Sugar-Free Sunflower Gula Melaka Pandan Kaya Cake

I finally got around to making my mum's super belated birthday cake! Dad took much longer than expected to recover from his surgery so we had to postpone her celebration. Thank God all's good now. Presenting the gula melaka pandan kaya cake that I planned to make a few months ago with the design based on one of Mum's Nagomi Art paintings!

This is mum's painting. Doesn't it look like some professional art piece?

I did a "full-dress rehearsal" of the cake over here with a tulip themed Nagomi Art design as my reference if you are interested:

http://lovingcreations4u.blogspot.com/2025/05/gula-melaka-pandan-kaya-painted-swiss.html

Cake composition:

- Sunflower chiffon cake inserts made using only Gula Melaka and prebiotic soluble fibres as the "sugar"

- Green and brown gula melaka pandan kaya pudding with gula melaka as the only "sugar"

- White chiffon sheet cake made using pandan water and no egg yolks to keep the cake white. A sugar replacement and prebiotic soluble fibres were the "sugar" in this cake

Just to share some works-in-progress photos:

Some photos of the cake at the restaurant where we had the celebration 

You may see the reel for the process of making this cake over here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNnVY5XpCy5/?igsh=MXViYzQzZHZ3OTVodg==

I shared the sugared version of the recipe together with my Tulip roll cake reel so please refer to the captions of that reel if you need a reference recipe. 

Needless to say, everyone enjoyed the cake that was tasty but light and refreshing enough to be consumed after a sumptuous meal!

with lots of love,

Phay Shing

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Capybara Yuzu Chocolate Hazelnut Chiffon Cake

 My family loves capybaras and the multitude of capybara plushies at home are a source of inspiration for my capybara bakes😆. Here are some simple yuzu chocolate hazelnut chiffon cakes that I made for fun but decided to make it into a kids baking class material!

The sponge is yuzu flavoured and coloured brown with a little cocoa powder. The pudding in the middle is a delicious chocolate hazelnut pudding. The ears and facial features are not made out of fondant, marzipan or modelling chocolate, AND you don't have to make an extra item using more ingredients to make those too!

Find out the secret of the simple hack I use to transform a plain chiffon cake to my family's favourite creature from this class happening during the June school holidays! Please click on this link to register. 

with love,

Phay Shing

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Chiffon Cake Longevity Peaches (no artificial colouring added) on Pandan Kaya Cake

 I have been making longevity peach chiffon cakes for the past 9 years and this is the first time I decided to make it as naturally coloured as possible for my grandmother's 88th birthday. You may click on this link to see my past bakes that are longevity peach themed and made in various flavours like lychee rose and yuzu. Grandma likes to celebrate her birthday according to the lunar calender so the actual date we celebrate is not fixed each year. Because of this, I had to make the cake for her at a rather busy period so I kept things simple but yummy.

Here's this year's longevity peach cake for grandma!

The peaches sit on top of my signature pandan kaya cake!

Here's a better look at the peaches!

The peaches are almost naturally coloured, not 100% naturally coloured, because the bottled pandan paste I used for the leaves already has artificial green colouring added. In the past I had to use white colouring to make the peaches appear whiter instead of yellow, and used pink gel colouring to add on the pink. This time round I used a chiffon cake recipe adapted from Mimi that doesn't use any egg yolks to omit the use of artificial white colouring, and I used diluted fresh dragonfruit puree to colour the peaches pink naturally. The peaches were made a week in advance and frozen due to my busy schedule, but they still appeared and tasted as good as new!

You may refer to this post for my reduced sugar pandan kaya cake that is still tasty and refreshing at the same time. I increased the amount of sugar/gula melaka by about 20% for both the chiffon sponge and pudding to suit the tastebuds of my grandma and the whole clan of the extended family since this request was not a "siew-siew-siew-siew dai" (less-less-less-less sweet in colloquial Singapore) order 😆, but is still less sweet than commercially sold cakes in general. My cousin commented that it tastes better than Bengawan Solo's signature pandan kaya cake!

Chiffon cake longevity peaches (makes about 12-15 mini peaches):

Egg yolk batter

35g cake flour

Pinches of salt

10g caster sugar

15g vegetable oil (I used canola)

40g milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp cocoa powder

1/4 tsp pandan paste

Meringue*

2 large egg whites (about 38-40g each egg white)

30g caster sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Decoration

Pink dragonfruit puree, sieved & diluted with water 

Water or simple syrup** 

Cake glue or melted marshmallow

* I split ingredients in half as the leaves & peach body have different baking time & temperature profiles

** Make simple syrup by dissolving sugar in hot water in 1:2 ratio. Using syrup instead of water helps to keep the sponge moist longer during storage

Steps:

1. Line a baking tray (or 2) with teflon sheet or parchment paper. Size of tray doesn't matter as we just need to spread the batter as thin a layer as possible for the leaves. Lightly grease heart shaped silicone molds with a little oil. You may use egg shells if you don't have the heart molds, and carve out the shape after baking. Wash and air dry eggshells thoroughly if using them. Preheat oven to 125C with fan on.

2. Make egg yolk batter. I know the name seems somewhat inappropriate because there is no egg yolk used but this is the same portion that is in all chiffon cake recipes where the yolk normally goes. In a mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to mix oil, milk, vanilla, salt and sugar together. Sift in flour and whisk until well combined. Divide into 2 equal portions. Add sifted cocoa powder and pandan paste to one portion, cover with cling wrap and set it aside. Cocoa powder is added to deepen the green colour and make it appear less neon bright.

