Coconut Pandan Chiffon Cupcakes with Coconut Milk Buttercream Frosting

MAKES 36 CUPCAKES OR 60 MINI CUPCAKES

COCONUT MILK PANDAN CHIFFON CUPCAKES

This was my 2nd experiment for the Cupcake Round-Up initiated by Chocylit of Cupcake Bakeshop and Garrent of Vanilla-Garlic. I am also using local ingredients, just to try something different for a cupcake. Instead of the butter cupcake, I decided to try the no butter, all egg chiffon. Thus, my first time trying this recipe as a cupcake. I have not mastered the skill...of baking. Perhaps, Chiffon will rise and hold better directly against the baking tin and not against the paper cups. The cake shrunk in size when cooled. Nevertheless, the taste is interesting. I would try this with a more finer, delicate and slightly less sweet frosting like whipped cream with a bit of sugar for chiffon instead of coconut buttercream frosting. As I was in a hurry, I used boxed santan ie. coconut milk. Tasted equally as nice.

150 g cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 egg yolks
2 1/4 cup (300ml) coconut milk
2 tablespoon essence
Green food coloring (optional)
160 g castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon pandan essence
9 egg whites
1 tablespoon castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Pre heat the oven to 160C/350F. Pour the coconut milk into a saucepan, add the castor sugar and pandan juice. Bring to a boil, stirring slowly to disslove the sugar. set aside to cool. Sieve the cake flour, baking powder and salt. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, coconut mixture, pandan juice, color to liking and pandan essence. Whisk lightly, then add the flour to the egg yolk mixture. Mix until the batter is smooth. Set aside. Whisk the egg whites lightly and add in the cream of tartar and castor sugar. Continue to whisk until the mixture is stiff. Do not overbeat or allow the mixture to become dry. Set aside. Gently fold half the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture and blend well. Fold in the remaining egg whites and work very lightly with a spatula. Make sure the mixture is well mixed. Pipe or scoop into the cupcake tin lined with cupcake papers. Level and bake in the oven until golden brown (about 25 minutes). Remove the cake from the oven. Allow it to cool completely before piping it with Coconut Buttercream Frosting.

Coconut Milk Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter
2-4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup milk (subtituting this with 1 cup of simmered and cooled coconut milk)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Place butter, 2 cups icing sugar, ½ cup of milk and the vanilla extract in a free-standing mixer (or you can beat it by hand) and beat on medium-low speed. Add the rest of the icing sugar until you reach a desired consistency. Divide into separate bowls for your choice of colors. Decorate as you like by piping or spreading onto the cupcakes.