Pandan Banana Chiffon Cake

I've baked banana chiffon cake a couple of times using a recipe on the net but my attempts were not very successful. I planned to bake one using a different recipe this month for the LTU (Banana) event. So when I saw Evelyn of My Baking Workshop posted her marbled Pandan Banana Chiffon Cake recently, I felt like baking it myself immediately! I managed to bake it a few days later, not until I adjusted the recipe to fit a smaller chiffon pan, the biggest that I have. 

I was quite anxious as to how my cake would turn out this time. It rose to only about 3/4 of the pan after 45 minutes.  That made me worried, so much so, I did not wait for the cake to cool down completely before slicing it. I was very relieved the cake turned out spongy & moist. The banana flavour was just nice, not overwhelming. However, I found the pandan flavour a little too faint even though I used concentrated pandan juice. I suppose I still need to add a little pandan extract as adding more pandan juice may affect the texture of the cake. Overall, this is a very good recipe and my family & I love it  a lot! I think I'm going to bake it again soon. Hehe...

Pandan Banana Chiffon Cake
Ingredients:

5 egg yolks
85g icing sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
90g fresh milk
100g corn oil (I used canola.)
175g self-raising flour

75g banana, mashed (1 large banana.)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp concentrated pandan juice (or 3/4 tsp pandan paste plus 6g fresh milk)
a few drops of green colouring

5 egg whites
90g caster sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (I didn't use.)

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 170 deg C. Prepare a 10-inch chiffon pan. Do NOT grease or line the pan.
2. Combine egg yolks, icing sugar & salt in a bowl. Beat until well combined (I used a hand whisk.). Add in milk & oil. Mix until well blended. Fold in flour & mix well. Divide the batter into 2 equal parts in separate bowls.
3. Add in mashed banana & vanilla extract into 1 part of the above batter. Add pandan juice & colouring into another. Set aside.
4. In a dry & clean bowl, beat egg whites & cream of tartar until bubbles appear. Add in sugar bit by bit & beat  until stiff peak. Divide the meringue into 2 equal parts.
5. Fold in 1 part of meringue into the banana batter & the other part into the pandan batter. Fold in the meringue in thirds.
6. Pour half of the banana batter into the pan, followed by half of the pandan batter. Then pour the rest of the banana batter, followed by the rest of the pandan batter. Bake for about 45 minutes. Adjust your oven accordingly as every oven is different.
7. Once cooked, remove from oven & immediately invert pan until completely cool. To remove cake, run a spatula or knife around the side & bottom of pan. Slice using a serrated knife.

Adapted from My Baking Workshop.

Notes & modifications:

1. I adjusted the recipe to a 5-egg recipe instead of using 8 eggs as per the original recipe.
2. I used a 10-inch chiffon pan & the cake rose to about 3/4 of it. You may use a smaller pan for a taller cake, perhaps an 8-inch pan.
3. If you are using pandan juice, I would advise you to also add a bit (1/4 tsp, perhaps) of pandan extract for stronger pandan flavour.

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up (March-2015 - BANANA) event organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by me, Faeez of BitterSweetSpicy.