3. Make one portion of meringue with one egg white portion of ingredients. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg white with cream of tartar until firm peaks, gradually adding sugar once the egg whites are foamy. Take your time to build up a stable, tight and glossy meringue at medium speed. Going high speed all the way creates large air bubbles and the meringue is not as stable.

4. Quickly but gently fold the meringue into the white egg yolk batter in 3 additions. Transfer into piping bag. Fill the mold until full.

5. Bake for 25-35 min. Increase temperature to 150-160C and bake for another 5 min. Cool completely before unmolding. Note that the baking profile is just a guideline and is dependent on mold size and oven so adjust accordingly.

6. Preheat oven to 170C with the fan on. 

7. Prepare another batch of meringue. Fold meringue into green egg yolk batter. Pour into lined baking tray and spread as thin a layer as possible.

8. Bake for 30 seconds. Turn off the oven fan and continue baking for 8-9 min or until done. Keep an eye on it as it can go from done to brown within a minute or less. Immediately flip onto fresh parchment paper and cool completely before cutting out the leaves with cookie cutter. You may use scissors/knife and a homemade template if you don't have an appropriate cutter.

9. Use scissors to trim off browned parts of the peach body. You may also use scissors or a small fruit knife to carve the shape if you used egg shells to bake.  Use the back of the knife to make an imprint in the middle of the peach.

10. Brush the tip of the peach with diluted dragonfruit puree. I didn't measure the dilution ratio as the exact measurement is not important. I go by the colour I get visually. You can always apply another coat if the colour is too faint, or add a little more puree to your paint. Don't use undiluted puree as the colour is too dark. Use some water to blend the pink colour towards the white parts of the peach. In the past I used a toothbrush spray to create the ombre pink effect but this method is much cleaner!

11. Glue the leaves onto the peach body using cake glue or melted marshmallow. Store in airtight condition in the fridge or freezer until ready to consume.

Here's the reel of the process of making the peaches!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzJF8h9y0VV/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I had leftover pandan sponge and pudding so I assembled a few pandan kaya cupcakes. 

Looking cute!

I think I am going to stick with this method of making chiffon cake longevity peaches from now on with the exception of substituting the milk with some other liquids for flavour variation. I hope this post is helpful for those of you who want to create healthier versions of longevity peaches for your loved ones that minimizes artificial food colouring. You may use matcha powder for the leaves to make it fully naturally coloured but I wanted the peaches to match the flavour profile of the cake below. Maybe I shall try that next time! 

Update: I did an Instagram poll and majority are in favour of a longer, more detailed video tutorial so I made a youtube video version of it and you may see it here:

https://youtu.be/-qU4WdBn6DQ?si=6iTMFX7E4kkrj-wv

with lots of love,

Phay Shing

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Less Sweet Pandan Kaya Cake

This cake was tailor-made for my friend's mum's 70th birthday. How good was it? The birthday girl who has a long history of refusing cake because she doesn't like cream, butter or anything too sweet finished the slice given to her! The rest of the cake? Everyone else finished it within minutes despite being too full after a meal. It's tasty, refreshing & not too sweet. I decorated the cake with blueberry-apple marshmallow flowers & simple cocoa gula melaka chiffon basket weave ring.

Here's the review from my friend!

Those of you not familiar with the colloquial language of Singapore, siu-dai or siew-dai means less sweet. So I had the challenge of making a cake that is really less sweet but still tasty enough for the birthday girl and everyone else at the celebration.

Not many people make pandan chiffon cake the old school way from homemade pandan juice concentrate nowadays because it's a labour of love! I use a combination of homemade concentrate & bottled pandan paste to impart flavour & colour that my recipients love so much over the years.

I adapted the recipe from this basket weave cake I made for my mum a few years ago.

Pandan Chiffon Sponge

(makes two 7.5" round sponges)

A)

45g oil

70g pandan juice concentrate*

40g coconut milk

12g Gula Melaka, grated (coconut palm sugar)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp pandan paste 

B)

120g cake flour, sifted into large bowl

C)

6 egg yolks

D)

6 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

72g caster sugar (use more if prefer sweeter & for more stable meringue)

Pandan Kaya pudding

E)

720g coconut milk

300g water^

60g clear pandan water*^

45g Gula Melaka, grated (use more & add caster sugar if prefer sweeter)

3/4 tsp vanilla

3/8 tsp pandan paste

3/8 tsp caramel essence (optional)

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp green liquid colouring (optional)

2 tsp agar powder

F)

78g cornstarch

390g water^

* Blend about 25-30 mature pandan leaves with 120g of water. Strain juice & squeeze out as much liquid as you can from pulp. Let juice settle over 3 days in fridge. Separate clear water from concentrate. 

^ Traditional recipes use pandan water from water boiled with a few pandan leaves. Over here I just used what is usually discarded. It saves you the effort for one step!

Steps:

1) Line pans with parchment paper or teflon sheet. Preheat oven to 140-150C (no fan) with optional steam baking. Note that baking temperature and time is oven dependent so adjust accordingly.

2) Place A) in saucepan & heat until gula melaka is dissolved & mixture is 80C.

