...because I just made my very first Christmas-themed cake and cupcakes for the year!
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This gumpaste Nativity centerpiece was inspired by a cake in Karen Davies' A Cake for Christmas Part 2. Isn't it lovely? I just wanted the figures and not the fondant-covered cake.
My sister in-law wanted a big cake and some matching cupcakes, preferably in red and/or green colours. I suggested pandan chiffon for the cake and she decided on red velvet for the cupcakes.
The coconut pandan chiffon cake recipe I use is basically the same old chiffon recipe you see here over and over, only a different flavour. Here it is, as you might want to try it out for your own Christmas cakes! Frost it your way - either in buttercream (as in the cake above) or in whipped cream. Then fill the cake with young coconut strips or with macapuno for added coconut goodness!
PANDAN CHIFFON CAKE (recipe suitable for two 9" by 2 1/2" round pans, or one 10" by 3" round pan)
{A}
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
{B}
1/2 cup corn/canola oil
7 egg yolks, from large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup water, coconut juice or coconut milk (your choice)
1 teaspoon pandan paste **
{C}
7 eggwhites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
{D}
3/4 cup white sugar
**You can replace this with 1 teaspoon clear pandan extract plus 1/2 teaspoon green gel paste
Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line bottom of baking pan/s with parchment paper. Do not grease.
2. In a large bowl, combine {A} well. Add in {B}. Beat with electric mixer or by hand until smooth and well blended.
3. In a separate bowl, beat {C} on high speed until frothy. Gradually add in the sugar in {D} and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Gradually and gently fold in egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Pour batter into baking pan. If using two 9" pans, divide the batter equally.
4. Bake for about 55 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan into wire rack immediately and cool completely.
5. To release cake from, carefully run a think knife around sides of pan, then invert. For easier handling, wrap your cake very well in cling film, then refrigerate overnight before frosting.
Happy Christmas baking!
PS. Here's a buko pandan cake I frosted with my usual whipped cream frosting and decorated very similarly to the ube macapuno cake. Tastes just like the buko pandan salad Filipinos love!
Hi Corinne,
ReplyDeleteDo you have a recipe for the red velvet cupcakes. I've tried making the red velvet chiffon cake you did and they were awesome. I'm hoping you could help with the cupcake version. Thanks.
Hi Junie,
ReplyDeleteThe recipe I use for red velvet cupcakes can be found here:
http://bestcupcakerecipes.blogspot.com/2009/02/red-velvet-cupcake-recipe.html
For the red food colouring, I use 2 tablespoons.
HI CORRINE,
ReplyDeleteDo i have to bake both pans together or 1 at a time?thanks for the recipes....
Together.
ReplyDeletethanks corinne. i love your blog.. :D
ReplyDeleteLuv this cake, I'll try this after the ube macapuno cake, how u make those line on the top of ur cake evenly? