Pandan Chiffon Cake (all-natural version)

After all these years of blogging, I just realized I had never posted a Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe! It is not because I had never made this cake before, in fact this is the cake I made the most often. Maybe it is due to the fact it is such a common recipe easily found in books and online, so I never bothered.
So you might be wondering what all-natural version in the title means? Well, for the very first time, I’m making this classic cake using all fresh ingredients! That means I’m using only freshly squeezed coconut milk and pandan juice, so no artificial pandan paste, no tinned coconut milk and definitely no green food colouring! As a result, this cake has a more rounded coconut flavour and very subtle pandan fragrance. This may be because I used frozen pandan leaves, next time I think I should get my hands on some fresh pandan leaves and see if that makes any difference! The cake also has a more natural light yellow-green colour, not the artificial green of pandan paste or food colouring!

Makes one large tube cake (large angel-food tube pan with base measurement of 21cm across the base and 24cm across the top)

[Ingredients]
7 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
60ml pandan juice, from 12 pandan leaves
125ml thick coconut milk, from 1 grated coconut
125ml corn oil

115g cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

7 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
110g caster sugar
https://cornercafe.wordpress.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Have a 24cm angel-food-cake tube pan ready, and do not grease or line the pan. Roughly chop the pandan leaves into short sections, add about scant 1/2 cup water and blend in a food processor, then squeeze and strain the juice; measure out correct amount and set aside. Add 1 cup warm water to grated coconut, transfer to a piece of wrung-dry wet cheesecloth or muslin, squeeze out coconut milk; measure out correct amount and set aside (freshly squeezed coconut milk must be used as soon as possible). Sift together flour and baking powder three times; set aside.
2. Beat egg yolks and 60g sugar with a balloon whisk until combined, add pandan juice, coconut milk and oil, beat well to combine. Slowly pour into flour mixture and whisk lightly to combine.
3. Whisk egg whites and salt until soft peaks formed. Gradually add 110g sugar, spoonful by spoonful, and continue beating. Beat until the meringue is glossy and thick and just reach the stiff peaks stage.
4. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk mixture. When well mixed, fold in the next 1/3 of the meringue until combined. Repeat with the remaining meringue until thoroughly combined.
5. Pour into the angel-food-cake tube pan. Give the pan a light tap on the kitchen bench to get rid of any large bubbles in the batter.

7. Bake for about 50-55 minutes, or until cooked. Remove from oven and tap the pan again. Immediately turn the pan upside-down (use cups or drinking glasses to elevate the pan if necessary) and let cool completely this way.

8. When the cake is cold, remove cake from the pan, slice and serve.

Taste: Cottony soft, tender and moist pandan-flavoured coconut cake
Consume: Best within 2-3 days
Storage: Cover and chill in the refrigerator
Recipe Reference(s): –