3) Pour 2) into B) & whisk until a dough forms.

4) Add C) 2 yolks at a time. Whisk until well combined after each addition.

5) Make meringue (D). Whip egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks form, adding sugar gradually once egg whites are foamy. Slowly build up your meringue using medium speed to avoid creating large air bubbles and to help with stability.

6) Fold meringue into 4) in 3 batches. I like to use the whisk to fold in the first two batches and finish off using a silicone spatula.

7) Fill pans until 80% full. Bake for 40 min or until done. 

8) Cool completely & unmold. Slice each cake horizontally for 4 pieces of sponge.

9) Mix F) in jug. Set aside.

10) Put E) in pot, whisk to disperse agar & set aside for 5 min. Bring to boil while whisking continuously. Continue simmering for 1 min while whisking. 

11) Whisk F) again to disperse cornstarch before pouring in a thin stream into 10) while whisking continuously. Continue cooking pudding for another 1-2 min. Remove from heat.

12) Assemble cake by alternating sponge and pudding layers within a cake ring or acetate sheet. Stir pudding mixture in pot to prevent it from setting during assembly. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before unmolding. Neaten the pudding layers if need be by carefully cutting stray bits off.

See my Instagram reel for snippets of the process!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvE_U7PgJKl/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Traditional pandan kaya cake is usually totally covered with the pudding and garnished with some desiccated coconut or finely grated fresh coconut. I kept the design clean and simple for this cake so I omitted the coconut and revealed the pudding and sponge layers as part of the aesthetics.

See how squishy my marshmallow flowers are in this post! I used some sugar-replacement to replace white sugar so it is overall a little more diabetic-friendly. Keep a lookout for my Deco Marshmallows book which will cover how to make marshmallow flowers made from lots of fresh fruit, as well as how to make them without white sugar too!

Do give this cake a try if you are looking for something that's tasty, refreshing and not too sweet for birthday celebrations! 

with love,

Phay Shing

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Pandan Kaya Chiffon Croissant Cereal

I don't usually follow trends but this idea in my head got me so excited I just had to try it out! Presenting my pandan kaya mini chiffon croissant cereal! 

 

I was excited because it is a combination of traditional pandan kaya cake in croissant form and miniaturised as a cereal treat. There's a cereal trend several months ago but I didn't follow it until I have a reason to present my bakes that way. Not only is this visually cute, the form factor of it in bite size and eaten with fresh blueberries makes it a refreshingly good and new way of enjoying pandan kaya cake. Only thing is, it is rather time consuming to assemble a bowl of it😂! You could speed things up by making bigger croissants than I did. I made them tiny enough that you can fit a few in your mouth comfortably with a couple of blueberries. The actual baking and making of the pudding layers is very fast so feel free to assemble in a way that suits your patience level and time best. This can also be made into swiss roll form or layered cake. 

I took the chance to test out Scoop Wholefood's pandan powder for making pandan chiffon cake. Something I had been procrastinating for some time. You may make pandan juice concentrate the traditional way if you wish by blending fresh leaves with a little water, sieving and settling the juice for 3 days, and then using the concentrate that settled. 

Pandan chiffon thin layer cake

Ingredients (makes one 10 x 12" and one 7x7"cake):

Egg yolk batter

2 egg yolks 

21g pandan juice concentrate from 1tbs (heaped) pandan powder and 3tbs water*

18g coconut milk 

14g any vegetable oil

38g cake flour

A pinch of salt

1/8-1/4 tsp pandan paste

1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

Meringue

2 egg whites

15g caster sugar

15g granulated gula melaka 

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

*to make pandan juice concentrate from pandan powder with insoluble fibers, rehydrate the powder with water and let it sit for half an hour. Sieve out the liquid and weigh out 21g for baking. 

Steps: 

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Line baking trays with teflon sheet or parchment paper. 

2. Prepare egg yolk batter. Whisk together egg yolks until pale and thick. Add oil and whisk until well combined. Add coconut milk, pandan juice concentrate and flavourings and whisk until combined. Add sifted flour and salt and whisk until no trace of flour is seen. 

3. Prepare meringue. Use electric mixer to beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peak or just reach stiff peaks, adding sugar gradually once egg whites are foamy. Use low speed to whip egg whites for a more stable meringue with smaller air bubbles. 

4. Quickly but gently fold meringue into egg yolk batter in 3 additions. Scoop out the batter onto prepared trays and spread it out in a thin layer using an offset spatula or bench scraper. 

5. Place baking trays in oven and immediately lower to 150C and bake for 10-11min or until skewer comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake or you will have difficulty rolling the sponge without breaking it. 

6. Immediately remove from oven and flip onto fresh sheet of parchment. 

Roll the sponge into a tight roll to cool completely. In the meantime, prepare the pudding. 

Pandan kaya pudding 

A) 

100g coconut milk

5g pandan juice concentrate 

1/8 tsp pandan paste

1/8 tsp vanilla extract 

Pinch of salt

10g gula melaka

15g caster sugar (or to taste) 

75g Water

1/2 tsp agar powder

B) 

13g cornflour 

65g water

Steps:

1. Mix together ingredients in B) in a jug and set aside. 

2. Place all ingredients in A) in saucepan and bring to a boil while whisking. Make sure all agar powder is dissolved. Use medium heat. 

