Low Carb. Refined Sugar Free. Oil-Free. Coconut-Pandan Flavored Cake. 

The surroundings was all a blur to me – the colors, the people, the noise .I could hardly believe that I was standing in a middle of the Singapore Airport. My brain felt like a fog; my feet jittery and worn out. I leaned in against the weight of my luggage to take a break. Just earlier this morning I was wading through the waters of Bintan Island carrying an oxygen tank and wearing a massive astronaut helmet. Walking underwater was more difficult than I had imagined – nothing like swimming either. The resistance increases with every movement you make, requiring 100x more effort than walking on land. Gripping like my life depended on the rail, I looked around to survey the misty green waters. In just  ablink of an eye I was surrounded by numerous species of fish differing in colors and size My young childish heart leaped at the sight of what I call “nemo fish” or clown fish swarming in their orange corals. I could even feel their little fins and smooth scales brush past my bare arm! This definitely was one of my favourite moments in Bintan! Our little adventure ended rapidly, as our little boat brought us back to shore. We desperately ran along the sand to our taxi making a dash to our hotel to shower/pack/clean. We were on a time crunch – and just 40 minutes later we found ourselves dressed/cleaned at the ferry pier. There were tour groups of people pushing in line, shouting in Chinese/Japanese trying to communicate. A really vast contrast from the peace I had felt under the ocean just 1 hour ago!By 3pm we were already at the Singapore airport checking in ready to head to our next stop: Thailand. I could hardly believe that by the end of today I would have been in 3 countries. In just 24 hours I had travelled by bus, ferry, plane, taxi and boat. What an experience! Stumped and tired, I sat down pathetically in midst of the bustling airport. It took quite awhile before I had realized that my friends had gone. After a few minutes of waiting, I turned around to see them return carrying a plastic box of dessert. Their excitement definitely made me curious. I sniffed the box stuffed with green sponge cake – it was pandan chiffon cake! Fluffy and light, pandan chiffon was a specialty found only in Singapore. With a texture resembling angel cake it was almost like eating clouds. The unique fragrance from pandan leaves is what makes this amazingly addicting. I stared at their cake, swallowing back my desire to take a bite. I hadn’t had pandan cake in forever. Apart from the fact that it was unavailable in Hong Kong, it was also not gluten free or dairy free. After researching on the internet for ages, we realized there was not a single gluten free, dairy free paleo pandan cake recipe!

Over the next few weeks, we worked on making a beautiful pandan cake out of coconut flour. Coconut flour doesn’t yield an angel cake like texture, but it does make the cake very soft.  To lighten the cake, we whipped the egg whites to stiff peaks; added baking soda and sifted the coconut flour. Coconut flour also compliments the flavor of pandan perfectly! This isnt like the pandan chiffon cake you can buy in streets but it is a COCONUT PANDAN FLAVORED CAKE which is delicious in its own right.  What I love most about this cake is the texture and the beautiful pairing of coconut and pandan together – it is a match made in heaven.

PANDAN LEAVES OR PANDAN EXTRACT?

WE have two versions of this recipe – one with pandan extract (that is new) and one with pandan leaves (scroll to the bottom). They are meant to give you an option to make it. Pandan leaves are more laborious, but if you have it theres nothing like homemade pandan juice!

Where to find Pandan? Pandan Leaves and extract can be found in most Asian stores. If your looking for leaves they come frozen OR fresh. The ones we brought were fresh from the markets in Hong Kong. You can easily identify it just by its characteristic smell! It is very unique and I absolutely love. FYI: Most recipes will ask you to strain pandan juice to leave out the fibrous leaves. The first time round we were so lazy we decided not to strain ours and in fact there is no difference in flavor. However you will find that when you cut into the cake you will see little fibers from the leaves. So although we chose not to strain it – it is very untraditional and unappealing to some people. It is optional whether you want to strain it or not, but honestly after making it 4 times we have found that our taste testers didn’t mind it at all!

