Pandan Chiffon Cake

This has been an eventful week for me. A car crash greeted us on Monday late night on PIE when my bf sent me home. We were involved in a 4-way car butt kissing accident - we were the 3rd car. Our car is basically like bacon between toast, thankfully we were not hurt. Poor dude was badly shaken though.

A little baking to calm my nerves. Bought 10cm mini chiffon tins as I thought they look really cute. I notice mini chiffon cakes in neighborhood bakeries and this chiffon specialty cake shop selling mini chiffons in interesting flavors along the new Raffles City B2 link to Suntec. Thought I'll just jump the wagon and join in the mini chiffon craze too.

I know, I know...I should have used pandan leaves and extract the juice out for au naturale goodness, but I'm lazy I didn't have the time to visit the market to grab some, so I settled for pandan paste.

Really pleased with the results. I would like to think I've mastered the art of meringue beating (and folding I hope?) as the chiffon cake was significantly softer and cottony than all my previous attempts, even though they were already considerably light and fluffy in texture already. Pandan flavor could be strong though, will add more the next time.

Pandan Chiffon Cake (modified from Keiko Ishida's Okashi)
makes 4 10cm chiffon

Ingredients:
32g cake flour
2 egg yolks
8g caster sugar
1/4 tsp pandan paste
28g water
24g canola oil

2 egg whites (weighed mine to be 84g)
36g caster sugar
4g corn flour

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C
2. Sift flour twice
3. Beat egg yolks and sugar until well mixed
4. Add pandan paste, water and canola oil to the yolk mixture and blend well
5. Add flour mixture to yolk mixture until the batter becomes sticky
6. Combine sugar and corn flour in a separate bowl
7. Beat egg whites until frothy and add half of the sugar mixture, and continue to beat
8. Slowly add in the rest of the sugar mixture and beat until egg white stiff peaks and is glossy but not dry
9. Add one third of the meringue into yolk mixture and fold in lightly
10. Pour in rest of the meringue mixture and fold until well combined
11. Pour the batter into chiffon tins and bake for 20 mins
12. Invert the chiffon tin on a wire rack and let it cool for 2h before releasing the cake for serving