Light Fruit Cake

Fruit Cakes, unlike any other typical cakes, require abit more time, effort and patience. With the careful attention, you can be assured of the special feeling of fulfilment when lifting a freshly baked fruit cake out of the oven. Especially when Christmas is round the corner.

In preparing a fruit cake, make sure you do the extra step of lining the tin in double layers as well as wrapping layers of newspaper around the outside of the tin due to the long cooking time. Lastly sit the tin on layers of newspaper in the oven.

I had a request for a fruit cake from a colleague of mine for her mother as her mother loves fruit cake. I promised her I will do it one day for tasting when I have abit more time and when the baking mood is back. I managed to get it done one day and here's the recipe I wish to share that differs from the one I used to make. However the appearance of my cake differs greatly from the picture in my cook book (Baking: A commonsense Guide). I wish I could reach that standard one day : ( My cake turned out very crumbly.. and broke into pieces once I cut it.

Preparation time: 40 min
Total cooking time: 3 hrs

185g unsalted butter, softened
115g caster sugar
3 eggs
160g sultanas
100g currants
60g chopped glace apricots
45g chopped glace figs
250g chopped glace cherries
80g macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
185g plain flour
60g self raising flour
125ml milk
1tbsp sweet sherry

For all the dried fruits, I simply bought a packet of mixed fruits from the supermarket to ease the hassle of buying individual packs and weighing them all.
That comes to about 605g in total. And as I couldn't find sherry nor rum, I replaced it with orange juice and I also replaced macadamia nuts to walnuts and almonds both chopped.

1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C and grease and line a deep 20cm round or 18cm square cake tin.

2. Cream butter and sugar together until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.

3. Stir in the fruits and nuts.

4. Sift in half the flours and half the milk, stir to combine then continue with the rest of the flour and milk followed by sherry (my juice)

5. Spoon the mixture onto the tin and tap the tin to remove any air bubbles.

6. Wrap the outside of the tin and layer the rack with newspapers. Bake for 1 3/4 hours. Remove from oven and wrap tin in a tea towel until cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

(note: top of the tin may need to be covered during baking if it colours too much)

Pls spread the word for the festive season and visit my fellow blogger's blog :)

www.passionbaker.blogspot.com/2010/11/aspiring-bakers-2-christmas-dec-2010.html

MERRY XMAS EVERYONE!

Hakka Abacus

Also known as yam coins, abacus is typically a Hakka dish (a dialect in Singapore for those foreign friends reading this blog). It is a dish of yam fried with minced pork, Chinese mushrooms and dried shrimps. The yam is boiled till soft and mashed before rolled into small round shapes that look like coins. The Hakkas believe that eating abacus siginifies more wealth and prosperity.

A plate of delicious Abacus

My mom is a Hakka and she grew up with this dish since young. As I like the abacus she cooks at home, I want to try to master this cuisine so it doesn't get lost in my next generation.

After much nudging and chasing, I finally managed to get hands on with it today. My domestic helper has mastered this dish so well that I'm now learning from her, not my mom! I stood by her in the kitchen for an hour or so and finally managed to get my hands on it. As recipes at home are mostly trial and errors, the quantity and weight of items are purely based on guestimations. But I try to be accurate as far as possible. However, individual taste buds and preferences vary so feel free to add or alter any portions.

Abacus is a dish that is savoury and rich in flavour due to the dried shrimps and mushrooms. It takes time and much dedication to get the texture, taste and colours right. And the proportion of yam to tapioca starch is important so it doesn't taste like it has too much flour. That's the difference of home made abacus.

Total time of preparation: about 45min

Total cooking time: about 30-45min in total

(A) Yam

150g yam (cut into small cubes)

Tapioca starch 50g

Water approx 1 1/2 cup
Dash of salt

Pepper

1 pot of water

1 bowl of tap water

1. Pour water (1 1/2 cup) and yam into a pot and bring it to boil till all water is dried (water must be enough to just cover all the cubes but not too much water that it gets too soggy)

