites
75g caster sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

The method will be similar to the steps above.

This recipe uses more egg whites and I reduced 1/3 of the coconut milk to using fresh milk. It is still very fragrant but i know it's a much healthier version.
As you can see, the chiffon is really soft and nice. I like it a lot! Will bake with this recipe again next time when I crave for pandan chiffon again. Do try it if you are interested and love pandan chiffon. :)

Got to go folks, hope you have a nice weekend and school holiday break!

40 comments:

ann low said...

Bee, I also love black sesame and already bookmarked this recipe. Will make soon.
Happy weekend :)

ICook4Fun said...

I just bought a big packet of black sesame powder. Still don't know what to do with it. Maybe bake this chiffon cake. Do I use the same amount of sesame powder as your sesame paste?

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Ann. Hope your weekend is great too. 

Yes Gert, I think you can use 60g of black sesame powder if you want to use the same recipe. Looking forward to your post! Happy baking!

Small Small Baker said...

I love your chiffons, always so tall and fluffy! I tried black sesame before, really nice. Must bake it again!

Michelle said...

Hi! I have black sesame seeds instead of black sesame paste. Can I ground the seeds and use it for this recipe? Thanks!

Michelle

hanushi said...

Lovely!!! :) I am a big fan of all chiffons!! :)

WendyinKK said...

I also bought a packet of black sesame powder, LOL.
Your pandan chiffon looks so pretty and soft

Passionate About Baking said...

Rising tall and soft! Yummy! I miss chiffons!

ReeseKitchen said...

All so TALL!! I like the black sesame one...I'll try it out soon. But I'll use black sesame powder instead of paste. I think they are not selling here..;p Thanks for sharing this special recipe...:)

鲸鱼蓝蓝蓝 said...

哇,你的7风好高喔:P

Zoe said...

Love the tip that you share about sieving the pandan juice.

Your chiffon cakes are always very tall and fluffy and I can't stop admiring them.

Quay Po Cooks said...

Bee, you are so good at chiffon cakes. They all look so airy and fluffy. When I need inspirtion to do chiffon, I will come here.

lena said...

here you go again, chiffon queen!! these are just simply great looking chiffons!!

Unknown said...

Bee, your black sesame chiffon looks so soft and fluffy... Hmmm... smell fantastic too ^_^

Eileen@Hundred Eighty Degrees said...

Your chiffons look so tall and are standing very straight! I like pandan chiffon.

Anonymous said...

Hi Honeybee Sweets

I like to know ur sesame paste is actually the paste which we used for mooncake filling or baked bun filling and not the paste which often mentioned in chiffton cake which is called "Koepoe" sold in bottle at Sheng Siong supermart.

I am very confused with the word paste.

Since chiffon is a light cake, and if the sesame paste is the same type of paste texture for mooncake or bun filling, will it be appropriate using this "heavier" version?

Blessings
Priscilla Poh

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

you remind me i have so long did not bake a chiffon, still have a long list of other items to try, hehehe. Can see your chiffon is really soft and good.

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Small small baker. :) looking forward to seeing your black sesame chiffon again. :)

Hi Michelle, I think it will not be the same if you ground the sesame seeds to bake this. I suggest you get a packet of black sesame powder from any large grocer and use equal amount to replace the paste weight. Good luck! :)

Thanks Hanushi!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Wendy. ;) love to see your black sesame chiffon post soon. It's really fragrant, worth a try!

Jane, thanks! Hmmm...why are you missing chiffons? Not baking bcos of the PSLE exams? Hang in there, all will be over in due time. Jia you!

Thanks Reese! The trick is to fill your batter to almost 80% full, then your chiffons will naturally be taller. :)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks 鲸鱼蓝蓝蓝! So happy to see you here, hope to see you visiting again! ;)

Thanks Zoe! I got the tip from Gert, and it's very useful, less waiting time for the pan dan essence to decant and all in the water.

Thanks Quay Po, I think you are a great baker too! Hopefully my chiffons will help inspire you to bake more of them, heehee!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hahaha, Lena, I'm no queen of any sort la! But thanks for crowning me anyways, heehee!

