Classic pandan chiffons and a stellar durian cake
Pandan is one of the wonder plants of Southeast Asian cuisine. Like vanilla in French pastries, pandan imparts a unique fragrance to desserts that cannot be substituted. It also has the nifty effect of turning food into shades of green. It’s great for St Patrick’s Day.
Pandan cakes are not new in Toronto, but My Pandan Cake is the first specialist of them. Specifically, pandan chiffon cakes.
The unofficial national cake of Singapore (and Malaysia)
Pandan chiffon cakes don’t have a cult following in Singapore and Malaysia. They are just there in the background in neighbourhood bakeries. Kind of like cinnamon rolls in Canada. There are certainly connoisseurs and specialty stores out there, but most Singaporeans will propose other desserts like chendol (shaved ice with red beans and jelly in coconut syrup) as the national dessert before considering pandan cakes.
It might be because the cake is simple. For the uninitiated, chiffon cakes are extremely light and tall cakes. Their airy texture comes from whipped eggs and avoidance of solid fats like butter. For pandan chiffon cake, add coconut milk and essence of pandan. The latter is derived from straining pandan leaves into a dark green liquid. It tastes like a fragrant grass. The cake is baked in a pan with a tube in the center, resulting in a characteristic hole in the middle. Traditionally, the cake is undecorated and enjoyed plain with coffee or tea.
Even though pandan chiffon cakes don’t get a lot of hype in their home countries, it’s definitely something that visitors notice when they stay for more than a few weeks.