I went crazy last week. To be precise, pandan-cake crazy. I had this sudden desire to have pandan cake and the madman fanatic determination to "get it right". Hence, there went hours of research, looking at recipes, comparing recipes, reading comments and learning from peoples' mistakes etc. These efforts did not prevent me from having the sorrow of my first two cakes "exploding". Ok, sounds funny, but it really exploded! The whole cake rose so much that it overflowed the cake tin and there was a huge air bubble on the inside. It was brown on the outside but moist on the inside and not at all "airy".Ok, fine.... so I didn´t have all the ingredients. I didn´t have "cream of tartar", "sponge cake stabilizer" and "pandan paste". All the essentials ABCs of a pandan cake. I squeezed the pandan juice out myself straight from fresh pandan leaves. Unfortunately, the green colour was no match for the yellow from the egg yolks. My first "semi-successful" pandan cake turned out yellow, but at least the texture was there....soft, airy and "chiffony". And of course I had to forget to add the "pandan essence" so the flavour wasn´t strong enough. Nevertheless, I was so relieved and happy that I finally found a recipe that worked (with my skills, oven etc.) Yup, I had to change recipe and adjust proportions before having a cake that didn´t explode! Shall wait for Cyn to send me the pandan essentials and try it again with all the right ingredients....should be better after like my 10th pandan cake attempt. Oh and for those who don´t know, pandan cake is like 9 egg whites and 8 egg yolks, plus coconut too! So next time you wanna gorge on these goodies, think again! Each slice is like 1 egg!
4 comments:
Hey Pris
Doesnt look too bad and I mean it! We all learn from our failed cooking attempts. Nvr mind...improvise! I remembered I tried making ondeh-ondeh in Shanghai cos' hubby casually mentioned he wanted to eat it. Managed to get everything else except pandan essence, green colouring (actually didnt want to buy them for just one attempt) and fresh grated coconut. Managed to buy pre-packed grated coconut and used green tea powder we got fron Japan to create the illusive 'green' effect. Tasted nice but I think I knead the dough so much that it turned out springy...haha!
Dear Cynthia! :)
Thanks for your compliment. What's "ondeh-ondeh"? I really don´t remember anyways. That´s a very creative idea! Green tea for colouring purposes, I never thought of that. But didn´t your dessert ended up tasting a bit of green tea?
You must LOVE pandan chiffon cake to try making it sooo many times. I've managed to get hold of all the ingredients, including the not non-stick aluminum pan which is hard to find these days right before we move to Germany... hoping to make it one fine day...
And BTW, ondeh ondeh is that Malay kueh which is a glooey ball coated in grated coconut and it's filled with gula melaka. Remember?
Hey Candy! :) Do you have a blog too? So I can add you to my list! And yes! Do try to make pandan cake and let me know how it works out. My friend has sent me all the essential ingredients for the cake - its gonna be an EXPENSIVE cake, with all the directly-airflown-imported ingredients from Singapore....ahhh.. Ondeh sounds familiar, but can´s remember the taste anymore!
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