Fluffy Pandan Chiffon Cake

Pandan chiffon cake is one of life’s greatest pleasures, but I hated it until I was an adult. Cake in general wasn’t my favorite thing — I was always much more fond of ice cream. Cake to me felt like it was “sweet bread” and I wasn’t interested, but I’ve come to see the error in my ways.

This fluffy Asian-style pandan chiffon cake is airy and fun to eat — it’s one of the first recipes I reach for when I need a relatively quick treat for a crowd, especially if kids will be there. For some reason, there’s just something about this cake, which has a texture not dissimilar from a sofa cushion (and I mean that in the best way possible), that makes it super fun to eat. One family friend has a 3-year-old daughter who, after having the cake once at the start of 2024, talked about it for months until I finally made it again for her in September (I had no idea she was asking for it during that period!).

The pandan coconut flavor of this sponge is “not too sweet” making it a rare shared favorite between kids and adults alike, too. And it’s also not *too* tricky to make but chiffon can be a little bit particular…so make sure you follow the steps and tips outlined below 😅

Tips for a fluffy cake

• Don’t grease the pan. This can prevent the cake from climbing up the sides of the pan and getting nice and fluffy (not unlike angel food cake, which is made similarly). You should, however, line the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment, ensuring that it doesn’t reach up the edges, like this:

• Make sure you don’t get any grease or egg yolks into your egg whites. Fat inhibits meringue when whipping, so you’ll need to start over if you mess up like I did:

• Don’t whip too fast. Resist the urge to whip any higher than medium speed, as this will make the holes in your cake too large.
• Whip to stiff peaks. Be sure to whip your egg whites all the way to stiff peaks. This can take north of 15 minutes, so be patient!

• Whisk in 1/3 of the egg whites before folding in the rest. The goal here isn’t to retain all the air you’ve whipped into the egg whites — you just want to lighten the batter. You do, however, want to be more careful once you move to the folding step.

• Fold egg whites in carefully, but completely. After the first 1/3 of the egg whites is whisked in, switch to a spatula and carefully fold in the remaining egg whites, taking care to not knock out too much air. You want to be sure the mixture is fully incorporated with no white streaks, but be careful to stop as soon as you get there — if you mix too long, you risk knocking out too much air and/or making the cake tough.
• Bake with steam. Adding a container of hot water to your oven will help the cake rise more and bake more evenly.
• Bake the cake long enough. When making baking soda leavened cakes, I tend to err towards ever so slightly underbaking my cakes. However, with this chiffon cake you want to be careful to bake it long enough. If you slightly underbake this cake, you’ll end up with a sticky top “crust” that isn’t very pretty. Overbake, however, and you’ll end up with a dry cake — so it’s a careful balancing act!
• Drop the cake. As soon as it comes out of the oven you’ll want to drop the cake on the countertop. This counterintuitively helps prevent the cake from sinking as it cools.
• Cool the cake upside down. Along with dropping the cake, cooling upside down ensures the cake won’t sink as it cools!

Special tools/ingredients

• Pandan extract can be found at Southeast Asian grocers, but if you don’t have any of those nearby, you can also order it online. This is the brand I use.
• 9″x13″x3″ pan — It helps to bake in a deeper pan because it’ll make your life a lot easier when you’re trying to cool the cake. Higher sides also mean that the cake will bake more evenly. If you’re on the fence about whether you want to buy a pan just for this, you can always halve the recipe and bake in an 8″ circular pan. However, I LOVE my 9×13 and use it for everything from cake to Rice Krispie treats to brownies. This is the exact one I have.

Fluffy Pandan Chiffon Cake

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 squares

This fluffy sponge cake relies on eggs, not baking soda or baking powder, to achieve its characteristic rise. This cake is super popular in Southeast Asia and can be found at most bakeries. Really great pandan chiffon has a super even and very fine crumb. The best textural comparison I can give is "sofa cushion" which may not sound appetizing, but is pretty accurate.

