Another classic Asian favourite. Pandan and Coconut combo never fail to delight although we now have many “hybrid” flavours like corn, strawberry, Thai tea or anything you fancy! When using fresh Pandan paste/extract, please don’t be tempted to use more than is necessary else your custard may be bitter or has this “green” taste. If you want a deeper colour, suggest you add a drop of green food colouring.
Pandan Sponge
Ingredients for 8” cake
6 eggs yolks (size A)
60g oil
40g milk/coconut milk
70g pandan extract
1/4 tsp salt
110g cake flour
6 egg whites
80g caster sugar
1/4tsp cream of tartar or a tsp of lemon juice
Method:
Preheat oven to 160C. Line the bottom pan. Lightly grease the side of an 8” round pan (3” deep).
1. In a mixing bowl whisk together first 5 ingredients until well combined. Add in the flour and mix until smooth. Set aside.
2. In a separate clean and dry bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy before adding the cream of tartar and continue to whisk while gradually adding the sugar, until firm peaks.
3. Add the meringue into the yolk batter in 3 portions using the hand whisk to fold it in. After the final portion is added in, switch to a spatula to fold from bottom to the top until no streaks of yolk batter can be seen.
4. Pour into pan and shake gently to even out the top. Place pan into a larger pan (please make sure this pan is water proof). Pour room temperature water into the larger pan to about 1/2 cm height and bake at 160C for 80-90 mins or until cooked. Remove the water pan for the last 10 minutes of baking to dry the sides of the cake. NOTE: temperature and time is indicative only, please adjust according to your own oven.
5. Once cooked, immediately remove the cake from oven and cool a bit before unmoulding. Slice the cake into 3 layers.
Pandan Custard
Ingredients
680 g pandan juice (I mixed 1/4 tsp of pandan essence to 680g of water)
2 tsp white agar-agar powder
90 g sugar
50 g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
240 g fresh coconut milk
70 g white hoen kwe flour or corn flour
2 drops of green liquid color
2 drops of yellow food colour
1. Pour Pandan juice in a large stainless steel pot and sprinkle agar-agar powder over it. Add sugar, butter and salt and using a spatula, stir until sugar has dissolved. Set aside for at least 30 minutes.
2. In a large bowl place coconut milk and hoen kwe flour and stir to mix into a thick smooth batter. Keep in fridge while you prepare the next step.
3. Once Step 1 is done, heat agar-agar mixture on low heat, stirring constantly until agar-agar powder has dissolved. Do not allow the mixture to boil. Once dissolved, remove from heat and add the prepared coconut milk/hoen kwe batter. Use a spatula to stir until fully incorporated. Add green and yellow colour. Stir again to combine.
4. Return the pot of batter to the heat and continue to cook on medium-low heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of your spatula. Remove from heat and continue to stir to cool the mixture a bit so that it thickens slightly but when you lift up the spoon, it can still flow down and merge with the batter in the pot evenly.
5. I used the cake tin that was used to bake the sponge cake to assemble the cake. Rinse the tin and shake off excess water, this helps to unmould the cake easily later.
6. To assemble, slice take cake into 3. Pour 1/4 portion of the kaya into the pan. Use a spatula to even out the kaya, place a piece of cake on top of the kaya. Pour another 1/4 portion of the kaya over the piece of cake, spread and let it flow down the sides of the cake as well. Repeat for the next 2 layer.
7. Leave assembled cake to set before transferring into the fridge to chill no less than 2 hours until it is firm enough to unmould.
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