2. Stir yam while boiling to ensure water is thoroughly absorbed.

3. When all the water is absorbed, mash the yam and add some salt and dash of pepper.

4. Add in tapioca starch to bind the yam together.

5. Using hands, knead the dough finely to ensure all mixture is incorporated together nicely.

6. Prepare dough in long thin strips then pinch off the end to roll into a small ball.

7. Roll each ball then indent the centre with your thumb to resemble an abacus.

8. Bring the pot of water to boil. When boiling, put all the yam inside and cover.

9. When the yam balls are cooked, they float. Transfer the yam balls to the bowl of tap water so they do not stick.

10. After couple of minutes, sieve them out to prepare for next stage.

Top: Mashed yam

Below: Well kneaded yam with tapioca starch

Neatly rolled yam balls

(B) Minced Pork
Dried shrimps approx 1 tbsp (washed and soaked in water)
Small onions (chopped)
Chinese mushrooms about 10-15 pcs, approx 15g (washed and soaked in water till soft. Cut into strips and keep the water aside)
Some carrots also cut into strips
Minced pork 50g

Top: Soaking dried shrimps in water
Below: Soaking Chinese mushrooms in water

Top: Carrots and mushrooms in strips
Below: Chopped onions

Seasoning

Corn starch 1/2 tbsp

Pepper

Oyster sauce 1/2 tbsp

Sesame oil 1/2 tbsp

Some oil for frying

1. Mix minced pork with the above seasoning.
2. Fry onions till brown and fragrant.
3. Add in shrimps and continue frying for few minutes.
4. Add in minced pork and stir followed by carrots and mushrooms.
5. Add in the water used to soak the mushrooms to give extra flavour.
6. Add in another 1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce.
7. Cover pan and let it simmer.
8. Finally add in the cooled and drained abacus and continue frying for another few minutes till well mixed. Add pepper if desired.

Serve and garnish with some coriander.

caution: you can't stop at one

Orange Cake - to chase away your blues..

My entries are usually fuss free and express. I don't have the luxury of time to bake cakes that require hours in the kitchen and spending every minute to decorate and dress it nicely anymore. As I hold a full time job my weekends are very precious to me along with other commitments, I can only afford to do fuss free cakes. Here's another one from me.

A cake that you can bake on a weekday night and it takes only 20min to prepare. Baking time is about 30min and before you know it, you have freshly baked orange sponge cake right in your kitchen.. Something sweet to help you chase away your Monday blues...




Plain Flour - 110g (sifted)
Melted butter - 70g
Eggs - 4
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
Caster sugar - 100g
Some orange zest
Orange juice - 1/2 tsp


1. Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla essence till pale and creamy (approx 4 min on medium speed)
2. Pour in orange zest and juice and mix
3. Fold in flour and incorporate well
4. Pour in melted butter and mix well
5. Bake in a 20cm pan at 180deg C for 30 min

Can you smell it?

Specialty Prawns

I have no name thought for this dish of mine so it's simply called Specialty Prawns. I created this, with an easy mix of Sea Salt with Rosemary & Lemon, Smoked Chilli and Garlic Mill, some salt and basil. These were the herbs and seasonings bought from Marks & Spencer, London.



After shelling the prawns and rinsing them, I made a small slit on top to remove the veins and created a nice small 'opening'. I rubbed a little salt in the prawns and added a dash of pepper to it. Add the seasoning and mix well.


Heat a pan of olive oil and get throw in some chopped garlic. Stir fry till slightly brown then throw in the prawns. Fry till thoroughly cooked. The aroma of the seasoning will fill your kitchen instantly. Sprinkle some chopped parsley before serving.




Enjoy. :)

Tuna Sandwich

I know this is a no brainer and a cheater's recipe.. but sometimes a simple tuna sandwich is all I want for lunch.

All I gathered were just gardenia foccacia bread, some lettuce, sliced tomatoes and a can of tuna! For the tuna mix, I add some pepper and low fat mayonnaise (which I know is totally lost in this picture here..) I added a bit of broccoli that is cut into small pieces and mixed into the tuna. You can add some olive oil as an alternative to mayonnaise.

If you wish you can toast the bread lightly for the crispiness.
The end product is wholesome and yummy! and I love sandwiches :)

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Thanks everyone for continuing to view my blog and I will continue to have new exciting bakes! (though much slower now)

I recently tried my hand on pineapple upside down cake. It was surprisingly easy and I'm sure everyone can do it in no time.

Here's how to do it.

