Pandan Cake (Easiest Pandan Flavored Pound Cake)

❤️Why you will love this recipe

• Making the cake is easy. Unlike chiffon cakes where egg whites and egg yolks need to be separated, this cake is very straightforward to make, and perfect for beginner bakers.
• It requires very simple ingredients and does not require fresh pandan leaves.
• The cake is great to be eaten on its own, without any topping.
• The cake is rich and buttery.

What is Pandan?

Pandan plant or pandan leaf (also known as screw pine leaves or pandanus amaryllifolius) is a green tropical plant that is commonly found in the Southeast Asia region. It consists of long, blade-like leaves and is often used in Asian cooking for its aroma. It is never eaten on its own and at most, the leaves will be blended with water or other liquid and the pulp is then drained out to make pandan extract. This extract is often used to enhance the taste and for its natural green food color. In most recipes, however, pandan leaves are simply knotted and added into dishes while cooking and often removed and discarded after cooking.

Since pandan leaves are not readily available in most countries (you can try to find them in Asian markets), the leaves can be substituted with pandan essence and pandan extract in concentrate form that can be found in baking supply stores or in Asian food stores. This pandan cake recipe is made using pandan essense and pandan extract, so if you cannot find fresh pandan leaves and wish to make a pandan cake, this recipe will be perfect for you.

📋Ingredients

• Butter - I use salted butter.
• Granulated sugar (caster sugar) - works best for this cake. Coarse sugar will leave sugar specks on the surface of the cake after baking.
• Self raising flour + salt + baking powder - mix and sift together before adding into the cake batter.
• Eggs - use large eggs
• Milk - use whole milk
• Pandan essence - adds pandan aroma to the cake.
• Pandan extract (concentrated pandan paste) - contributes to the green color and pandan taste in the cake.

🧾Substitution and variations

• Butter - can be substituted with unsalted butter, but you may need to increase the salt in the recipe.
• Self raising flour can be substituted with all purpose flour and baking powder. For every 225g of plain flour, add one and half teaspoons of baking powder to it. Mix both and sift them at least 3 times before using. To make 180g of self raising flour, add one teaspoon plus another one fifth of a teaspoon of baking powder.
• Whole milk can be substituted with coconut milk.
• Pandan extract and essence can be substituted with fresh pandan extract. To make your own extract, cut 5 long pandan leaves into small sections (about 4 to 5cm long) and blend them in a food processor with the milk. Strain the milk and add pandan flavored milk alternately with the sifted dry ingredients. For a more prominent green color to the cake, add some green food coloring to the batter.

Mixing the cake batter

1. Measure the sugar and butter into a medium sized mixing bowl.
2. Cream both until light and fluffy on medium speed with an electric mixer (hand mixer or stand mixer). This should take approximately 2 minutes on medium to high speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl at about one minute interval.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Each time, beat until all the traces of the egg are no longer visible.
4. Scrape the sides of the bowl after all the eggs have been added and beat again to ensure the ingredients are well creamed.

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold these dry ingredients into the creamed mixture in 3 batches.
2. Alternate each batch of flour with milk, starting and end with flour.
3. Finally, add the pandan essence and pandan extract (pandan flavoring). Mix until well combined.
4. Pour batter into a well greased and floured or parchment paper lined loaf cake pan. Level the top of the cake.

• Bake the cake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius oven temperature for 40 minutes. Test the cake for doneness by inserting a skewer in the center of the cake. If there is wet batter sticking to the skewer, let the cake bake for another 5 minutes.

🍽️Serving & storage

• Once baked, remove the cake from the oven. Let it stand in the baking tin for 2 minutes. Loosen the sides of the cake from pan with a jam knife and invert cake onto a wire rack. Turn it over so that it is faces upwards and let the cake cool completely to room temperature before serving.
• This moist pandan loaf cake lasts well, at least for 4 to 5 days, provided it does not come into contact into any moisture. If you wish to keep it longer (for up to 1 week), keep it covered in the refrigerator.

💡Expert tips

• This recipe makes a wonderfully moist pandan loaf cake. It is however, possible for your cake to turn out dry if you overbake it. To ensure your cake remains moist, keep to the baking time. Check for doneness at least 5 minutes before the baking time is up. To test for doneness poke a long skewer in the center of the cake. If there is no wet batter sticking to it, the cake is done and can be removed from the oven.
• When cooling the cake, keep it covered with a kitchen towel. That will prevent it from becoming dry too.
• And when the cake has cooled down to a warm temperature, wrap it in cling wrap and refrigerate it. Wrapping and refrigerating it while it is still warm will ensure the moisture in the cake remains inside and that keeps the cake moist.

💭FAQs