pandan chiffon cake and martha stewart's coconut cupcakes

[helen_bakes]

Two recipes today, one very asian and one very american. Let's start with the one that I preferred, the pandan chiffon cake. I was really agonising over this one because it's not easy to get the right chiffon cake texture - really light and soft and fluffy. AND I DID IT. But god is fair, so the pandan taste and colour didn't come out very strongly

Comments

[cappyhead]

I gotta say that I have not found Martha Stewart recipes to be foolproof. The first time I tried to make a fruit pie, I followed one of her recipes for cherry pie exactly, and it turned out as cherry soup in a crust. That kinda turned me off of her recipes.

So far I've found Cook's Illustrated recipes to be damn near foolproof, but it's a paid site.

[kamaliitaru]

This...I had the same problem with one of her recipes, except it was a butter cream frosting.

To the OP, I love pandan, and wish I could get it in the US with regularity without going bankrupt. The cupcakes look a bit too sweet for me, though.

[amaelamin_]

is it really very expensive over there? even in the asian food shops? that's too bad! i hope you find a cheap supplier soon. here you can buy gigantic bunches for a couple of dollars.

oooohhh yeah, you said it. i couldn't even finish a whole cupcake by myself.

[amaelamin_]

oh really? i've never had any trouble with her recipes before, until this overly-sweet one. just a matter of luck i guess.

i've never understood how come published authors' recipes sometimes can produce complete disasters [and you know 100% it's not your fault] - didn't they test the recipes beforehand? /shrugs

thanks for the heads up, though. i'll be careful with martha stewart recipes in future.

[yourwateryhands]

Agreed. I made cereal bars (they werelike rice krispie treats but with fruit loops, lucky charms, and captain crunch) using one of her recipes and somehow the recipe called for like 14 cups of cereal and four giant bags of marshmallows to make a 9x9 pan of 12 bars. Luckily my boyfriend used his brain and realized something was off before we bought all the extra ingredients, and then I read the reviews of the recipe and 99% of them said that they ended up with 3 or 4 batches using the given amounts.

[cappyhead]

Oh, but I will say that this Martha Stewart recipe for Pumpkin Cream Pie is the BOMB. It's now my go-to recipe for pumpkin pie. The only alterations I make to the recipe are: 1) I usually just buy a pre-made graham cracker crust and 2) I omit the stabilized whipped cream topping and just use Cool Whip or fresh whipped cream.

http://www.marthastewart.com/318704/pumpkin-cream-pie