My grandmother’s cake recipe my mom and I know from memory

Dear friend, If you’ve been looking for a pillowy chiffon cake recipe—one worthy of birthdays and celebrations, and is not too sweet—look no further. This one is deeply personal: my Ah Ma, my paternal grandmother, passed it down to my Cantonese mother and me. Thus, to us, it’s more than a recipe. It’s a legacy <3

Ah Ma first learned her culinary secrets in Hanoi, Vietnam, during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Her family members were landlords to restaurants that catered to French colonizers, so Ah Ma would often visit all the restaurants to help collect rent. She learned cooking and baking in those kitchens, watching adults produce French-style pastries and cakes to appease the palates of French colonizers.

Out of all the recipes she learned and mastered, she wrote and passed one down: her lemon chiffon cake. She made multiple copies of that recipe, passing it down to all her children. I’m not sure where that slip of paper is for us, since we’ve moved so many times, but my mother had committed the recipe to memory. Today, I make a pandan version inspired by Ah Ma—a regal cloud of a cake that’s fragrant, light, and endlessly comforting. And it’s one of my favorite colors, a striking green!

Enjoy it with a cup of hot tea. Or dress it up with jam, honey, or whipped cream. Though truth be told, it’s just as lovely on its own.

xoxoxo,
Kat Lieu

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108 Asian Cookies: Not-Too-Sweet Treats from a Third-Culture Kitchen

By Lieu, Kat

Buy on Amazon

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Yield 1 large cake

Author Kat Lieu

Prep time

20 Min

Cook time

50 Min

Inactive time

1 Hour

Total time

2 H & 10 M

Print

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Kat Lieu's Pillowy Pandan Chiffon Cake

From the late 1930s to early 1940s, my grandmother learned culinary secrets from restaurants in Vietnam. She passed down only one written recipe, a lemon chiffon cake that I always turn to and treasure. I use about half of the ingredients she used in her recipe, and instead of lemon, this regal cloud of a cake is pandan-flavored.

Enjoy a slice with hot tea. While this cake is lovely on its own, feel free to serve it with a jam of your choice, honey, or whipped cream.

Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne

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Ingredients

For the yolk batter

• About ⅓ cup (75 g) canola or vegetable oil
• About ¾ cup (100 g) cake flour, sifted
• About ⅓ cup (75 g) coconut milk (or any milk)
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. green pandan extract
• 2 Tbsp. (26 g) granulated sugar

Firm Peaks Meringue

• 6 egg whites, room temperature
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• ⅔ cup (80 g) confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F and place a rack in the center.
2. Make the yolk batter. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, until it reaches about 176°F. Remove from heat. Add the cake flour and whisk until combined. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, cover, and cool for a few minutes. Mix in the coconut milk. Add the egg yolks, baking powder, pandan extract, and sugar and whisk until combined and smooth. Set aside.
3. Make the firm peaks meringue. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat room-temperature egg whites and a stabilizing acid (like vinegar, cream of tartar, or lemon juice) on medium-high speed until foamy and opaque, a few minutes. Lower the speed to add the sugar in increments. Turn the speed back to medium-high. For firm (or medium) peaks, continue to beat the meringue until the peak holds its shape better. When you flip the whisk upside down this time, the peak, while more distinct, will still droop and fold back on itself.
4. Make the final batter. Add one-fourth of the meringue to the yolk batter. Gently whisk until incorporated. Add another fourth of the meringue to the yolk batter and whisk until incorporated. Then pour all the batter into the bowl with the remaining meringue. Use a flexible spatula to gently fold the meringue into the batter, until homogenous, thick, and creamy. There should be no white streaks remaining in the batter. If stubborn lumps of meringue remain, use a whisk to gently mix them into the final batter.
5. Pour the batter into an ungreased 9-inch tube pan. Tap the pan against the counter a few times. Smooth out the top of the batter with the whisk.
6. Spray a large sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray and place it over the top of the pan. Bake the cake for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the aluminum foil. Reduce the temperature to 310°F. Bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until thoroughly cooked and golden brown. Insert a bamboo stick into the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready.
7. Remove the cake from the oven. From a height of about 3 inches above the counter, drop the cake pan down to shock the cake. Repeat two more times.
8. Invert the pan and place the tube on a lidded jar or an inverted cup. Cool completely before removing the cake from the pan. Be patient as this can take a few hours. Run a knife gently along the edges where the cake adheres to the tube pan to remove the cake.

Notes

Images and text from Modern Asian Baking at Home by Kat Lieu; photography by Nicole Soper. © 2022 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc. Buy the full book from Quarry Books or Amazon.

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