I love the MrsNG SK’s butter cake so much that I decided to make another one that comprises of some pandan flavor. Although many people claim that pandan juice extracted from pandan leaves give a very good fragrance, which I must admit it does whilst you are preparing it, but the fragrant is often overshadowed after the long baking in the oven. The eventual taste is often very faint (at least to me) and isn’t as apparent as were a few extra drops of pandan essence. So for once, I decide to forgo the pandan leaves and rely solely on the paste and essence.
And that’s this lovely hue of pastel green hidden within the cake and without fail, this butter cake once again proves its worth even with additional flavors.
There’s a strong combination of buttery crumbs together with the pandan aroma. Had initially wanted to do a marbled cake style, but somehow I was too ambitious and had “abit” too much of the pandan batter. So instead of it being marble looking, it became a single swirl as the pandan batter well covered the entire surface of the cake.
Nevertheless, still glad that it didn’t spoil the taste and yes, now I know which butter to choose from when baking such cakes. The higher the fats contents, the better it will be. I took some time at the supermarket, looking through the ingredients contents of all the butter and seems that President and Lurpak wins the war ! Hahaha ! But of course, they come at a higher price tag too ! So it’s really every penny counts !
Gloomy weather all day long, so let’s stay in and eat cake !
- 250g unsalted butter (use President or Lurpak brand, if possible)
- 200g self-raising flour
- 150g +50g castor sugar
- 60ml milk
- 4 eggs (separate the egg yolks from the egg whites)
- few drops pandan paste
- ½ tsp pandan essence
Combine the unsalted butter and 150g of castor sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer and beat till light and fluffy (till the stage where the butter turns pale white in color).
In another mixing bowl, combine the egg whites and with a hand mixer, beat till the egg whites are full of bubbles.
Add in 50g of castor sugar to the egg whites at this point in time and continue beating.
The egg whites batter is ready when it is beaten till stiff peaks (it does not fall off the beater when lifted up). Set aside.
Back to the egg yolks batter, add in the 4 egg yolks one by one. Beat well after each addition till the egg yolks cannot be seen.
Add ⅓ of the self raising flour to the egg yolks batter and beat on low speed till well combined.
Add in half of the milk and beat to combine. Continue with the next ⅓ of the flour, followed by the balance milk and ending with the balance flour.
Using a spatula, scrap down the sides of the mixing bowl of the egg yolks batter.
Remove ⅓ of the egg yolks batter and mix in the green pandan paste and pandan essence. Gently fold ⅓ of the egg white batter to it as well.
Use the remaining egg whites batter and add to the egg yolk batter. Gently fold in the egg whites to the egg yolks batter till all the egg whites cannot be seen.
Pour the batter into a bottom lined and well greased 8 inch round baking tin and level the top.
Scope the pandan batter from Step 9 on top of the original batter.
Level the top of the pandan batter.
Place the baking tin in a pre-heated oven at 170 degrees C on the ⅓ rack counting from the bottom of the oven for approximately 25 minutes. Lower the temperature to 150 degrees for the next 20 minutes till cake is cooked or skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 30 minutes before removing it from the tin.