A
20g unsalted butter, melted
Some soft brown sugar
6 slices of pineapples (canned)

B
90g unsalted butter, softened
125g caster sugar

C
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence/extract

D
125g self raising flour, sifted

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C
2. Pour melted butter into a 20cm pan (brush both the base and sides of pan with butter) and sprinkle with brown sugar evenly
3. Cut pineapples into half and place them nicely on the base of the tin
4. Beat the extra butter and sugar with electric beaters till light and creamy then add eggs gradually, beating well after each addition
5. Add the vanilla extract and beat until well combined
6. Fold in the flour alternatively with 70g of pineapple juice
7. Spoon the mixture evenly over the pineapple and bake for 40 min
8. Leave cake in tin for 10 min before turning out to a wire rack to cool

Enjoy.

Other priorities

I have been rather inactive in my food blog, to the disappointment of my followers.

Apologies as I have many other priorities and commitments now. However I will still endeavour to keep my blog going. Slow but surely more stuff coming up..

Little fingers doing the walking

This is a totally irrelevant post to my usual cooking and baking regime.

I was reading my Food & Travel magazine one Sat when my little 3 year old nephew came into my room. He hopped onto my bed and plonked himself comfortably, trying to read the magazine. It was a very cute and endearing sight that I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and fired away.

:)

Repeat Telecast

I had set my mind to do a Blueberry Cake that day. To my disappointment, my trip to Phoon Huat was quite wasted. They didn't carry wholemeal flour which was required in the recipe. And the nearby Shop & Save didn't carry blueberries. How bad can that get?

Already in the mood to bake, I decided on a Pandan Chiffon Cake. It is a 'repeated telecast' as I had previously baked this before. This time, instead of using trim coconut milk in the Ayam brand UHT pack, I used the original coconut milk with full fat instead. The outcome was quite pleasant with a stronger aroma and richer taste. The recipe can be found here in my previous Pandan Chiffon Cake entry.

I didn't save the cake in time and my cutting method distorted the beauty of the cake. Anyhow here's the outcome..

can you smell it??

Lovely Escargot

Escargot:

• Escargot is a dish of cooked edible land snails, usually served as an appetizer
• it is one of the most famous dishes in French cuisine
• The most common preparation for escargot is boiling or steaming
• The snails are often served in the shell on a special escargot plate, which has small depressions for each shell
• Diners use tongs to extract the flesh from the shell, along with small two-tined snail forks, and then dip the snail into the sauce provided
• A garlic and butter sauce is the most common, but wine sauces and others are not unusual.

(Source: Wikipedia and wisegeek.com)

No I don't eat escargot and I am not a fan of escargot. Though a food lover, I like to stick to my usual common, safe type of cuisine and I'm not adventurous. Many of my friends love escargot and go for super exotic food. I can't appreciate foie gras, escargot and I don't like abalone!

For many who like escargot here is a picture I helped a friend take for his cafe. I reckon you can either steam or boil them, and prepare a butter sauce with garlic and pesto to go with it.

Visit Britain!

With favourable pound rates now, I packed my bag and off i flew to Britain. This was a very last minute trip that only took about 2 months to plan from scratch. Not an easy feat but a simple and memorable one.

As always with the squeezy economy class seats (I can't afford first class) I feel very uncomfortable and claustrophic all the time. Hence my loss in appetite on flights. With the constant nibbles of food and fruits here and there on Emirates (I must say they have good in flight service and reasonably good food), my hunger pangs striked every 2 hours on the plane. The first food I reached for when I touched down in London was cup noodles! Yes. Instant piping hot to satisfy my hunger.

We did some shopping in the afternoon and before I knew it, it was dark and night was soon approaching. Being new and unfamiliar in London, we prowled streets after streets in the cold rainy weather at 7pm in the evening for dinner. We settled for Garfunkels at Oxford Street - a British restaurant founded in London’s West End in 1979. They serve everything like Thai Green Curry to the Giant Enchilada, Fish & Chips and Cottage Pies. I finally had a nice filling decent meal of the day!

The next morning started with a hearty breakfast at Georgian House Hotel at St Georges Drive, London, a mere 8 min walk from London Victoria Station. Included in the accomodation package, we were welcomed with toasts, coffee/tea and cereals. Not too bad but can get quite boring after repeatedly consuming this. The weather was cold and dry, and too much toasts didn't help. If you want additional sumptious meal like eggs, bacon and mushroom, you have to top it up with 8 pounds.

Lunch at MacDonalds was alright, only a tad too expensive for me. Imagine a meal that costs 6 pounds (about SGD $12.6 where our average here is SGD $5 for a meal) A bit difficult to swallow... their range slightly differs from ours as they had quarter pounder and sandwiches. And now in Singapore we have quarter pounder! But MacDonald's fries is still the best!