3. Stir contents in B) again. Pour into A) in a thin stream while whisking the contents in saucepan continuously. Continue cooking and whisking for a minute after it starts boiling again. Remove from heat. Do note that as the pudding cools, it will start to set so you will have to stir it now and then if you are not ready to assemble yet. 

Assembly

1. Unroll the cooled cakes. 

2. Spread a very thin layer of pudding on the cake and let it set for 20 min or until pudding is solid (doesn't stick onto your finger when you touch) but still soft before rolling. 

3. Cut triangles 2.5cm base by 7cm height or any preferred size. Layer cake and pudding really thin and use rolling pin gently roll flatter with pudding side down. 

Roll it up like a croissant by starting the roll from the base of the isosceles triangle, pudding side up. Leave it on a tray lined with parchment to set fully. 

You may have excess pudding. Just transfer into a jelly mould and refrigerate it. Enjoy it as a pudding treat. 

If you don't have the patience to make these minis, try cutting bigger triangles or simply make a swiss roll like the one I did below. 

The mini croissant cereal is really delicious when paired with juicy blueberries that are slightly sweet and tart, not too sour or strong tasting so that it doesn't overpower the pandan kaya flavour but rather, complements it.

Store the cake in fridge and consume within 3 days. 

Follow me on Instagram at phay_shing as I am more active there and post more stuff there than on Facebook and blog. 

With love, 

Phay Shing

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Vegan Pandan Kaya Gula Melaka Cakelets

My friend requested for a vegan cake for her daughter's birthday. I gave some thought to select a flavour that is still yummy despite not using eggs or dairy. It is quite a new challenge for me as my favourite type of cake is leavened by meringues in the form of chiffon cakes. I decided to experiment and take the plunge, even though I was skeptical about the taste and texture of any sponge not leavened by meringues or loaded with butter or eggs. There was a happy accident along the way which I will elaborate later, and the resulting cake tastes beyond my expectations! Full of flavour and wonderful aroma, this is my bite sized version of a vegan pandan kaya cake that uses gula melaka as part of the sugar! 

And what was the happy accident? The sponge layers as you can see, is totally brown. When I prepared the batter, it was in a lovely shade of jade green from homemade pandan juice. The oven temperature went wonky a few minutes into baking and went into a high overshoot, toasting the coconut milk in the batter in the process although I did manage to bring down the temperature after about 13-15min into baking time. As the cake is a thin sheet cake, the cake became brown throughout. Is it dry you may ask. The cake is surprisingly moist and soft although it doesn't have the spongey nature of chiffons. The texture is more like a soft and moist muffin. I chose an easy reference recipe that involves mixing wet and dry ingredients, much like making a simple muffin. 

The pandan gula melaka pudding is more or less a variation of the same default recipe I use for my regular pandan kaya cake, which is vegan anyway. But I will share it here in detail for your convenience. 

Recipe for vegan pandan gula melaka sponge

Ingredients:

110g cake flour (plain flour in original recipe) 

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt (1/4 tsp in original) 

40g caster sugar (75g in original) 

25g gula melaka, chopped (not in original) 

70g coconut milk 

50g pandan juice (blend as many pandan leaves as you want in some water and strain out the juice) 

1/2 tbs apple cider vinegar 

45g vegetable oil

1/2tsp vanilla extract

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 160C (180C in original recipe) and line an 8x8" square tray with parchment. 

2. Melt gula melaka in coconut milk, set aside to cool. 

3. Sift flour, baking soda, white sugar and salt into mixing bowl. Whisk until combined. 

4. Add vinegar into coconut milk, set aside for 5 min. Add oil, pandan juice, vanilla and mix well. 

5. Pour wet into dry ingredients. Whisk until just combined. 

6. Pour into prepared baking tray and bake until golden brown. 

Now here is the thing. I didn't follow the baking temperature and time of the original recipe, which was 180C for 30 min. This step would vary from oven to oven as each oven behaves differently. I was baking pandan gula melaka chiffon sponge just before baking this so I had a tray of water at the base of the oven so mine is a steam bake instead of the original dry bake. I preheated to 180C on the temperature dial but actual temperature was about 150-160C for the first 5 min. Nothing appeared to be happening so I turned up the temperature dial by a little (my oven is an analog one) at the 5 min mark and went away for 5 min to have a quick bite. When I came back, the oven thermometer read 190C! I quickly turned the dial down and opened the oven door a little for a few seconds. It took a few minutes for the temperature to drop to 160-170C. I continued baking until total bake time was 25min instead of the suggested 30min because by then, the crust looked really browned. If you aren't sure what time and temperature profile to use, I would suggest following the original reference recipe but do keep an eye on your oven and how browned your cake appears. Even if the coconut milk didn't get toasted in the process, the cake will still be yummy! Just less aromatic. 

As you can see in the picture below, the batter is green but the sponge is browned throughout! But the aroma is really intense from the toasting of the coconut milk and sugars! 

Cut the sponge into squares or use round cookie cutters to cut out rounds, depending on how you want to assemble. A simple way is to use cupcake cases. I decided to do a fancier one using my silicone mould. 

