Floral Wreath Pandan Kaya Gula Melaka Chiffon Sponge & Pudding Cake

I have a request for a flower themed cake for my friend's mum. I feel a little shy about presenting my humble attempt as there are so many breathtaking floral wreath cakes done in buttercream, fondant or agar made by experts that you can find out there. Here's my humble attempt at floral wreath cake using chiffon sponge, adorning a Pandan kaya gula melaka sponge and pudding cake.

It's my first time experimenting with drippy pudding down the sides of the cake too!

The recipe is the same as the one I used for my flower pot cupcakes a few months ago as they received rave reviews. Please refer to that post for details. I will highlight the changes made here.

I made a 7.5" cake using springform pan for assembly. The two Pandan chiffon sponge cakes are baked in 7" round pans lined at the bottom with baking paper. I used steam baking at about 150°C for 30 minutes with the rack at second lowest position. Ingredients and method are the same as my previous post.

I will type out the portion of ingredients for the pudding as it is different here. The quantity in brackets is for the green Pandan pudding and the quantity not in brackets is for the gula melaka pudding.

Gula melaka/Pandan kaya pudding
A)
200g (200g) coconut milk
160g (40g) evaporated milk
188g (125g) Pandan water (boil several Pandan leaves in 1L water for a few minutes. Discard the leaves.)
90g gula melaka (60g white sugar)
1.5 tsp (1 tsp) agar powder
1/4 tsp (1/8 tsp) salt
1/4 tsp caramel essence, optional (1/4 tsp Pandan paste)
1/4 tsp (1/4 tsp) vanilla extract
1/4 tsp coconut paste/flavouring (optional)

B)
35g (23g) custard powder
187g (150g) Pandan water

This is the coconut paste I bought from Cold Storage during my recent trip to Malaysia 

Steps:
Prepare the gula melaka pudding following the steps in my flowerpot cupcake post. Remember to sieve the pudding to ensure any lumps are removed. Assemble the cake by alternating between pudding and sponge layers in springform pan.

Refrigerate for at least two hours or until firm. Carefully unmould. I found it helpful to lightly grease the springform pan with coconut oil this time round. The cake detaches from the pan more easily.

Ta-dah! 

Prepare the Pandan kaya pudding the same way but carefully pour the pudding down the sides with a Chinese soup spoon before flooding the middle of the cake. You could try pouring from the center and let the pudding flow down the sides but I wasn't sure I could control the flow that way. Refrigerate the whole cake again.

I baked reduced-egg yolk sheet cakes for the flowers and leaves. Details can be found in our Creative Baking: Chiffon Cakes book on how to create the chiffon roses so I will not go into detail on how to make the sheet cakes and how to shape the roses. Instead of using a flower shaped cookie cutter to make flower cutouts, I used a teardrop shaped cookie cutter to cut out five petals for each flower and stuck them together using marshmellow cream (melted marshmellows with a sprinkle of water). Use white dragees for the center of the flowers. They are stuck on using melted marshmellows as well.

I used a slightly higher liquid to flour ratio than what I previously wrote in the recipe book and baked at 170°C for 8-9minutes instead. The ingredient list below is for two 25x30cm trays and two 15x15 cm trays, four colours of batter. I spread the batter as thin as I could this time to make more realistic petals and leaves.

Recipe for ultra thin Pandan flavoured chiffon layer cakes
Ingredients:
Egg yolk batter
1 egg yolk
8g caster sugar
45g coconut oil/ vegetable oil
45g clear Pandan juice (top clear liquid after letting freshly squeezed Pandan juice settle in fridge for a few days. The dark green portion is used to bake Pandan chiffon)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
60g cake flour
1/8 tsp salt
White, blue, purple, pink and juniper green gel food colouring*

Meringue**
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50g caster sugar

* You may use blue pea flower to reduce the use of blue gel but only a little colouring is used here as pastel shades are required. I used Queen's natural green food colouring for green to reduce the use of artificial green colouring.

** Divide the meringue ingredients into two unless you happen to have two ovens and are able to bake all four trays at once.

Remember to brush the flowers and leaves with a little syrup before storing the cake in a cakebox :). Refrigerate for a day or two for the flavours to mature!

Enjoy!

Thank God the cake was very well received! My friend said her mum was glad for once the decorative flowers on the cake can be eaten and it's yummy too!

With love,
Phay Shing