A bit of walking, sightseeing and photo taking for the day like London Eye, Big Ben and so on. After Madame Tussauds, we had dinner at Chinatown, Leicester Square. It was okay. My plate of hor fun cost me about 8 pounds. I rounded up my evening with a polo bun from the bakery somewhere down the street. Sweet! :)

While in Covent Garden the following day, we searched around for a nice decent restaurant to have our lunch the next day. We landed ourselves at Pinti (if I dont rem the name wrongly), an Italian Restaurant there. I was almost frozen from the cold weather outside and I was so relieved when they served us to the basement of the place, which was much warmer and gentle to our body. I was delighted and contented with my Chicken pizza (Pollo). We asked the waitress if the pizza size available was big enough for 2 of us to share. She said yeah but if we are really hungry, one isnt sufficient cos it's thin crust pizza. And that's what I want. Only thin crust pizza. She might have thought we are big eaters and a thin crust pizza ain't enuff for us 2! See how tempting this pizza was! And the service was excellent and quick. Something I liked about this restaurant.

This 3rd day was our last day in London before we head to York and then Scotland. I badly wanted to try their Fish & Chips in England Hence we settled for The Shakespears near the London Victoria station. It was not bad, but they gave LOTSA green peas which I detest! I forced myself to eat them. But still had lots more left. Look at the heap of peas!! And I heard it's quite common in European countries that they serve peas so generously like that.


The next day, we headed to Cambridge University. To my surprise the campus is not only a campus! It has got its own shopping street like any other street in London! You can find brands like Crabtree & Evelyn, next, Starbucks, Cafe Nero, Souvenir shops, Monsoon apparel stores, JD sports store, quaint little tea rooms, grocers, bakeries and more coffee joints! I got myself a hot pastry from one of the shop there and they come in different sizes - S M or giant :) Being so ignorant I ordered a M but it was too big for me. The traditional pasty was made up of potatoes, minced beef and onions. It's something like our 'curry puffs'.

Along the way up north, we had a quick lunch at the cafes. I had a 4.99 pound pasta with a 2.49 pound juice. I was too hungry so it tasted great! And several other quick stops we had to settle for cold sandwiches and a cup of coffee. Initially I was ok but after it got too often I was abit tired of sandwiches again. Being a typical Asian, I still yearn for my bowl of hot noodles, or a plate of chicken rice!

After venturing York, we settled for the night at Darlington. Dinner was provided by INSIGHT tours. Chicken or fish as the dinner option and I had a fruit salad. Not very fantastic but I can't complain..

On the way back from Scotland we had a nice leisure lunch near Lake District. The tea rooms and cafes were quaint, most of which are along the rivers. The place, or London at this time, boasts of many rich coloured flowers that makes your dining there (even a sandwich) very pleasant. I had a tuna with sweet corn sandwich and a bowl of tomato and basil soup. The weather was fantastic to dine alfresco, by the river with lots of beautiful flowers by the banks.

Along the way I managed to get a little muffin recipe book for only 1.99 pounds. What a steal!

Moving along on our 4th and last day of INSIGHT tour, it was again sandwich for lunch. How scary can that get? Nice enough I had a nice Chinese meal at night at Gold Mine (near Queensway tube station in London) Though abit pricey, I truly enjoyed my wanton soup and my Yangzhou fried rice!!! Delicious. Another good choice is Four Seasons, similar to Gold Mine. Words have it that chefs from Gold Mine are FROM Four Seasons.. you be the judge. And one of our Directors in my company who is Brit strongly recommended Four Seasons before I left. I googled for it and found it surprisingly near my apartment in London that I couldn't miss it. So after trying the 2 for the last 2 nights in London, I found Gold Mine to be better.

On my final day at London, it was a chopchop lunch and a last minute shopping at various places, which included Marks & Spencer. Their M&S store is way much bigger than ours here in Singapore. They have a dept store and a huge supermarket with stationery, apparel, fresh food, frozen food, bakery and many many more that you wouldn't know where to begin. Shopping in the supermarket alone drove me crazy. I crazily purchased some spices there and brought them home :)

I was even tempted to buy their frozen and fresh food back! As lunch was chopchop, I had a tuna panini with tomato soup. The chicken burger was abit dry, and the fries too cold. The tuna panini had very little tuna, and mostly were the bread yeast. Not an enjoyable meal. Total damage? 11.65 pounds. (about SGD $24)

Overall, I enjoyed my trip. I walked alot, and I managed to exercise and burn off my calories with many flights of stairs at the various tube stations and sightseeing! I think I lost weight during the trip....