Thanks neyeeloh! Wow, this recipe must be really good, you can even smell it! :D

Thanks Eileen! :)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hi Priscilla, I got my sesame paste from Taiwan, which is like a spread, sort of like peanut butter. But I know the grocer in Scotts Isetan in Orchard & Mediya are both selling quality black sesame paste. Alternatively, use the same amount of black sesame powder which is selling in bakeries supply stores or in Shop & Save.I've not seen the one in Sheng Siong, so I can't advice u on that. Hope this helps!

Thanks Sonia! Yeah, everyone is busy making moon cakes now, that's why! :)

Anonymous said...

Thnx Honeybeesweets for ur reply. OK I got what u mean by peanut butter in describing ur sesame paste. I shall use the Hongkong low sugar sesame paste (meant for mooncake filling)which I just bought from Kwong Cheong Thye.

Blessings
Priscilla Poh

Jo said...

Totally envious of how high your chiffons are. I really like the black sesame version as well.

Anonymous said...

hi honeybee mama,

may i know what brand of oven are u using?
i m new to baking and would like to get a oven.

thanks 2 advice.

deBBie

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Debbie, I'm using De Detrich oven, a well known German brand. Cant remember the model number, sorry. Try googling it and you will see more.

mmmyen said...

hi,

i can't find the pandan leaves.
so will have to replace with pandan paste - how many tbsp?

for coconut milk..i can't fresh milk...so if to use canned coconut milk..cream or normal ?

thanks

Honey Bee Sweets said...

mmmyen, 1 tsp of pandan paste. Coconut milk or cream both is fine.

Anonymous said...

Hi Honey Bee Sweets,

Is there anything which I should take note when blending the pandan leaves and coconut milk together? I tried the method 2 days ago... There is a bad coconut after taste and thinking the coconut milk is bad, I tried again yesterday after getting a new pkt of coconut milk. The outcome is the same. There is this 臭油 smell... I like the softness of the chiffon cake but I need to work on the blending part.

Hope u can help! Thanks in advance!

Jo

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hi Jo,
Just wondering, did u use freshly squeezed coconut milk or packet form? If u use fresh coconut, there will be no oil smell. Else try using heavy cream to replace, but ive not tried that before, however I think it should work. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I bought the packet coconut milk (found at the fridge area) from NTUC. I usually use this for my baking. That is why my mum suspect that the blending could have caused heat that spoils the milk coz it takes quite a while for me to fully blend the leaves with the milk. Or have I over-blend it?

May I know how long it takes u to blend both well?

Thanks again for ur kind advise.

Jo

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Jo, I think the smell has nothing to do with the blending. Furthermore the length of the blending is variable since different blender has different blending power, but if I have to recall, its about 3-4 mins till you see a uniform green and the leaves are very finely shredded. When I say fresh coconut milk I mean buy freshly grated from wet market and squeeze it out yourself.

Anonymous said...

Hi Honey Bee Sweets,

If the problem is not with the blending, I will try again, if possible using fresh coconut.
I've tried a few different recipes for pandan chiffon and I really like the soft & moist texture for this recipe. That explains why I bake for 2 consecutive days using the same recipe!
Hope my 3rd attempt will turn up well! :)
Thank you!

Jo

Unknown said...

Hi Honeybeesweets,

I made your pandan chiffon last night! its really soft! really really awesome :) i used a 21cm tin but it isnt as tall the one in your picture. hmm. should i increase the recipe proportionately?

Unknown said...

Hi Honeybeesweets,

I made your pandan chiffon last night! its really soft! really really awesome :) i used a 21cm tin but it isnt as tall the one in your picture. hmm. should i increase the recipe proportionately?

Unknown said...

Hi Honeybeesweets,

I made your pandan chiffon last night! its really soft! really really awesome :) i used a 21cm tin but it isnt as tall the one in your picture. hmm. should i increase the recipe proportionately?

Unknown said...

Hi Honeybeesweets,

I made your pandan chiffon last night! its really soft! really really awesome :) i used a 21cm tin but it isnt as tall the one in your picture. hmm. should i increase the recipe proportionately?

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Sorry about the late response Crystal,

I think I used a 20cm tube pan. You can definitely increase the amount if you know how to ration the egg portion nicely. :) Glad you like the recipe, happy baking!

Weiwei said...

Hi,can I know the weight of the egg used in the sesame chiffon cake?thank u!!

Weiwei said...

Hi,can I know the weight of the egg used in the sesame chiffon cake receipe?thank u!