Pandan Chiffon Cake with Coconut Icing

This cake is very widespread in Malaysia and distinctive for its green colour. The leaves of the tropical screw pine plant, Pandanus amaryllifolius are commonly known as pandan leaves and used extensively in Southeast Asian used in cooking as a flavouring. The characteristic aroma is the compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline giving white bread, jasmine rice and basmati rice their typical smell. Making a paste with pandan leaves you have to cut the young leaves into 2 cm pieces and place in a pot on the stove together with water or for this recipe coconut milk. Boil the leaves until they are soft and blend to a pulp in a food processor to create a paste. Place the paste in a ricer and extract the juices.

 Ingredients serve 10

6 eggs
210 g caster sugar
115 ml vegetable oil
140 ml coconut milk
2 tsp pandan essence
200 g self raising flour
1/4 tsp salt
¼ tsp vinegar

40 g soft butter

700 g icing sugar

140 ml coconut milk

40 g toasted coconut

Method

Preheat the oven to 170ºC normal bake. Grease or spray a tube or bundt pan. Separate the eggs into two bowls and whisk the egg white until a soft peak is formed. Add the vinegar and whisk until stiff but still shiny and not dry, while adding 100 g sugar in a steady stream. Place egg yolks add the remainder of the sugar in a bowl, mix with an electric mixer until smooth and even approx. 2 minutes. Add oil, coconut milk and pandan essence and combine. Add the flour and salt and mix evenly. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter in three portions. Pour the finished batter into the prepared tin. Bake in the oven for approx. 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow cooling for 15 minutes. Turn upside down on a tray with a piece of baking paper. Leave the tin on until the cake has completely cooled approx. 1 hour. Place the butter, icing sugar and coconut milk in a bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until smooth approx 3 minutes. Remove the tin and place the cake on a plate or cake stand. Spread the icing over the cooled cake. Sprinkle toasted coconut on the icing.

Note: You may add 2 tablespoon homemade pandan juice and use cream of tartar instead of vinegar. You can get different size of tube tins and the recipe is made to fit each size. I used a 25 cm Bundt tin. For a 17 cm tin use a recipe scaled down to 2 eggs and a 21 cm tin 4 eggs.