Print Recipe

Equipment

• 1 9"x13"x3" pan Any pan that's shallower than this will be challenging during cooling, though it can work
• 1 Stand mixer or electric handheld mixer
• 2 Baking sheets or cooling racks

Ingredients

• 8 large eggs straight from the fridge
• Pinch cream of tartar
• 150 g granulated sugar
• 80 g coconut milk
• 80 g neutral oil like canola or vegetable
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 teaspoon pandan extract
• 150 g cake flour sifted

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare your baking dish: line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper, but make sure the parchment does not run up the sides at all. Do NOT spray or grease your baking dish. Set aside.
• Separate your egg yolks and whites — egg whites should go into a well-cleaned stand mixer bowl while egg yolks can go into a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl. Be very careful to not get any egg yolk into the whites, as this can prevent your eggs from whipping properly. If you end up contaminating your egg whites you'll need to start over again. If you're using an electric hand mixer rather than a stand mixer, be sure to use a metal or glass bowl, as plastic can carry trace amounts of fat that will impede the fluffiness of your eggs.
  8 large eggs
• Measure out your sugar and have it ready to go.
  150 g granulated sugar
• Add cream of tartar to your egg whites. Beat with your stand mixer's whisk attachment on medium speed until frothy — they'll look a bit like a cappuccino. Slowly sprinkle the sugar into the egg white mixture, stopping once you've used about 2/3 of amount you measured. The exactly portion of sugar you use here isn't super important, but be sure to reserve some of it.
  Pinch cream of tartar
• Continue beating on medium speed until you reach stiff peaks, about 15 minutes. *Resist any urge to turn the mixer's speed up — whipping on low speed is what ensures the cake has fine bubbles, not large air pockets.* If using an electric hand mixer, you may beat at full speed, as the hand mixer isn't as powerful as a stand mixer. Set whipped egg whites aside.
• Boil a kettle of water.
• Add the remaining sugar to the egg yolks and whisk well to combine. Add the oil, coconut milk, salt, and pandan extract, and whisk to combine once more. Add the sifted flour and gently stir to combine, making sure to not overmix, which can result in a tough cake texture.
  80 g coconut milk, 80 g neutral oil, 3/4 tsp salt, 1 teaspoon pandan extract, 150 g cake flour
• Add about 1/3 of the whipped egg whites to the egg yolk batter and whisk to combine. In this step, it's not important to fold the egg whites in — the idea is just to lighten the batter so it's easier to fold into the remaining egg whites. Once well combined, add the remaining egg whites and gently fold them in with a spatula, this time taking care to not knock out too much air. As soon as the egg whites are completely combined (with no white streaks remaining), stop mixing.
• Pour boiled water into a heat proof dish and transfer to the bottom rack of the oven. Place another rack a couple inches above the boiling water. Prepare your cooling space: set two cooling racks or inverted, rimmed baking sheets side by side with an ~8" gap between them. If your baking pan isn't super deep you may want to stack baking sheets on top of books or find another way to elevate them so the top of the cake doesn't touch the countertop.
• Pour the cake batter into the prepared dish and spread to even out the top. Give the pan 2-3 firm bangs on the countertop to release any large bubbles, then transfer to the prepare rack in the oven (above the hot water) and bake until the cake puffs significantly and the top takes on some color. Be careful to not open the oven to check on the cake until you see some browning, as this can cause the cake to deflate. To be sure the cake is done, you can give it a gentle press with a fingertip — the cake should spring back and barely leave an indent. You do want to make sure this cake is not underbaked, as this can result in a sticky/slightly wet top layer — the cake will still be tasty and edible but your aesthetics will suffer.
• Remove the cake from the oven and immediately drop it onto the countertop from about 4-6" — this counterintuitively will help reduce cake sinkage during cooling. Carefully invert the cake pan and rest the edges on the prepared baking sheets so the center of the cake is upside down over the gap. Let the cake cool upside down like this until it's room temperature.
• Slide a thin knife or small offset spatula around the edges of the cake and carefully plop the cake out of the tin before slicing. If the top of the cake sticks to your hand, that's a sign it was ever so slightly underbaked. Cut into 12 even squares and enjoy!
• Keep leftovers tightly sealed at room temperature for up to 3 days.