Recipe for pandan gula melaka pudding

Ingredients:

A) 

240g coconut milk

120g pandan water (boil some pandan leaves in water) 

30g gula melaka, chopped 

30g caster sugar (may replace with gula melaka if you wish) 

1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

1/8 tsp pandan paste 

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp liquid green food colouring 

1/8 tsp caramel essence (optional) 

1 tsp agar powder

B) 

26g cornflour 

130g pandan water

Steps :

1. Combine ingredients in B) in a jug and stir until cornflour is suspended in water. Set aside. 

2. Place all ingredients in A) in a saucepan and bring to a boil while stirring all the time. Keep stirring for another 1 min once the mixture is boiling. This is to ensure agar is totally dissolved. 

3. Bring heat to medium low. Stir B) again and pour in a continuous slow stream into the saucepan while stirring the saucepan continously. 

4. Keep stirring and bring the mixture to a boil using medium low heat. Continue stirring and boiling for a minute. 

5. Sieve the mixture to remove any large gula melaka bits or undissolved agar. The pudding is now ready to assemble with the sponge. Stir the pudding in the bowl now and then to prevent it from setting in the bowl. 

Assembly

There isn't  a fixed way to do this. Simply alternate layers of sponge and pudding and then refrigerate for a few hours. If you assembled in cupcake cases, you can leave it as it is. If you used moulds, you can carefully unmould at this point. I rolled the unmoulded cakelets in dessicated coconut for that extra texture when you bite into it.

The fancy silicone truncated cone mould is rather small so I used the smallest round cookie cutter I have to cut out the sponge. And this wasn't enough so I had to halve each round cutout horizontally so the sponge layer isn't too thick so it looks proportionate in the tiny mould. Needless to say, it was a challenge to work neatly and quickly 🤣

Messy assembly! 

My kids did a taste test and gave thumbs up for it! You don't miss the egg at all because it is so full of flavour and aroma! If you want an easy vegan cake that is yummy as well, give this a try! No electric mixer required! 

With love, 

Phay Shing

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Rainbow Pandan Kaya Cake

I made a pastel rainbow sponge and pudding cake in the past and this time, I am making it in pandan kaya flavour! Even the rainbow on top is made of alternating soft chiffon sponge and fragrant and smooth pudding!

I hope this view brightens your day in these dark days! 

You may ask how do I achieve the pandan kaya flavour without making the whole thing green?? I used pandan water, which is simply water boiled with many pandan leaves. The colour of the water is very pale green and it doesn't show up on the sponge or pudding especially since strong colours were requested. The pandan fragrance may be slightly muted since I didn't use concentrated pandan juice like I normally would. Despite that, the cake is still wonderfully refreshing and fragrant.

Needless to say, making rainbow cakes are tedious because of the colours involved. I baked 3 sponges in 3 separate rounds of baking the main cake because I only have one baking tin that is 6" with removeable base. You may bake the different colours in one or 2 rounds of baking if you have more than 1 tin.

Recipe for pandan coconut chiffon sponge (for 6"rainbow cake) 

I used a reduced egg yolk version because of the rainbow colours. Regular pandan kaya cakes should have more egg yolks in there. I didn't want to add too much colouring to overcome the yellowness of the yolks. You may refer to this post for my default pandan kaya cake recipe (I use stevia for diabetic friendly version but regular castor sugar regular recipe).

Ingredients:
Egg yolk batter
1 egg yolk
7g castor sugar
60g vegetable or coconut oil
30g coconut cream
30g pandan water
1 tsp coconut cream powder (optional but makes it more coconuty)
60g cake flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
Red, yellow and blue gel food colouring

Meringue*
1 x3 large egg whites
1/8 tsp x3 cream of tartar
18g x3 castor sugar

* the (x3) is because I needed to prepare the meringue separately for each colour because I bake them at separate times.

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 140°C. You may wish to put a tray of water at base of oven but it is optional. Set rack to middle position.

2. Prepare egg yolk batter. Whisk yolk and sugar until pale and thick. Add oil and whisk until combined. Add coconut cream, pandan water, coconut cream powder, vanilla and salt and whisk until combined. Gradually add in sifted flour and whisk until no trace of flour is seen.

3. Divide egg yolk batter into 3 equal portions and colour with respective gel food colouring. Keep 2 of the 3 portions covered with cling wrap to prevent batter from drying out if you can't bake all 3 colours at once.

4. Prepare meringue. If you are able to bake all 3 colours at once, prepare the meringue using 3 egg whites instead of 1. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks form, gradually adding sugar once the egg whites are foamy.

5. Quickly but gently fold the meringue into the egg yolk batter. Pour the batter into the 6" pan and run a chopstick around to pop any air bubbles. Bake for 30 - 35min or until skewer comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 min before unmoulding by hand.

Store the baked cake in airtight condition if not assembling yet. The sponge for the rainbow on top can be made by baking thin layer cakes on a flat rectangle or square pan. Cut a strip out for red and yellow sponges. I also prepared extra sponge for anchoring the cake to the cakeboard as you can see later.

 Get ready acetate sheet and cakeboard before starting on the pudding. This is for the main cake. For the rainbow on top of the base cake, get ready round cookie cutters and line a baking tray with parchment or Teflon sheet.


Recipe for pandan coconut pudding
Ingredients (for each coloured layer) :
A)
240g coconut milk
130g pandan water
70g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 heaping tsp agar powder
Some food colouring **

B)
28g cornflour
130g pandan water

** I added pandan paste for the green layer

Steps:
1. Put ingredients in B) in a jug and stir to mix well. Set aside.

