Pandan Kaya Layer Cake

Finally took some time to post this entry as DH is away again and I've been busy. This is going to be a long post (with loads of pics) so please bear with me.

When I first saw this pandan chiffon recipe in Kitchen Capers shared by Connie, I was very tempted to try as this recipe does not include any coconut milk. Being a novice in baking, I decided to put it onto my To-Do list. After procrastinating for years, I finally made this last Friday.

This recipe uses fresh pandan leaves, to be blended with water. I like the idea of using fresh pandan juice as I felt pandan paste gives an artificial aftertaste.

Blend the pandan leaves with water, squeeze out juice from the fibre, then add in new leaves and blend with the juice again.

Measure out required amount, in this instance, original recipe asked for 115ml pandan juice but since I have 130ml, I just make do with it and reduce oil accordingly.

Horrendous looking cake with all those cracks! I don't remember having so much cracks in my other chiffon cakes.

However, the unmoulding was almost perfect! No tears/cracks, I get a very even cake ^-^

The brown skin were all stucked to the pan.

A top view of the cake, I thought this is one of my "prettiest" cake hahaha!!

I have no intention to make the kaya layer until I saw chicchicbaby's pandan kaya cake. When she shared this recipe years ago, I saved a copy then, hoping that I'll have a chance (or rather, be competent enough) to make this one day :P

I love the pandan kaya cake from a local bakery and whenever I visit their shop, I'll definitely get a piece to satisfy my craving. Over the years, the standard seem to have dropped and I've since stopped patronising them.

It was an impromptu decision to make this kaya layer. I was on msn messaging with SL and was just asking if her mother has made this before. The next moment, I was in the kitchen cooking the kaya ;-)

I created a big mess layering the cake. I lined a cling wrap below the cake, thinking that I could peel it off when I done layering but with the mess, I couldn't and do not know how to lift up the cake. There were simply too much kaya on it.

In the end, I just cut the clingwrap around the cake and left it as it is. See the mess? A lot of wastage :-(

Here's the final product and my only complain is the kaya is too thin. Gave some to my inlaws and SL and I'm glad they liked the cake. ^-^

I'll probably use a springform the next time I make this, or maybe do it in a cakepan upside down. Will definitely make this again!

Pandan Chiffon Cake Recipe
Adapted Alex Goh's Basic Flavour Chiffon Cake but some modifications.

Ingredients
(A)
4 Large Egg Yolks
40g Castor Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt

(B)
60ml Corn/Sunflower Oil
130 ml Pandan Juice

** I blended 6 pandan leaves and a baby pandan plant with water in blender to get pandan juice. I think if you are using those large pandan leaves, you may use 8 - 10 leaves.

(C)
150g Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
*sifted together

(D)

4 Large Egg Whites
40g Castor Sugar
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

Method

1. In a bowl, using hand whisk, whisk yolks and sugar till sugar dissolves.
2. Add oil and salt, whisk and add pandan juice. Stir well.
3. Fold in sifted flour and mix well.
4. In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat till the whites are frothy. Add in Cream of Tartar and beat till soft peaks.
5. Add in sugar gradually and beat till stiff peaks.
6. Fold in 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture using a rubber spatula till incorporated.
7. Pour the mixture to the remaining egg whites and fold in gently till incorporated.
8. Pour the batter into a 21cm chiffon tube pan. Bang the pan on the table to get rid of bubbles.
9. Bake at pre-heated oven of 170 deg.C for 15mins.
10. Turn down the temperature to 160 deg.C and bake for another 30 mins.
11. Reduce the temperature to 150 deg.C and bake for a further 5 to 10mins to brown the surface.
12. Remove from the oven and invert the pan. Remove the cake from pan when it's completely cooled.

Kaya Layer

Adapted mngzara's recipe with own modifications

Ingredients

(A)

500g water

150g sugar

40g butter

(B)

200g water

200g coconut milk

60g corn flour

1 tbsp agar agar powder (plain)

green & yellow colouring

Method

1. Stir (A) together in a pot and boil over low flame.
2. Mix (B) together and add into (1). Keep stirring until the mixture thickens and boils.
3. Let the kaya cool slightly before icing the cake.

To assemble the cake

1. Cut the cake across horizontally and sandwich the cake with a layer of kaya.
2. Scoop some kaya into a measuring cup or any container with a beak. Slowly pour the kaya over the centre of the cake, with the back of a soup ladle, move in circular motion to spread the kaya and let it drip over the sides naturally. There will be quite a bit of wastage in order for the sides to be covered up evenly.