#304_Buko-Pandan Cake

Buko-Pandan Chiffon Cake

For those who aren't familiar with Buko and Pandan, let me take a minute and explain what these words are...

Buko, pronounced "boo-koh", is a Filipino term for young coconuts. We used them in fruits salads, for buko pies, ice buko, etc. Personally, I enjoy the buko by just simply scooping the coconut meat out of the shells and eat them.

Pandan, screwpine in English (what a name, huh?) is a plant with long, narrow, green leaves.
It is known as the vanilla of the East as most Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines use pandan in various ways in cooking including flavoring cakes with their extracts,(click here). One popular cake is the Buko-Pandan Chiffon Cake.

Here's my version of the cake:

For the cake, I basically used my recipe for the
Orange Chiffon Cake, recipe #210, click here,
with a few modification.
For the topping I used Buko Pie Filling.

Here's the recipe:

Part 1: Egg Yolk Mixture
2-1/4 cups cake flour (sift before measuring)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
Sift all ingredients in a bowl or as Martha Stewart does,
stir with a wire whip.
Make a well in the center and add:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup Pandan water+2 Tbps plain water
7 large egg yolks
Mix everything until blended together.
Set aside then make the Meringue.


Part 2: Egg Whites Mixture
or Meringue
7 egg whites, room temp
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup white sugar

Using a stand mixer with the wire whip attachment,
whip egg whites until foamy.
Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form
then gradually beat in the sugar.

continue to whip until it resembles shaving cream.

To make the Chiffon Cake....

With a rubber spatula gently fold ( do this in 3 batches) the egg white mixture or meringue (part 2) into the egg yolk mixture (part 1) just until it is well blended together. Do not beat or stir the mixture.
Pour batter into two 9" pans and bake in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for about 30 minutes or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Cool the cakes completely before topping with Buko Pie Filling. Chill Cakes for at least 4 hours before serving.

Note:
(normally when baking chiffon and sponge cakes, you don't want to grease the pans, but I grease the bottom of pans, (not the sides) then line with parchment papers, then grease the papers.

For the topping:
2 cans of Young Coconut, drained
1 can condensed milk
3 Tbps. cornstarch dissolved in 5 Tbps cold Pandan water.

In a saucepan mix together condensed milk and the pandan water with cornstarch.
Cook, stirring constantly over medium heat, until mixture thickens. Stir in the the young coconut. Let cool then pour on top of cake.

The cake in the natural color of Pandan,

I added some artificial Pandan extract in the
topping mixture to enhance the green color of Pandan.
This turned out to be a pretty jade color but looks so fakey.

The recipe makes two 9" cakes.

Canned Buko available at some Asian or Filipino stores,
use them only if you don't have access to fresh buko
as nothing is better than fresh ones.

Frozen Pandan leaves

Because fresh Pandan leaves are not available in my area, I used these frozen ones, also available at some Asian and Filipino stores. If frozen Pandan leaves aren't available or if you don't want to go all the trouble of extracting the leaves, you can use the artificial Buko-Pandan Essence in concentrated form.

To make Pandan water or juice, process about 5 leaves in a blender
or food processor with 1 cup water, then strain.
I just used a piece of paper towel to strain the juice out,
then discarded it along with the solids.

Artificial Pandan Flavoring.