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.

[querulouspeg]

I've tried a pandan chiffon cake and it was a disaster. Took me three attempts to get it right. Asian cakes are notoriously difficult so I'm really impressed with your chiffon cake came out so well. Well done you! Did you do the pandan leaves in the food processor trick to get your paste? I chopped mine up into largish chunks and whizzed them with water, then strained through a cheesecloth to get this amazing scented dark green water. I didn't need to use any food colouring or essence at all. I have since used fake pandan flavour and even though it makes me squick to think what they make it out of, everyone goes nuts for my pandan cupcakes (just basic egg, flour, butter, sugar mix).

[amaelamin_]

i was completely surprised that it came out so well! i've tried sponge cakes before which were a total disaster, so i'm really amazed that this one came out so well. yeah that's what i did - i don't know if i didn't use enough of the paste, but as you can see the cake was more yellow than green. i think you'd probably have to use one entire pandan bush to get enough of the taste if you weren't using the pandan essence, so it's a necessary evil. i've got an idea for pandan cupcakes with palm sugar fillings that i think will be amazing.

[alartsss]

Thank you!
I wonder is it not too much sugar and too much salt in the coconut cupcakes?
Anyway, thatnks for the idea with coconut in the cupcake. I was going to make something different. And the small stars look preety as decoration for them.

[amaelamin_]

oh you don't taste the salt at all, and yeah i definitely think there's too much sugar in it. i'm pretty sure that the cupcakes would be quite nice if you reduce the amount. thanks! i love those sprinkles too, and they come in all sorts of shapes like bears and dolphins and stars and moons :)

[rachelpage]

I really like this recipe. I’m going to make some trial runs for friends before I make the real deal on Thanksgiving.