2. Put all ingredients in A) in a saucepan. We begin by making the green pudding first so start off by adding some pandan paste and a bit of yellow colouring. Heat on mediun heat while stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and continue boiling and stirring for a minute.

3. Stir contents in the jug before pouring in a thin stream into saucepan while stirring the mixture constantly. Continue heating and stirring until mixture comes to a boil again. Boil and stir for another minute. Remove from heat and assemble with cakes immediately.


Assembly
1. We assemble the rainbow on top of the cake and the main cake at the same time as the pudding sets quite quickly when cooled. Before making the green pudding, place the blue sponge on a baking tray and wrap the acetate sheet around it. I mark my acetate sheet at 1cm intervals to help me to gauge the level of sponge and pudding layers when I assemble. Place a 6cm diameter metal cookie cutter on lined baking tray. Place the yellow sponge cake inside the ring. Cut the sponge to appropriate size.

2. Make the green pudding. Carefully spoon some pudding in the space encircled by the yellow sponge on the baking tray. Refrigerate the tray while carefully ladelling the green pudding to cover the blue sponge for main cake until the same height as the sponge.

3. Carefully place yellow sponge layer over green pudding for main cake. Gently press the cake down so there are no air gaps between sponge and pudding layers.

4. Prepare orange pudding layer ingredients but don't start cooking yet. Check to see if the green pudding for the rainbow on top has set. Carefully remove the 6cm cookie cutter, leaving the yellow sponge and green pudding on the tray. Place the 10cm cookie cutter over the yellow sponge and green pudding. Place red sponge against the insides of the 10cm cookie cutter. Cut the strip of red sponge if necessary such that it fits nicely into the cookie cutter. Make sure the yellow and green parts of the rainbow lie in the middle of the red circle.

5. Make the orange pudding. Carefully spoon the pudding in the gap between the red and yellow sponge rings for rainbow on top of cake. Chill the tray in the fridge.

Quickly wipe away any accidental drips of the pudding. 

6. Ladle orange pudding over yellow sponge layer for the main cake until same height as sponge. Carefully place red sponge over orange pudding and press it down gently to get rid of air gaps.

Assembling main cake

7. Prepare purple pudding.  I baked extra sponge and cut out a small circle of it as an anchor for the last pudding layer because pudding will slide on the cakeboard. The sponge in contact with the cakeboard is to help anchor the whole cake. Ladle some purple pudding over the red sponge. Place the small circle cutout of sponge on top of the purple pudding. Cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 h or overnight.

8. Remove the concentric rings of sponge and pudding from fridge. Use a 2 cm cookie cutter to cut out the middle of green sponge. Carefully cut the concentric rainbow ring into half. Use one of the halves for decorating the base cake.

9. Remove the main rainbow cake from fridge. Remove cling wrap. Place cakeboard over the purple layer. Quickly but carefully flip the cake over such that the blue layer is on top now. Remove the acetate sheet.

I baked some white sheet chiffon cake for cutting out the clouds and lettering. I used skewers as dowels to anchor the rainbow on top to the cake below. The clouds and lettering were stuck on using melted gelatin instead of our usual melted marshmellow.

The clouds and lettering are all made of chiffon cake too! 

Thank God I managed to pull off a yummy and refreshing rainbow cake without the use of buttercream or fondant!

With love,
Phay Shing

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Pikachu and Torchic Lychee Choux Pastry on Pandan Kaya Cake

My friend wanted me to do a Pokemon themed bake for her nephew's birthday but with pandan kaya cake as the cake base. She also wanted choux pastries for the characters and I told her some of the Pokemons are very good candidates as deco choux creations. Here it is 😊

I will focus on the choux pastry part as the recipe for the pandan kaya cake can be found in this post. I just replaced Stevia with caster sugar for the pandan chiffon and the pandan gula melaka pudding.

Detailed recipe for choux pastry batter and the craquelin (cookie dough) can be found in this post. As a rule of thumb, I try to colour the batter as close as possible to the same shade as the craquelin for creating various characters.

Craquelin on top of piped batter for Pokeball and the heads and bodies of Torchic and Pikachu 

The rest of the small body parts are made from piped choux pastry batter without the use of craquelin.

I love the look of this rainbow choux!

Freshly baked pastry cases

I used royal icing to decorate as well as join the parts together.

I had fun giving Pikachu various expressions! 

I provided lychee pastry cream lightened with non-dairy whipped cream in piping bags for my friend to fill just before the pastries are consumed at the party. The recipe can be found here.

"Are you also surprised that choux pastries can be made into someone like me? "

According to my friend, everyone at the party, the neighbouring tables of diners and the service staff at the restaurant had the same expression as the Pikachu above 🤣. I hope this bake brings a smile to your face too! After the initial surprise.

With love,
Phay Shing

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'McDull in Animal Suit' Pandan Kaya Cake

I first came across McDull about a little more than 10 years ago, watching the original cartoon in Cantonese. It is not as widely known to younger kids nowadays probably because of the origin of this character, which epitomises how some kids grow up in Hong Kong. But anyway, I am glad to have a chance to make this lesser known character 😊

McDull donning various animal suits! 

My university classmate was the one who requested for this bake. Although peppermint dark chocolate was requested for the filling, the cake requested was pandan kaya cake.