Wholesome Spaghetti Aglio Olio

The little bit of spare time I can cook for myself is the weekends. And I enjoy every bit of it.

When I don't feel like having mom's cooking, I will take charge and cook what I feel like eating. And partly because I love to cook and bake, although not an expert :) It was like that during one of my recent weekend. Having bought spaghetti from Marks & Spencer a month or two back during a sale, I managed to quickly whip up a wonderful and healthy Aglio Olio in a matter of 30 min, with some help of course.

All it required was only asparagus and mushrooms, some picnic ham and prawns. And all I added was some salt, olive oil and herbs. Toss till everything is well mixed.

A simple, wholesome and healthy dish like this can be done in a jiffy!

This photo isn't so well taken as I was hungry!

Non bake Cheesecake

This is a recipe that is non bake and tastes superb. Adapted from my colleague Celest, here is my version of it with lotsa fruits on top :) Easy to bake and no frills.





All you need


150g digestive biscuits, crushed
8 tbsp butter, melted
250g Philadelphia cream cheese
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp gelatine, dissolved in 4 tbsp warm water
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup thickened cream
Some cut fruits


Crust

1. Mix biscuit and butter
2. Line base and sides of cake tin (about 8") with cling wrap and press the mixture into the base
3. Freeze for an hour


Cheesecake

1. Blend cream cheese, lemon juice and gelatine and sugar with a mixer
2. Whip cream until soft peaks form then stir into mixture
3. Remove cake tin from freezer then pour mixture in
4. Spread evenly and chill for about an hour till harden
5. Top with fruits and serve





Verdict: Everyone loves the crusty base :)

Chocolate Sponge Cake (Back to the Basics)

Sponge cakes are very basic cakes. And that's what i like about it!... It doesn't take alot of time, nor require alot of ingredients to bake this, yet you are still able to yield a perfect nice decent product!

I ran out of many ingredients at home that I can't bake something new, creative and different. So back to the basics, I succeeded in baking a Chocolate Sponge Cake!

The only things I had were eggs, flour, oil etc. Sometimes when things in life get too complicated, it's always good to think about back to the basics. Think simplicity, and life would be much much easier!

Sponge cakes have always been my favourite as it is light, easy to prepare and not too sweet for my liking. I chanced upon Amanda's blog for this recipe. It is relatively easy and the outcome is awesome!

All you need:

(A) Egg Yolk Mixture

3 Egg Yolks
50g Sugar
50g Olive oil
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1. Mix all items together well

120g Self Raising flour
½ tsp Baking powder
½ tsp Baking Soda

2. Sift and mix all flour together then combine with egg yolk mixture.

(B) Cocoa Mixture

30g cocoa powder
120g Warm water

3. MIx items together then add into the first mixture.


(C) Egg White Mixture

3 Egg Whites
¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
60g Sugar

4. Whisk egg whites and cream of tartar till foamy
5. Add sugar then continue whisking at high speed till stiff
6. Finally, fold this meringue into the cocoa mixture gently till well incorporated
7. Bake at 175deg C for 45min.
8. Ready to serve

From Down Under

An old friend of mine who has been living in the Oz came back to town for the CNY holidays. He surprised me with some gifts from Oz - Self Raising Flour and Plain Flour! This is something I would have never expected! Knowing that I bake alot and he was soon running out of ideas while walking along the aisles in the supermarket, he figured this was the most apt for me :)

I remember I once bought a galfriend of mine an instant muffin mix and a muffin baking tray for her birthday. She got all excited! I figured that buying baking stuff for galfriends are the most fun and appropriate things! I'm sure they will love it! (as long as they have an oven) Otherwise a good easy to follow recipe book on chocolate cake would do the job!






Thanks J!

Rich Dark Chocolate Cake

Nobody can resist the temptation of a deliciously baked rich chocolate cake. If you love chocolates, this is a recipe you shouldn't miss. It is rich, moist, chocolatey and not too sweet to my liking.

Here are the easy steps off from the book of Cakes & Slices.

