Pandan Golden Sponge Cake

 

This was baked after the successful baking of the chocolate golden sponge cake and golden sponge cake which was more than 2 years ago. I have so many pending posts, I guess have to take long period to finish the posting since I am not able to blog regular anymore.

Recipe modified from here.

Ingredients

50g butter (salted)

50g cake flour
3 egg yolks

80g homemade pandan essence (I used all the bottom thick layer  + some top layer)

3 egg whites

40g caster sugar
6g corn starch

* the estimate weight of these 3 eggs used are approx. 65g each with shell.

* The batter can only fill the cake pan about 60% full or not more than 70%. If more than that, the cake will "explode" and crack terribly base on my past experience.

* I used 10 pandan leaves and blend with water, left the juice in the fridge for 2- 3 days to get the concentrated pandan extract at the bottom layer.

Method

1. Prepare a cake pan with removable base, do not use non stick cake pan and do not grease or line paper.
2. Separate egg white and egg yolk into two mixing bowls. (if I wanna bake last min, I will soak the chilled eggs in warm water to speed out the process to room temperature)
3. Melt butter in a saucepan, once you see small bubbles, remove from heat.
4. Immediately add in sifted flour, quickly stir to become batter. (the batter is like very soft paste)
5. Pour the pandan essence into a empty mixing bowl, scape in the butter + flour batter and mix well with the milk. (like mayonnaise kind of texture)
6. Add in egg yolk one at a time, stir well on each addition. The batter is slightly runny if compare to normal chiffon batter. (I added in all egg yolks at once, the batter is runny)
7. Mix sugar and corn starch together. Beat egg whites till foamy, gradually add in sugar and corn starch mixture (three times) and continue beat until approaching stiff peaks (meringue stand straight up with a little curve at the tip) or till stiff peaks (this stage is a bit difficult to fold with egg yolk mixture)
8. Take 1/3 of meringue and use a hand whisk to mix well with egg yolk batter.
9. Fold in 1/2 of meringue and use a silicone spatula, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slightly combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined. 
10. Pour the batter from high slowly into cake pan to release bubbles, then lightly bang the cake tin to further release the bubbles.

11. Bake at pre-heated oven at 140C (no fan) for 25mins at low rack, then increase to 170C (no fan) for another 25mins. (for my oven I baked in 120C for 30 mins and 150C for 25 mins as mine is 7")
12. Remove the cake pan from oven, drop it from high side to prevent the cake shrink too much during cool process.

13. Turn the cake pan upside down and cool completely before remove from the cake pan. (I turned the cake pan and use 2 cups to support the side of the cake pan, this is to prevent the cake top with the wire mash printing.)

Important tips to get this sponge cake right:-

1. bake it over low temperature first then later increase temperature to medium, and always bake it at the lower rack. So the cake will not shrink at all after it gets cool.

2. Also you need to have stable meringue which requires you to beat till stiff ..Don't worry stiff meringue created dry cake texture, because the batter is using 烫面 "Tang Mein" method (that means cook the egg yolk batter first).


Verdict?
The cake is a bit wet, probably I have to bake a little longer since I increased the amount of liquid. The cake is still light and fluffy and very cottony soft, the pandan taste is very fragrance. Next time, I must add in coconut milk and use coconut oil instead of butter to have ultimate taste heeheehee....