Coconut Gula Melaka 'Basket of Flowers' Chiffon Cake

Someone saw the "basket of flowers" I made for my mum's birthday more than three years ago and wanted one for her birthday so I made this as requested 😊.

She chose the colours of the flowers and flavour of cake.

The layer cakes I baked for the flowers are mildly flavoured with vanilla and coconut. I added pandan paste to colour the leaves green. The recipe for coconut Gula Melaka chiffon cake is adapted from my coconut Gula Melaka Ah Mah cake recipe. I increased the flour content and reduced the coconut milk content to make the cake firmer as it has to support the weight of the flowers. Even then, the flour to liquid ratio is still about 0.71, which is about the ratio I use for baking chiffon cakes in chiffon tins.

Cooked dough method coconut Gula Melaka chiffon cake
Ingredients (makes one 15cm chiffon cake):
42g coconut oil
60g cake flour, sifted
1/8 tsp cocoa powder (optional, added to deepen the brown colour)
1/8 tsp salt
43g coconut milk
3 egg yolks

3 egg whites
1/5 tsp cream of tartar
30g granulated Gula melaka
6g castor sugar

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 150℃. Set oven rack to lowest position. Place a tray of water at base of oven (optional).

2. Prepare egg yolk batter. Sift flour into a mixing bowl. Heat oil in a small saucepan until 70℃ or until you are able to see swirl lines appearing in the oil. Pour into bowl of flour. Whisk until well combined. Gradually add coconut milk with salt dissolved in it and whisk until a thick paste forms. Add one egg yolk at a time and whisk until well combined.

3. Prepare meringue. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks form or just reaching stiff peaks, gradually adding in sugar once the egg whites are foamy.

4. Add a third of the meringue into egg yolk batter and mix well. Pour the mixture into the meringue and quickly but gently fold until no trace of meringue is seen.

5. Pour batter into chiffon tin until batter is about 2cm away from the rim. Gently tap the tin on the table to release trapped air bubbles.

6. Put into oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 130℃ and bake for another 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Note that baking time will vary as each oven is different. Immediately invert to cool and carefully unmould by hand.

Freshly baked cake!

I used the same recipe to make some thin layer cakes to create the pieces for basket weave as well as to fill up the hole of the chiffon cake.

Tedious to assemble!

I just randomly added on flowers and leaves on top, gluing all parts using melted marshmellows.

With love,
Phay Shing