I'm back with yet another baking post - and today I'm sharing something very close to my heart, which I grew up eating.
Many of you may be wondering - what is Pandan? Well, pandan is actually a plant that is commonly found in Southeast Asian - and its leaves has a strong fragrance that many actually refer to it as the vanilla of Southeast Asia. It is also often used in cooking as well!
Personally, I've always been a huge fan of anything pandan - pandan kaya toast with 1 soft-boiled egg was always my go-to breakfast every morning before heading off to school. When I left for Melbourne for my studies back in 2018, I would often crave pandan to the point that I would even bring my own pandan kaya from Singapore! And whenever I get to savour that familiar taste, I feel at home again.
Hence, being back in Singapore due to COVID-19 has allowed me to play around with the flavours that I'm most familiar with - together with my grandma, so here we present to you - our take on the classic Pandan Swiss Roll!
Picture isn't great and our filling is not perfect either, but just look at that beautiful roll :") grandma was so proud of herself!
It actually took us three tries before we managed to successfully roll a beautiful cake roll with the skin side up! The first time we didn't even know what we were doing, we rolled it skin side down HAHA. And the second time the skin half-peeled + we kind of broke the cake sheet when rolling so that was sad... pic reference here:
but third time's the charm - and we got a perfect skin this time round!
With regard to the filling, we filled it with pandan kaya the first time round, and cream the second time. It really is up to you - but personally, I like filling it with kaya just because I love an enhanced coconut milk taste!
And finally for the long-awaited recipe sharing below - can't wait for all of you to try this out! My family's preference is a low-sugar version, but feel free to add more sugar if you'd prefer.
INGREDIENTS
Pandan Swiss Roll
For a 12" x 12" x 1" pan OR 10" x 14" x 1" pan. Recipe is adapted from Bake for Happy Kids!
Pandan-Coconut Milk Mixture
8 pandan leaves (See recipe note for substitution)
72g light coconut milk ( I use Kara light coconut milk)
Egg Yolk Mixture
28g vegetable oil (any neutral-tasting oil is fine, I use canola oil)
60g egg yolks (about 4 large eggs)
72g Pandan-coconut milk mixture (if not enough, top up with more coconut milk till 72g)
3/4 tsp baking powder
68g cake flour (with 9% protein)
12g corn starch
1/8 tsp salt
Egg White Mixture
140g egg whites (about 4-5 large eggs)
60g caster sugar
optional: 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (you can omit, but I prefer adding this as it helps to stabilise the egg whites and enables the whipping of the meringue to stiff peaks a lot faster!)
Filling Options
1. 120ml of heavy whipping cream (min. 35% fat)
2. Store-bought kaya (tip: check the sugar contents of the kaya, and try to pick one with lower sugar content; or you may end up with an overly sweet kaya roll!)
Recipe Notes
Pandan leaves: you can substitute with 1/2 - 1 tsp pandan paste if you are unable to find pandan leaves where you live (or if you're lazy like me on some days) to taste - I've tried this with Redman's pandan paste, and I've heard that Koepoe has pretty good pandan paste as well.
Flour: As my flour is not of the lowest protein content for cake flour, I like to add a bit of corn starch (~10-15% of flour proportion) to lower the protein content.
Sugar: If you have it on hand, SIS' Low GI sugar would work perfectly well in this recipe too - tried and tested! You can add up to 70g or 80g of sugar if you prefer a sweeter cake roll.
Kaya: if you'd prefer, you can try Bake for Happy Kids's kaya recipe as well, it seems pretty easy but I just haven't gotten down to make my own so far!
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 180°C, top and bottom heating mode (no fan-forced!).
Line sheet cake pan with greaseproof baking paper.
Preparing the pandan-coconut milk mixture:
Snip pandan leaves into small pieces and place them into a blender or food processor with 72g light coconut milk and process.
Place processed pandan-coconut milk mixture through a fine sieve, and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
Use only 72g of the pandan-coconut milk mixture, and top it up with additional coconut milk if below 72g.
(Alternative: Add 3/4 tsp of pandan paste (~3g), followed by coconut milk until it reaches 72g. Mix well and set aside.)
4. Add 60g of egg yolks, 28g vegetable oil, 72g pandan-coconut milk mixture in a large mixing bowl, and whisk to combine well. I whisk this by hand, but you can opt to use an electric mixer as well
5. Using a fine sieve, sift in baking powder, corn starch, cake flour, and salt into the mixture, and whisk to combine well. Set aside.
6. Measure out 60g of caster sugar, and 140g of egg whites.
7. Add 140g egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, and 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (if using).
8. Whisk at low-medium speed for about 2-3 minutes till egg whites are foamy. Then, increase speed to medium to high speed, and slowly add in 60g of caster sugar in 3 additions.
9. Let the mixer whisk for 5-10 minutes, until stiff peaks are achieved.
This is how my stiff peaks look like!
10. Using a spatula, slowly and gently fold in the egg white mixture to the egg yolk + flour mixture in 3-4 additions, folding in till well-combined and no streaks of white is visible. Try to be as gentle as possible so as not to deflate the batter!
11. Pour the batter onto the sheet cake pan, and use the spatula to spread the batter into an even, uniform layer. This may be difficult to achieve if it is your first few attempts, but try your very best!
12. Gently tap the sheet pan onto the kitchen countertop for a few times, so as to remove any large air bubbles.
13. Place the pan into the preheated oven, and bake for 15-16 minutes, or until the cake is well-risen and fully cooked. At this point in time, you should notice a beautifully browned layer at the top, which will be your cake roll's "skin".
14. When done, remove the pan from the oven, and let it cool for 5-10 minutes so that it is easier to handle. During this time, prepare a new sheet of baking paper on the kitchen countertop.
15. Pre-rolling the cake: When the cake is cooled enough to handle, remove from cake pan, and flip the sheet of cake onto the new baking paper. Remove the used baking paper from the reverse side. Let the cake cool for another 5-10 minutes, then using the baking paper, slowly roll the cake into a log shape from one end to the other, as tight as possible. (This step is crucial to prevent the skin from peeling or breaking, and making the rolling easier with the filling later!)
16. Place the rolled cake into the refrigerator, and cool for approx. 15-30 minutes.
17. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. If using cream, use a stand or electric mixer to whip the cream. Refrigerate the filling.
18. When the cake is cooled, remove it from the refrigerator, and carefully unroll. Spread your preferred filling on it as evenly as possible, leaving about 1-2 inches at the edge without filling (this is to prevent the filling from overflowing and creating a mess!)
19. Slowly roll the filled cake roll back into its original shape, and put it back into the refrigerator to cool for a minimum of 1 hour.
20. Once fully cooled, remove and slice into pieces. Enjoy!
I sincerely hope that you'll try out this recipe, for the texture of this cake is so amazingly light and fluffy, and 1 slice is simply not enough!
As for my own skills - I know my rolling and fillings still need improvement! But as always, practice makes perfect, so I can't wait to try this over and over again until I get it right :)
Can't wait to experiment with more interesting flavours in time to come!