Gula Melaka ( Palm Sugar) Chiffon Cake

I have a soft spot for gula Melaka, so I just love any cakes, kuih or even ice-cream that have this amazing ingredient in them. I've bookmarked this chiffon cake recipe for so long.... finally I managed to bake it a few weeks ago. Love it, love it, love it.

Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar) Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:
150g palm sugar or gula Melaka
100 ml coconut milk

6 egg yolks
4 tbsp vegetable cooking oil (corn oil/canola/sunflower)
¼ tsp salt
140g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder

6 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
40g caster sugar

Method:
1. In a small saucepan, melt the palm sugar together with coconut milk over low heat till the sugar dissolves. Remove and strain into a bowl.  Leave to cool.
2. Sift the plain flour and baking powder together. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks, then add in the vegetable cooking oil and salt and whisk until well combined. Add the palm sugar coconut milk mixture into the yolks/oil mixture. Mix till well blended.
4. With hand whisk, add in the flour and mix till well combined. Set aside.
5. Meanwhile, in another clean and dry bowl, beat egg whites on medium speed till frothy. Then add in cream of tartar and continue to beat until the bubbles become fine soft peak. Gradually add in caster sugar and continue to beat until stiff peak.
6. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into egg yolk batter to lighten the latter. Then fold in the remainder in 2 portions, scooping from the bottom of the bowl and folding up until well blended. I find it easier to start with a hand whisk and then switch to a spatula to finish off the blending.
7. Pour into a chiffon cake pan and bake in pre-heated oven on the lowest rack, at 150 deg C for 45-50mins. Remove from oven and immediately invert the cake and leave to cool completely. Once cooled, use a metal spatula or knife and very carefully and gently remove the cake from the pan.
Recipe from Jeannie Tay.

Some notes:
1. This recipe is good for a 20-cm (8-inch) chiffon tube pan. But I used a 16-cm flower tube pan and another small pan to fill up all the batter. Do not grease the pan.
2. This cake is best eaten the next day when the flavour becomes more intense. If you want to consume on the same day, you may want to increase the gula Melaka a little.