Every time we made this recipe, my dad gets SO EXCITED. This is the first cake recipe my mom has asked me to teach her (we do have a lot of dessert recipes on our blog) and so we did. She carefully photographed every step as we explained how to beat eggs, how to separate them, which order to do what. I was so proud to see her finished product since this is one of our more complex recipes. Each slice was like a soft piece of milk toast. It is not the color that makes it so attractive, rather it is the fragrant smell that enraptures all that see it and taste it. Every time we make this, I can’t help but feel a leap of pride for being able to create a beautiful cake that my family loves, especially that I will be making often to serve to my guests.

Coconut milk: You must use full fat coconut milk for this. The difference between lite and full fat is that full fat coconut milk has a stronger coconut flavor, which I personally prefer.

DISCLAIMER: This does not taste like a pandan chiffon cake, its more of a pandan coconut cake. It is beautiful, soft and moist – a beautiful cake in its own right. This has been approved by friends and family. So if you have that pandan craving kicking in and want something healthier this is the perfect one for you.

 

Gluten Free Pandan Coconut Cake (Pandan Extract)

 

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Author: Unconventional Cooks

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• ⅔ cup coconut flour
• ⅓ cup tapioca flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 10 tbsp raw cane sugar (about ⅔ cup)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp pandan extract (this depends on the brand)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ⅔ cup coconut milk, full fat
• 6 eggs, separated
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325F/ 180C.
2. Sift coconut flour, tapioca flour, baking powder and salt together. Mix in the sugar.
3. Mix egg yolks with coconut milk, pandan and vanilla extract.
4. Fold the egg yolk and flour mixture are together until combined.
5. Next grab a clean, dry copper/ metal/ stainless/ glass bowl. Make sure that your bowl and beaters have no egg yolks, oil, grease or fat. A tiny drop of fat can prevent the egg whites from accepting air.
6. Add in lemon juice and whisk the egg white using a hand beater until you get stiff peaks.
7. Fold ⅓ of the egg white mixture into the pandan mixture. Mix thoroughly.
8. Pour in the rest of the egg whites and fold only in one direction until fully incorporated.
9. Loaf Pan: Pour batter into a lined loaf pan. Press it down slightly to ensure there are no air bubbles. Bake for 40-42 minutes or until just brown.
10. Donuts: Divide batter into each donut hole (filling to the top). Bake for 15-20 minutes. Turn out and dust with coconut flour.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 12 Calories: 142.1 Fat: 5.7g Saturated fat: 2.8g Carbohydrates: 19g Sugar: 11.8g Fiber: 4g Protein: 4.7g

3.5.3251

Gluten Free Pandan Cake (Pandan Leaves)

 

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Author: Unconventional Cooks

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• ⅔ cup coconut flour
• ⅓ cup tapioca flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 10 tbsp raw cane sugar (about ⅔ cup)
• Pinch of salt
• 10 pandan Leaves + ⅓ cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ⅓ cup coconut milk, full fat
• 6 eggs, separated
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325F/ 180C.
2. Sift coconut flour, tapioca flour, baking powder and salt together. Mix in the sugar.
3. Cut up the pandan leaves.
4. Place the leaves and water in to a blender/ food processor. Blitz.
5. OPTIONAL (but recommended): Pour contents into a cheesecloth, squeeze all the juice out. Pour the juice back into the blender.
6. Add in egg yolks with coconut milk and vanilla extract.
7. Fold the egg yolk and flour mixture are together until combined.
8. Next grab a clean, dry copper/ metal/ stainless/ glass bowl. Make sure that your bowl and beaters have no egg yolks, oil, grease or fat. A tiny drop of fat can prevent the egg whites from accepting air.
9. Add in lemon juice and whisk the egg white using a hand beater until you get stiff peaks.
10. Fold ⅓ of the egg white mixture into the pandan mixture. Mix thoroughly.
11. Pour in the rest of the egg whites and fold only in one direction until fully incorporated.
12. Loaf Pan: Pour batter into a lined loaf pan. Press it down slightly to ensure there are no air bubbles. Bake for 40-42 minutes or until just brown.
13. Donuts: Divide batter into each donut hole (filling to the top). Bake for 15-20 minutes. Turn out and dust with coconut flour.

3.5.3251

LOVE,

Zoe & Mia