A
185g butter, chopped
250g dark chocolate chips


B
215g self raising flour (I use top flour)
40g unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted together with flour)

C
375g caster sugar (I use 350g)

D
3 eggs at room temperature, beaten

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 160deg C and lightly grease a 22cm cake tin.
2. Melt A in a bowl, over simmering water till butter and chocolate chips have melted
3. Combine A with C and D.
4. Add 250ml of water and mix well. Add the flour and cocoa mixture and stir till well combined.
5. Bake for 1 hr 30min (but i halved the portion in a smaller tin, so I baked for about an hour)

Chocolate Topping
20g butter, chopped
125g dark chocolate, chopped

1. Melt butter and chcolate chips in a bowl, over simmering water. Spread topping over cooled cake and decorate as you wish.

Eggy Business

This is my 2nd attempt in baking egg tarts. My tarts always look so out of shape and irregular! Anyhow different people have different preferences towards egg tarts. Some like it eggy, some like it pastry-like, some like it crumbly. This version that I tried from Prime website, is not too bad but a tad too crusty - crumbly and broken the min you bite it. Remove from the mould with care.

Tart
340 g PrimaFlour SuperLite Flour (i couldnt find this, so I substituted it with Plain flour)
115 g Butter (soft)
115 g Soft Margarine
70 g Icing Sugar
½ Egg


1. Add margarine, butter and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Mix for 5-7 mins at low speed.
2. Add the egg into mixture and mix for another 2 mins at low speed.
3. Fold in the flour and blend well. (Here it is wet and oily but make sure flour is well incorporated into the dough) Cover the dough with a piece of cloth and keep in the fridge till firm. (approx 10-15min)
4. Remove the dough and roll it out to 3mm thick. Cut and line the pastry into the egg tart mould. (This is the toughest part!)

Egg Custard
115 g Water
40 g Sugar
35 ml Milk
1 ½ Eggs
I added 10g of custard powder

1. Using a hand whisk, dissolve the sugar into the water. (I use hot water so the sugar can dissolve)

2. Blend in milk, egg and mix well. (This is where I add 10g of custard powder to make it more firm and 'curd-like')
3. Pour the custard into the egg tart mould.
4. Preheat the oven to 220deg C, bake for 20 mins till the custard has set and the crust golden brown. (I use 200 deg C)

Note: the egg custard recipe here only makes about 8. I had to repeat the recipe about 2 more times for the extra crust left.

Verdict: some love this, but I still think my skills can be improved much further

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I've always wanted to bake this cake because of its nice pandan aroma with the soft fluffy texture but never quite start it. Recently a friend of mine asked me something about baking this cake one day, which got me very intrigued and motivated to want to start work on it rightaway!

The original recipe from Prima website is suitable for 18cm pan but because I got myself a 23cm pan, I multiplied the ingredients by 1.5 for the ideal size and height. (listed in red) I frequently follow recipes from the Prima website as I find them very easy to follow and tend to have a 90% success rate even when baking it for the first time. The remaining 10% is well.... based on a recipe of good luck and skill :S

Squeezing out the pandan juice

The uneven cracked top

Final piece of cake :)

(150g) 100 g Top Flour (couldn't get it in Fairprice near my place, so I got it from Cold Storage) (1.5 tsp) 1 tsp Baking Powder
(1.5 tbsp) 1 tbsp Pandan Juice (I added more juice to 'enhance' the flavour)
(150 ml) 100 ml Coconut Milk (I use trim coconut milk for less the fat than origninal pack)
(6) 4 Egg Yolks
(75) 50 ml Corn Oil
¼ tsp Green Colouring (I only add a small drop)
(7) 5 Egg Whites
¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
(150g) 100 g Castor Sugar
Pinch of Salt


1 Preheat oven to 170°.
2 Extract pandan juice from finely pounded pandan leaves mixed with water, and add to coconut milk. Stir well.
3 Add egg yolk, 50 g sugar, oil, colouring and salt to the coconut mixture. Mix well using hand whisk.
4 Sift top flour and baking powder and fold into mixture. Mix until smooth. Set aside.
5 Beat egg whites and tartar at high speed until formy. Add remaining 50 g sugar and beat until stiff. (it gets abit noisy here at high speed :S)
6 Add 1/3 beaten egg white to the yolk mixture and mix using a hand whisk.
7 Slowly fold in this mixture to the remaining 2/3 of beaten egg whites.
8 Pour mixture into an ungreased 23cm chiffon tin and bake for about 50mins.
9 Turn tin over on a cake rack to cool before loosening cake.

(adapted from Prima website)