PANDAN ZEBRA COTTONY CAKE [OGURA CAKE]

After baking the Cocoa Brandy Zebra Cottony Cake [Ogura Cake], I thought a 'green zebra' should look good too.  Wanted to have beige and green stripes but somehow or other I decided with this tone cos' I think this way the whole cake will be very fragrant with the pandan paste and coconut milk.  The original recipe uses milk but here I used fresh thick coconut milk. 

The cake turns out well.   A very fragrant, soft, moist and fluffy cake.  Add a little salt to bring out the flavour of coconut milk.   But the zebra pattern was not distinct at all.  Perhaps, next time I should just add pandan paste to 1/2 the portion and keep the other  1/2 portion plain.    If you are baking this cake, please try it this way.   Tasted good, quite like you are eating a 'Nyonya Kuih', but it is light not heavy lol...

Ingredients

[9 inch square baking tin]
6 egg yolks
1 egg
65 ml corn oil
60 ml coconut milk
20 ml thick pandan juice
65 gm cake flour  - sifted - set aside
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp green colouring [for darker tone to create the zebra effect]

6 egg whites
75 gm sugar [can reduced to 65 gm]
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Line base of a 9" square tin with grease proof paper.   I greased the sides, too and sprinkle lightly with a little flour [this way, the cake can be easily removed from pan after cooling].
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 and 1 whole egg until creamy then gradually drizzle in the corn oil followed by coconut milk and pandan juice [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 in 3 batches and whisk until stiff peaks formed.  Do not over beat egg whites otherwise it may be difficult to fold in to egg yolk mixture.
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 green colouring to mixture, mix well.
7. Scoop the 2 batters alternately to create the zebra effect of the cake into prepared cake tin.   Here, I made 4 individual portions to get 4 small zebra cakes within a cake pan.  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].   Note: the duration also depends on individual ovens, for mine 50-55 minutes is just nice.
   
9. Remove cake and invert it to cool for about 5 minutes [otherwise the cake base may be moist because of vapour from steam-baking].   
   
   
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].
    
11. Turn the cake over when completely cooled.  Refrigerate before slicing if preferred.
    

Note:

I usually chill the cake in the fridge before slicing.  This cake tastes as good when chilled.