Bunny Pandan Coconut Gula Melaka Swiss Roll

This project has been on my waiting list for a while after I made the corgi swiss roll based on my 3D corgi design. Presenting my bunny swiss roll based on my 3D teacup bunny macarons and 3D bunny macaron designs!

Pandan coconut gula melaka chiffon sponge with the same flavour of diplomat cream and coconut agar jelly in the middle. 

To be honest, I had trouble taking photos of the roll cake together with the macarons because which ever angle you choose, something will aways look odd😅. I did a poll on Instagram and chose the one that was more popular as the cover photo.

I begin the project by making the templates for cookie cutter and patterned roll. I made my own cookie cutter based on the template design.

Coconut agar jelly

Ingredients (fills two 7x7" trays to about 2cm height):

500g coconut milk

500g coconut water (may replace with coconut milk if prefer richer jelly)
12g agar powder
pinch of salt
3 pandan leaves, knotted or cut into short strips
30g sugar (or to taste. Mine is considered very low sugar)

Steps:

1. Put coconut milk, coconut water, salt and sugar in saucepan. Scatter agar powder over and let it bloom for about 5 minutes. Try not to let the agar powder clump together.

2. Add pandan leaves and bring to a boil while stirring.

3. Once the coconut milk boils, keep boiling for another two minutes while stirring to ensure all agar powder is dissolved. 

4. Pour into trays and cool before refrigerating for at least 2hours or overnight. I lined my trays with teflon sheets but it isnt necessary.

5. Unmould and use cookie cutter to cut out bunny head shape. Store cutouts in airtight container until ready to assemble.

Note that this portion or agar is more than what you need so feel free to halve the recipe. 

Pandan coconut diplomat cream

Ingredients:

200g coconut milk
10g pandan juice concentrate*
40g gula melaka, finely chopped
1/8 tsp salt
20g cornflour
2 egg yolks
15g unsalted butter
3/4 tsp pandan paste
70g whipping cream (you may use dairy, non-dairy or a combination of both. You may need to stabilize dairy cream with gelatin in hot weather. You may use more cream if you prefer lighter taste and texture.)

* This needs to be prepared in advance. Omit and use 1-1.5 tsp pandan paste instead if you do not want to use pandan juice concentrate. Blend pandan leaves with a little water. Squeeze out the pulp and sieve the extracted juice. Let it settle in fridge in a container/bowl for three days before using the dark green layer that settled to the bottom of the container/bowl.

Steps: 

1. Heat coconut milk, pandan juice concentrate, gula melaka, salt and pandan paste in a saucepan

until steaming hot (not boiling). In the mean time, whisk together egg yolks and cornflour in a heavy bowl or measuring jug.

2. Once coconut milk is hot, remove from heat and pour in a thin stream into egg yolk mixture while whisking the egg yolk mixture continuously. Pour everything back into saucepan. 

3. Cook the custard over medium-low heat while whisking continuously. Once it thickens, remove from heat and keep whisking until smooth. Place back on heat and cook until it thickens further, about another few minutes. Be careful not to use too high heat or it will become scrambled eggs. 

4. Remove from heat and add butter. Whisk until well combined. Transfer into mixing bowl. Press cling wrap on surface of pastry cream. Refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.

5. When ready to assemble with sponge, lighten the pastry cream by whisking it briefly. Whip the whipping cream until stiff and fold into pastry cream to make diplomat cream. Transfer into piping bag.

I can't disclose the recipe for the chiffon sponge as I bought it from Keem Ooi. You may purchase it from her by dropping her a DM on Instagram (account name is keempossible_2). I tweaked her original recipe to include gula melaka, coconut milk and pandan juice concentrate.

Here's a peek at my pattern piping and the pattern reveal after baking!

Roll up the baked sponge while warm to cool completely before filling.

Apply the cream and line the bunny agar cutouts about 12cm from the start of the roll. 

Cover the agar cutouts with more cream and coat the sponge with a thin layer of cream before rolling. Refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight before adding in the details with edible paint. You can make the paint by using gel food colouring diluted with a little water.

Works in progress! I cover the portions I am not working on with cling wrap to minimize drying out of the sponge. This picture shows it all covered because I took a short break. 

I made this bunny swiss roll in time for Easter and a cute spring collaboration on Instagram too! Follow me on Instagram at phay_shing as I am most active there and not all my bakes will be featured in the blog in a timely manner.

with love,
Phay Shing