Gong Xi Fa Cai!! 恭喜发财！

Tomorrow would be Chinese New Year, one of the most important traditional holidays for us chinese. Often also known as Lunar New Year, we celebrate the festival with lots of good food. Today being Chinese New Year’s eve, families will gather for reunion dinner. In Singapore, we normally have steamboat, similar to an asian style fondue.  My aunt and uncle are back from Hong Kong, and I made them a pandan chiffon cake. It turned out pretty alright, though I would have much preferred using fresh coconut milk. You can find the recipe here. We are having a super long weekend here and I will only be starting work on Wednesday! Glad for this long rest. I don’t wanna go back to work!!!! To all Chinese peeps celebrating out there, wishing you all a very happy chinese new year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!! To all others who aren’t celebrating, have a great weekend!

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I had a pretty much stress free childhood. I was a good kid, obedient as can be. Growing up, I start to veer away from this perfect image and became the person I wanted to be. I didn’t exactly turned into a crook and committed crimes, but more like I did what I wanted. Naturally my gradual change upset them. They couldn’t really accept that this is the way I am and I probably can never be the way they want me to be. Which is why I try to make them happy whenever I can. As I grow older, I try to give them less grief (although sometimes it can’t really be helped).

My parents are typical asians who prefer light sponge cakes to buttery pound cakes that are common in western style baking. Therefore, when I started baking, the many pound cakes (they were easy to bake for a novice baker like me) that came out of the oven were not exactly a treat to them. As I became more adventurous, one of the few things I vowed to master was chiffon cakes. Similar to angel cakes, these cakes are feathery light and not as sweet. I made a pandan chiffon cake last monday and Mother share some with her friend. Her response during dinner was ‘Hey, you know what? My friend actually thought the cake was nice!!’. Yes, she can be unbelivably rude at times. Hmph. I decided give it another try yesterday to try and correct the mistakes encountered before. The result was a tall and fragrant cake, with just the right amount of sweetness. My parents loved it. I am happy.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

(A)
1 1/2 cup cake flour
1tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp caster sugar

(B)
3/4 cup thick coconut milk
100ml vegetable oil
1/2 tsp pandan paste
1 1/2 tbsp fresh pandan juice (if not using fresh pandan juice, add 1 1/4 tsp pandan paste instead)
6 egg yolks

(C)
7 egg whites
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 tbsp caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Sift cake flour and baking powder. Whisk in sugar and salt to combine thoroughly.

2. Add all the ingredients in (B). With a paddle attachment, mix the ingredients until a smooth batter is formed. Add some water (1 tbsp at a time) if the batter seem too thick.

3. In a separate bow, beat the egg whites till foamy. Add in the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the sugar and continue to beat until stiff and shiny peaks are formed.

4. Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter. Then fold in the remaining egg white quickly. Pour the mixture into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 60 – 65 minutes. Cool the cake inverted on a wire rack to prevent it from sinking. Remove cake after it is thoroughly cooled (1 – 2 hours). Makes 1 10-inch cake.