I used this french method recipe for making the macaron shells as this is a small quantity bake and the batter is stable enough for dividing into so many colours. Just to share some photos of the process...

Piping McDull. Be sure to use piping tips that are of the right size for better shape retention. For really small parts like the eye patch and black panda parts, you may just cut a small hole in the piping bag 

Freshly baked shells. Check out the feet! 

I filled the macarons with firm peppermint dark chocolate ganache as some of tbem are going on a mini tower

Recipe for firm peppermint dark chocolate ganache
Ingredients:
90g 73.5% bitter dark chocolate couverture
10g unsalted butter
24g heavy cream
1/8tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 tsp Kahlua coffee liqueur (optional)
1 tbs peppermint extract

Steps :
1. Place all ingredients except extracts and liqueur in a microwave safe bowl. Melt on mdium low power for 20 seconds and stir. Repeat as necessary until smooth and melted.

2. I like to whip my ganache to lighter consistency so I chill the ganache in freezer for 1 to 2 min and then whip with spatula. I repeat chilling and whipping until texture resembles buttercream.

3. Gradually add extracts and liqueur and mix well after each addition. Transfer into piping bag and fill the shells. Store assembled macarons in airtight container in the fridge for at least 24 h before consuming. This type of stiff ganache filled macarons can keep in fridge for two weeks.

I assembled the mini tower with extra pieces of round macaron shells and stiff royal icing 

The recipe I use for the pandan kaya cake is same as the one I used for my mum's birthday except that I used regular caster sugar instead of Stevia. I also used a 6 inch pan without the central tube to bake the 6 inch chiffon cake. The pandan kaya cake recipe can be found here.

Freshly baked 6" pandan chiffon cake slightly more earthy hue due to the gula melaka used. 

I added the words "Happy Birthday" using a separate gula melaka chiffon sponge with some cocoa powder added for a deeper brown colour.

Remember always store macaron cake toppers separately from the cake to prevent the cake from turning the macarons soggy.

With love,
Phay Shing

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Matcha Azuki Bean Mini Cakes

If you are a fan of Matcha and Azuki beans in dessert, you will love this cake --- alternating layers of light matcha chiffon sponge and refreshing Matcha pudding with whole azuki beans!

I will be teaching how to make these mini cakes at Redman. I decided to use Sakura flowers and whole azuki beans for a simple and elegant decoration.

Please click on this link for more details and to register.

With love,
Phay Shing

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'Basket of Roses' Pandan Kaya Cake (diabetic friendly)

This is a bake that I mulled over the design and details for a couple of months, and took time to pick up a new skill for it too. Presenting my version of diabetic friendly "basket of flowers" pandan kaya cake!

I did a partial basket weave with chiffon sponge because I feel the insides are too pretty to be hidden!

Why the focus on it being diabetic friendly? Because I made this for mum's birthday and she has diabetes. The pandan Gula melaka chiffon sponges and pandan Gula melaka pudding are made using half Stevia (ilite brand) and half coconut palm sugar (Gula melaka). Coconut palm sugar has a glycemic index a third of refined white sugar and imparts a wonderful aroma to the bakes. And Stevia is a sugar replacement. I was hesitant to use any sugar replacements in my bakes for fear of weird chemical after taste or a less stable meringue for the chiffon sponge but was encouraged to try this brand since I have heard reviews that it's not that noticeable especially if there are other strong flavours in the bake.

The flowers aren't made of chiffon for once. They are made of bean paste and I colour it naturally using purple sweet potato, blue pea flower and raspberry powder. I took time to learn how to make bean paste flowers just for this bake and perhaps for future bakes. Check out my earlier blog post for details! Bean paste flowers also contain a lot less sugar than regular sugar paste flowers. They taste like bean flavoured mochi. These can be made ahead of time and stored airtight in the fridge or left out in the open with good ventilation for a couple of days.

Making bean paste roses for the cake

Making bean paste leaves too! I used gel food colouring for the leaves 

The Pandan chiffon cake is adapted from neo_sook_bee (Instagram). She uses the cooked dough method all the time so the recipes for chiffon sponges are using this method. I didn't use my regular pandan Gula melaka chiffon recipe although it is also refined sugar free and always has great reviews as this time I am baking it in a round tin with removable base and I wasn't sure if it will work out the same way. But as usual, I prepare concentrated pandan juice a few days before baking for a more intense flavour and colour. I blended and sieved out the juice and let it settle in fridge for a few days, using only the dark green part that settled at the bottom for baking.

Recipe for diabetic friendly pandan chiffon cake
Ingredients (makes one 6" round cake):
Yolk batter
22g coconut oil
35g pandan juice concentrate
20g coconut milk
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp pandan paste
60g cake flour, sifted into mixing bowl
3 egg yolks

Meringue
3 egg whites
1/5 tsp cream of tartar
22g granulated Gula melaka
22g ilite sugar (Stevia)
1/2 tsp cornflour

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 160℃. Place rack at second lowest position. Place a tray of water at base of oven (optional but I used it as I didn't do a slit cake).

2. Make the yolk batter. Place all ingredients for the yolk batter except egg yolks and flour into a small saucepan. Heat until 80℃. Remove and pour into mixing bowl with sifted flour. Mix well until a soft dough forms. Leave it to cool for a few minutes. Add egg yolks one at a time and mix well between each addition.

