Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Recipe: Cottony pandan swirl cake

Hi everyone! 
Today I'm sharing with everyone this cottony pandan swirl cake. As the name suggests, it's super light and super duper ultra soft! Yes, in fact like cotton. :)

The original recipe is from here, however I have modified it by reducing the egg/sugar/oil, in short a 'healthier choice' version for my family.

Even with my stinginess on the oil/sugar, the cake turns out well still. 

5 egg yolks
2 tbsp corn oil
80 ml milk
65 gm cake flour  - sifted - set aside
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pandan paste

5 egg whites
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Line base of a 9" square tin with grease proof paper.   

2. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Place a baking tray on the lowest rack, pour in enough water [about 1.5 cups] for steam baking, then place a baking rack over it.  

3. Whisk egg yolks until creamy then gradually drizzle in the corn oil, salt and followed by milk [continue whisking while you add ingredients]. Whisk until well combined.

4. Fold in sifted flour and stir until batter is smooth. Set aside.

5. Use a cake mixer, whisk egg whites until frothy, then add in cream of tartar.  Beat until soft peaks then gradually add in the sugar and whisk until stiff peaks formed.  

6. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the egg yolk mixture until combined. Then fold in the rest of the meringue lightly in two portions until well combined.  Remove 1/2 of the cake batter to another bowl.  Add in the pandan paste to mixture, mix well.

7. Scoop the 2 batters alternately to create the zebra effect of the cake into prepared cake tin. Shake the pan lightly and the batter will spread out itself.  Tap baking tray on work surface a few times to release trapped air bubbles before baking. 

8. Place it over the baking rack to steam bake cake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees C for 50 minutes [by then the water bath would have dried up].  


10. Remove baking tin and the paper linings immediately and leave cake to cool on a wire rack [base facing upwards].  The cake may shrink a little when cooled because of less flour used [low gluten cake]

The zebra pattern. 

The result! 

I must say I'm really please with the product, no cracks at all. 

Close up to the 'cotton'.

My family really loves this, they especially love the cake for it's feather-light texture. Of course I'm more than happy to bake more varieties of this guilt-free cake for them and I did! Will be sharing more varieties of this cottony cake with everyone again. :)



  1. Thanks Lirong for sharing your version of less oil cotton cake. I always love your recipes because sure healthier with less oil.

    I am always quite surprised as very often I heard some food bloggers mentioned their version of healthier cakes to mean cutting down on the eggs but significant amount of oil or butter was not cut down at all.

    Honestly, in my opinion, cutting down on eggs with no reduction of oil or butter cannot be considered healthier at all. Eggs provide the nutrient, esp. with the extra egg white in chiffon cake but surely not oil.

    Hence, cakes with no reduction of eggs but the amount of oil or butter is reduced should be the right statement for a healthier version.

    Priscilla Poh

  2. Awwww~ Thanks dear! :) I agree with you! I think the good thing about homebaked is that you can modify the recipe to yield a healthier choice version as I feel really uncomfortable letting my family eat tons of sugar and unhealthy fats.

    Glad you like it dear and hopefully you'll like this recipe as well! :)


  3. beautiful! I always reduce sugar and oil in my bakes too...less sinful for us all =) I feel like getting re-aquainted with my oven this weekend, now that exams are done! hehe.

    1. hee.. Thanks dear! I know right! We can have guilt free cakes! haha! That's good dear! Baking is therapeutic! :)

  4. I tried making this but it failed terribly!!! I might have overbeaten my eggwhites and caused them to sweat a little (only realised that after separating the eggwhites).. the cake didnt turn out cottony but more like..... I dont even know how to describe it. :(

    1. Hi!

      I'm sorry to hear that. :( Not so sure where the problem lays at but it could really by the beating of egg whites. No worries, practice makes perfect! :)