Aspiring Bakers #1: Pandan Chiffon Cake

I have been receiving entries for Aspiring Bakers #1 in my email almost everyday. I certainly feel very encouraged that so many of you supported this event. I hope the good response will continue for our future monthly events too. The theme for December has already been fixed. Look out for the announcement during the roundup on 1 Dec. :)

I bake another chiffon cake for this event. Actually I wanted to be kiasu and bake 4 chiffon cakes, but I just didn't find the time, so I think this will be my 2nd and last entry for Aspiring Bakers #1.

This is my second time making Pandan Chiffon Cake. The first one failed miserably. This time I read through the How to make a Pandan Chiffon Cake: Almost everything you need to know guide, written by Dr Leslie Tay, the man behind the famous food blog ieatishootipost. To my mum who doesn't read his blog but have seen him on tv, he is the "Roti Prata man" cos I have shown her the video of this doctor making roti prata. I really want to try it out some day.

Back to this Pandan Chiffon Cake, I didn't follow his recipe exactly as he uses really big chiffon tin. I took reference from the Kiamnianwong extra egg whites recipe and roughly adjusted it to suit my small chiffon tin, trying to retain the flour to liquid ratio. Instead of using pandan essence, I use homemade pandan paste using the method from Wendy and Sonia.

Just blend 1 cup of pandan leaves with 1 cup of water. Filter and leave the liquid mixture in the fridge for a few days for it to settle down. Use the layer of pandan paste at the bottom only.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Ingredients (makes 16cm chiffon tin)

(A)
2 egg yolks (I use 50g egg)
20g sugar
A small pinch of salt
30g vegetable oil
40g coconut milk
1 tbsp pandan paste (homemade)

(B)
55g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

(C)
3 egg whites (I use 50g egg)
45g sugar

Method

1. Whisk egg yolks, sugar and salt until the sugar dissolves.

2. Gradually add in vegetable oil, followed by coconut milk and pandan paste, and stir until well-mixed.

3. Fold in sifted cake flour and baking powder until well-mixed. Set aside.

4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Add in sugar gradually and continue whisking until stiff peak form.

5. Gently fold in the egg white into the egg yolk batter (in step 3) in 3 batches.

6. Pour the batter into an ungreased chiffon tin. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 30 minutes. (I bake at 180 deg C for the first 10 minutes, then reduce to 170 deg C for the next 20 minutes, for my 6 inch tin.)

7. Remove from oven and invert the tin immediately onto a cooling rack.

8. Unmould the cake only when it is completely cool.

Recipe adapted from: ieatishootipost.sg - How to make a Pandan Chiffon Cake: Almost everything you need to know

I am submitting this chiffon cake to Aspiring Bakers #1: Chiffon Cakes (Nov 2010), the very first monthly baking event hosted by me. If you have baked any chiffon cakes in the month of Nov 2010, you can submit it to me by 30 Nov 2010. Click here for the details.

If you want to be the host for future monthly events or suggest a theme, please email to smallsmallbaker@yahoo.com.sg.

Aspiring Bakers #1: Black Sesame Paste Chiffon Cake

I always have a lot of fear when baking chiffon cakes. Many times, although the cake rises very well in the oven, it tends to collapse during cooling. I hate to see it falling out of the tin halfway during cooling. Even if it doesn't fall out, it will have a sunken top like this. :( This was a pandan chiffon that I had baked years ago. I dare not blog about it. However, I keep this photo as a reminder of how badly I did.

So I always have some form of stress and anxiety when I'm unmoulding the cake cos I will only know whether I'm successful or not until the moment I fully unmould my cake. Below is my latest chiffon cake. Although it looks as if it is perfect, it has actually shrunk quite a lot after cooling. See the crustless ring at the bottom of the cake? It is not because I did not unmould it properly. It is because the cake has shrunk so much that the cake detached from the cake tin and leaving the crust on the tin. I'm not too sure what has gone wrong.

This Black Sesame Paste Chiffon Cake recipe is taken from Happy Flour, who is really good at chiffon cakes. I'm "eyeing" some of her other chiffon cakes as well. I like the texture of this cake, very soft and fluffy and has a very nice black sesame flavour.

I'm using this Black Sesame and Honey Paste.

I am submitting this chiffon cake to Aspiring Bakers #1: Chiffon Cakes (Nov 2010), the very first monthly baking event hosted by me. If you have baked any chiffon cakes in the month of Nov 2010., you can submit it to me by 30 Nov 2010. Click here for the details.

If you want to be the host for future monthly events or suggest a theme, please email to smallsmallbaker@yahoo.com.sg.

Aspiring Bakers #1: Chiffon Cakes (Nov 2010)

I'm thinking of starting our very own monthly baking event.

I'll call ourselves the "Aspiring Bakers" (you like this name?).

I'll start it as a monthly event first to see if the response is good.

For this month's challenge, I'll be the host and the theme is "Chiffon Cakes".

Who can join?
Everyone!(if you do not have a blog, just send me a photo of your bake)

How to join?

Step 1. Bake and post any chiffon cakes in the month of Nov 2010. You can submit more than 1 post.

Your post must include the recipe or link to the original recipe. If you are using a recipe from a book, please include the title of the book too. Please also mention in your blog that you are submitting your post to Aspiring Bakers #1: Chiffon Cakes (Nov 2010) and link to this page.

Step 2: Email to smallsmallbaker@yahoo.com.sg in the following format:

Your name or nickname:
Your blog name:
Name of your bake:
URL of your post:
Attachment of your photo in your email (one photo for each entry, preferably < 500kb).

The closing date is: 30 Nov 2010. All entries will be compiled and posted on 1 Dec 2010.

Looking for a host for the next month (Dec 2010), please email me with a suggested theme.

This idea just come to my mind today and I still need some time to fine-tune the details for this event. Any suggestions are welcome. Might need someone to design a logo as well.

Please support and join !