ube pandan birthday cake

Another year older, another reason to bake a cake :-) I still remember how much I loved my ube birthday chiffon cake last year, so I thought it would be nice to recreate it with a little twist for my birthday this year.

The marble chiffon cakes I've made it the past were always with chocolate and vanilla. Just one of those basic chiffon cakes my mother taught me to bake. The idea of combining ube and pandan flavors was an experiment. The pandan flavor was light and not overpowering. I still need to learn better techniques to achieve a nicer marbled effect and try to improve the light green pandan color as well for better contrast.

We were happy with the ube, pandan and coconut combination of flavors in this chiffon cake. However, I was a little disappointed that it didn't rise taller and wasn't as light and fluffy. I ran into a problem with the cake batter. As soon as I started mixing it, I immediately noticed that it had a much thicker consistency. It was supposed to flow like pancake batter. I tried to add more liquid but I guess the harm has been done. It has been awhile since I baked a chiffon cake so I completely forgot to sift the cake flour before measuring resulting in a heavier batter. In baking, one single missed step can be disastrous. Everything has to be precise.

Glossy and fluffy white mountain frosting worked very well for this cake. The pastel sprinkles made it look more festive and reminded me of Easter. I'm glad I had a chance to make marble chiffon cake again. I look forward to many more combinations to try.

Enjoy the blessings of EASTER!

For the recipe...

UBE PANDAN MARBLE CHIFFON CAKE

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup corn or vegetable oil
3/4 cup coconut milk (may be combined with water)
1 teaspoon ube flavoring
1 teaspoon pandan flavoring
7 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Line the bottom of a 10" tube pan with wax paper (this step is optional). Preheat the oven to 350F. Into the bowl of an electric mixer, sift together the cake flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the oil, eggyolks and coconut milk. Set aside. In another mixing bowl, beat the eggwhites (must be at room temperature) with the cream of tartar. Beating at medium speed, gradually add the sugar until soft peaks form. Next, beat the flour mixture until well blended and color becomes lighter. Divide the cake batter in half. Mix in ube flavoring to half and pandan flavoring to the other half. Additional light green food coloring may be added to the pandan mixture if desired. Carefully divide the beaten eggwhites in half. Gently fold half of it into the ube batter and the other half into the pandan batter. Spoon the ube and pandan cake mixes alternately into the tube pan. Run a knife up and down into the cake batter, making a few figure 8 strokes, to create a marbled effect. Bake the chiffon cake for 45 to 50 minutes or until cake tester comes out without any raw batter clinging to it. Cool the cake upside down before taking it out of the pan.

For the frosting, just click on this link for Betty Crocker White Mountain Frosting. Cream cheese icing mixed with whipped cream may also be used as an alternative. Enjoy!