Recipe: Soft and fluffy Pandan Cupcakes
MANILA, Philippines — Pandan, or screwpine, which is a tropical plant that belongs to the Pandanus genus, is a favorite natural flavoring used in cooking and baking. Asian cuisines love to use it because of the subtle and refreshing taste it adds to the recipe.
For savory applications, there’s Pandan Chicken, which is a dish that features small pieces of marinated boneless chicken wrapped in pandan leaves and then fried.
Pandan leaves are also used to make “cups” for a pandan-flavored Thai dessert called Takoh. Natural pandan flavor goes into puto, cakes, cupcakes and more.
Here’s one from my Flavors Magazine days, a recipe which Chef Michelle "Mimi" Ong featured in a baking demo.
Pandan Cupcakes with Boiled Icing
INGREDIENTS:
For the pandan cupcakes:
115 grams cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
60 grams white sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
60 ml. water
1/2 tsp. pandan flavoring
1 tsp. green food color
30 grams corn oil
30 grams white sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
Shortening for greasing pan
PROCEDURE:
1. Lightly grease the center of each hole on muffin pans with shortening and line with paper cups.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, 60 grams sugar and salt in a medium-sized bowl, sift and set aside.
3. Place egg yolks in the mixer bowl. Add water, pandan flavoring, green food color and corn oil, and mix for 1 minute.
4. Pour mixture into the sifted dry ingredients, mix for around 3 minutes. Set aside.
5. Place egg whites in another bowl. Add 30 grams sugar and cream of tartar, and whip at Speed 7 for 3 minutes or until soft peaks form.
6. Fold whipped egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.
7. Transfer batter into a piping bag and pipe onto paper-lined cupcake pans. Bake in a preheated 180°C or 350°F oven for 15 minutes.
8. Remove and let cool.
For the boiled icing:
3 egg whites
120 ml. water
300 grams white sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 tsp. pandan liquid flavoring (optional)
1 tsp. green liquid food color (optional)
PROCEDURE:
1. Place egg whites in a medium-sized bowl.
2. Heat water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Do not stir.
3. When syrup reaches 100°C, immediately start whipping the egg whites with the cream of tartar for 3 minutes.
4. When the syrup reaches the soft ball stage (118 to 120°C), remove mixture from heat, add flavoring and color if desired, and then stir. Set aside.
5. Continue whipping the mixture until it reaches the soft peak stage. Then start pouring the still hot syrup into the mixture at low speed for approximately 1 minute.
6. Whip mixture at Speed 7 until well-aerated, stiff and shiny, for about 5 minutes.
7. Transfer icing to piping bags fitted with desired icing tips with coupler and pipe onto cupcakes.
RELATED: Easy-to-make Buko Pandan dessert
