Pandan Ogura Chiffon Cake

There've been many posts of ogura chiffon cake on the net lately... I was also inspired to bake one. Ogura cake is really a chiffon cake except that it's baked in a regular baking pan, not the chiffon pan, using the water bath method. The ingredients & method of mixing are also similar except that a whole egg is also added to the yolk mixture in ogura cake. I decided to use the recipe shared by Sonia after looking at her awesome pandan ogura cake. Really love the texture of her cake... so fine & even.....  Mine is not as fine & even, as you can see below.... there are some big holes. Anyway, I'm still very happy with the outcome. The cake is moist, soft & spongy.... I just need to add some salt & a bit more sugar. I'm sure I'll be baking this cake again.

Pandan Ogura Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

5 egg yolks ( A size) - 93g

1 whole egg (A size) - 58g

40g corn oil or vegetable oil -I used canola oil.

2 tsp homemade pandan extract (Refer to the recipe here. If you don't have homemade pandan extract, you can blend pandan leaves with coconut milk, and get 90g of pandan coconut juices)

80g coconut milk (you may replace with fresh milk)

85g cake flour, Top flour or low protein flour

a pinch of salt (I added.)

1/2 tsp vanilla (This is not in the original recipe, but I would add it in future as the cake has a slight egg smell.)
 a few drops of apple green colouring (I added.)

5 egg whites (A size) - 184g
85g caster sugar - I would add about 15g more in future.
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (I didn't use.)

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 deg C and place the rack on the second lowest level. 
2. Grease the side of a 7x7x3-inch pan (NOT non-stick.) with corn oil, dust with cake flour, then line paper at the bottom. (I also grease the paper.) Wrap the exterior of the pan with a piece of aluminium foil securely, up to half its height. 
3. Combine the whole egg & egg yolks in a bowl. Stir lightly using a balloon hand whisk until well combined.
4. Add in corn oil, stir well to combine. Then add in coconut milk, pandan extract & salt. Mix well.
5. Add in cake flour and stir to mix well. Strain the batter through a strainer into a clean mixing bowl (This will produce a cake with fine crumbs).
6. In another mixing bowl, combine cream of tartar & egg whites. Beat till foamy. Gradually add in sugar in 3 batches and beat till soft peak forms, i.e. when you lift up and turn the bowl upside down, the meringue stays still in the bowl.
7. Take 1/3 meringue and mix with egg yolk batter using a balloon hand whisk. Change to silicone spatula, fold in 1/3 of meringue till slightly combined, then fold in the remaining meringue gently until the batter is well mixed. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan. Pour from 2’ height so as to remove some air bubbles. Then lightly tap the pan on a countertop to remove some more air bubbles. 
8. Place cake pan in another bigger pan ( about 2cm bigger, but not too big). Fill with hot water about 1cm high. Bake at 160 deg C for 35 mins, reduce to 140 deg C and bake for 35-40 mins. Every oven is different, so please adjust the temperature accordingly.
9. Remove the cake from the pan as soon as it's out of the oven to prevent shrinkage. Invert the cake onto a wire rack & then turn it over onto another cooling rack. Cool completely before cutting to serve. Store any leftover in the fridge.

Recipe by  Sonia @ Nasi Lemak Lover.

Notes & modifications:

1. Sonia used a  pan with removable bottom. I just used a regular 9x6x3-inch pan. It worked well.
2. Since every oven is different, you definitely need to adjust the temperature accordingly. So I used the following guideline shared by Sonia  when baking my chiffon. First, bake the cake on medium heat (for my case 150 deg C for my small oven) till the cake rises and starts to turn light brown, about 30 minutes for me. Before it starts to crack, reduce the temperature to lower heat (140 deg C for my oven). Continue to bake it till cooked. It took me 1 hour in total to bake my cake.