3. Prepare meringue. Combine sugars and cornflour in a small bowl and whisk everything together. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks form, gradually adding in sugar mixture once the egg whites are foamy. Take your time to build up the meringue by beating at low or medium-low speed and to avoid making huge bubbles in your meringue.

4. Quickly but gently fold the meringue into yolk batter in two or three additions. Pour batter into 6" tin with removable base. Use a chopstick to run around the batter to pop any air bubbles.

5. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 135℃ and bake for another 60 minutes or until skewer comes out clean and the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Cool upside down. I didn't have the special cooling rack for the tin so I used two identical ceramic mugs to support the tin. Note that baking temperature and time varies from oven to oven.

6. Carefully unmould by hand when cooled completely. Slice the cake into three layers before assembly. Each layer is about 2-2.5cm in my case.

Freshly baked cake!

Recipe for diabetic friendly pandan Gula melaka pudding
Ingredients:
A)
240g coconut milk (may replace partially or all with other milk of your preference)
110g water
10g pandan juice concentrate
30g granulated or finely chopped Gula melaka
30g ilite sugar (Stevia)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp pandan paste
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp green food colouring (optional)
1/8 tsp caramel essence (optional)
1 tsp Agar powder

B)
26g cornflour
130g water

Steps:
1. Prepare B). Place ingredients in a jug and stir to mix well. Set aside.

2. Put all ingredients in A) in a saucepan and bring to a boil while stirring continuously. Make sure that all agar powder is dissolved.

3. Stir B) again and pour in a thin stream into saucepan while stirring contents of saucepan continuously. Keep stirring and bring mixture to a boil. Let it boil for another minute while stirring.

4. Remove from heat and strain the mixture to remove any lumps that may have formed. Press a cling wrap onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming if you aren't ready to assemble yet.

5. When ready to assemble, place a layer of pandan cake on cakeboard and wrap an acetate sheet around it to form a wall. Gently scoop some pudding on the cake. Let it rest for a few minutes in the open or a minute in the fridge to set it a little. Stir the pudding in the bowl frequently to prevent it from setting. Carefully place second layer of sponge on top and press it down to release any trapped air bubbles. Repeat layering pudding and last sponge layer. Measure the height of assembled cake for reference for making basket weave. Cover the top with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours. Remove the acetate sheet before assembling with basket weave.

Assembling pandan sponge and pudding

Recipe for diabetic friendly pandan Gula melaka chiffon sponge
Ingredients (makes one 10x12" and two 7x7" thin cakes. You may not need all the sponge for basket weave depending on how much cake you want to cover with the weave. Use whatever baking tray size you have to bake. Just make sure you spread as thin a layer of batter as you can):

Yolk batter
35g coconut oil
57g pandan water (boil some water with 5-6 pandan leaves cut into shorter strips for about 10 min, sieve out leaves and cool)
57g cake flour, sifted into mixing bowl
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp cocoa powder (optional, for colouring cake a darker brown shade, sift together with flour if using)
3 egg yolks

Meringue
3 egg whites
22g granulated Gula melaka
22g ilite sugar (Stevia)
1/2 tsp cornflour

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180℃. Set oven rack to second lowest position. Do not use steam bake for this. Line baking tray(s) with Teflon sheet or parchment paper.

2. Prepare batter the same way as pandan cake above.

3. Spread the batter as thin a layer as possible in baking trays. Bake for 8-9min. Remove from oven and immediately flip the cake onto fresh sheet of parchment paper. Cool completely before cutting pieces for assembly.

I didn't take photos for in-between steps of making the basket weave but essentially it's the same technique as making the weave with fondant or buttercream so you can google for videos of those to have an idea. I cut the thin layer of sponge into pieces and glue them onto the pandan kaya cake using melted marshmellows. If your sponge is baked right and baked thin, you shouldn't have issues making the weave with the rope patterned border. If the sponge layer is thick, it will break easily. I flatten the baked sponge a little after baking by pressing it between two sheets of parchment paper.

I absolutely love the view of this unadorned cake 😍😍

I just arranged the flowers onto the cake, leaving a short segment of the wooden skewer on each rose so that it is easy to insert into the cake.

Top view of the cake! I nearly forgot to take a photo of it and only remembered as I was packing into cake box 😆

Do brush the exposed sponge with some syrup (10g sugar dissolved in 20g hot water) to keep it moist during storage in the fridge. Store it in airtight condition. Best served a day or two after assembly.

Here's the cake at mum's birthday celebration lunch.

Here's a peek at the insides...

My dad wanted the service staff and one of the restaurant chefs to try the cake so they had a slice each too.  They loved the cake and said it tastes really good, not too sweet like commercially sold ones! Even hubby with picky palate said the balance of flavours is spot on. It's a pity I didn't take a photo of mum eating one of the bean paste roses 😆. Just to show you that they can be eaten too!

Those of you who would like to make a diabetic friendly bake that is flavourful but doesn't taste too sweet, you can give this recipe a try 😊. My regular pandan Gula melaka sponge and pudding cake that uses only Gula melaka as sweetener is more diabetic friendly than cakes baked with refined sugar but still raises blood sugar a little. With half of it being replaced by Stevia in this cake, the glycemic load is even less.

With lots of love,
Phay Shing

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