Pandan Cake: No, It's Not Kryptonite

As a rule of thumb, when there is a choice, I won't consume food that's artificially colored. Ironically, my number one weakness is chiffon pandan cake. To my defense, it's a quite difficult task to find fresh pandan leaves (otherwise known as screwpine leaves) here in Seattle. Awhile back I found fresh pandan leaves at the Asian grocery store I frequent, but the next week I was shit out of luck. It's so much easier to stock up on pandan extract. I have 2 kinds; one without added coloring and the other one looks like it's loaded with kryptonite. Guess which one I ended up using?

 No matter what I tell my husband, he refuses to eat it (perhaps he secretly thinks he's Superman) but my son loves this green cake. I craved for this certain cake during my last pregnancy, it's a quite surprise my daughter didn't come out smelling like pandan or having green complexion like Incredible Hulk. Last year, 8 out of 12 months, I made this cake. Hence the abstinence of this cake since October of 2010. While this cake is a Southeast Asian thing (I believe Indonesian and Malaysian), I don't see why we can't have it to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. And try telling Clark Kent there's no kryptonite involved in making this cake.

Pandan Cake

Ingredients:

• 50ml water
• 125ml coconut milk
• 50gr unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tsp pandan extract (I use Koepoe brand)
• 6 large eggs
• 225gr granulated sugar
• 250gr all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
•  1/2 tsp baking soda
• 45gr toasted coconut flakes (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Mix together water, coconut milk, melted butter and pandan extract.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda.

In another bowl, whip sugar and eggs until it fluffs up. Gradually add in the wet mixture and flour mixture alternately (I do wet-flour-wet-flour-wet). If using, stir in the toasted coconut flakes.

Pour into ungreased angel cake pan and bake for 45 minutes until the cake is done.

Flip the cake pan upside down, using a bottle to prop it. Wait until cool to serve.

And now you have green cake! It's fluffy and soft, almost like really really soft bread. The brown outer crust is the part I like best. Now, don't pinch.