PANDAN KAYA CAKE - by Susan Kwek

PANDAN KAYA CAKE (Recipe adapted from KitchenTigress which I have modified)

Cake
10 g castor sugar
3 egg yolks
50 g flavorless oil
45 g milk
1 tsp pandan paste
50 g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt

3 g egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50 g castor sugar

Kaya
300 g water
1/2 tsp white agar-agar powder
50 g sugar
25 g unsalted butter
10 pandan leaves (Chop pandan leaves into chunks, pop in a food processor and blend)
A pinch of salt
160 g pandan coconut juice, freshly squeezed (mixed the crushed up pandan leaves with 1 grated coconut)
35 g white hun kwee flour
1 tsp pandan paste

Method for Cake
1. Preheat oven to 160°C.

2. Whisk 10 g castor sugar with egg yolks till dissolved. Add in oil and milk. Whisk till just combined. Add pandan paste. Mix thoroughly. Sift cake flour and baking powder into mixture. Add salt. Whisk till just thoroughly mixed.

3. Separately whisk egg whites till frothy. Add cream of tartar. Whisk till thick foam forms. Gradually add 50 g castor sugar whilst still whisking. Continue to whisk till firm peak stage.

4. Add egg whites in 3 batches into egg yolk mixture. Mix with whisk till almost even after each addition. Scrape down and fold with spatula till just evenly mixed.

5. Pour batter into 20 x 12 x 7.5 cm cake pan gradually to release bigger bubbles. Bake in bottom of oven till slightly brown. Continue baking till inserted skewer comes out clean, 40-45 or so.

6. Remove pans from oven. Invert pan onto wire rack. Leave till just cool. Unmould cake and remove parchment paper.

7. Slice cake horizontally with serrated knife into 3 layers.

Method for Kaya
1. Place pandan coconut mixture in a bowl. Add hun kwee flour. Stir thoroughly. Refrigerate till ready to use.

2. Place water in a small pot that retains heat well. Sprinkle agar-agar powder into water. Add sugar, unsalted butter and salt. Heat and stir agar-agar mixture till agar-agar powder dissolves. Mixture should be very hot but not boiling. Turn off heat. Add pandan coconut milk mixture. Stir thoroughly. Add pandan paste. Stir thoroughly. Turn on heat to medium-low. Cook and stir till mixture is thick enough to coat sides of pot thinly. Turn off heat. Stir till residual heat dissipates.

To assemble cake
Divide Kaya into 3 portion. Place the top part of cake in cake pan, cut side up. Pour the 1st portion of Kaya into pan. Tilt pan from side to side and swirl Kaya to form even layer. Wait till Kaya layer thickens slightly. Place the 2nd layers of the cake and the 2nd portion of Kaya layer as before. Then finally top with what was bottom part of cake, cut side up. Make kaya layer as before.

Leave assembled cake on wire rack to cool down. Refrigerate, covered, till ready to serve and kaya is firm.

To serve, unmould cake and trim 1 cm from all edges. Transfer to serving plate. Leave till cake is at room temperature, covered. Cut and serve.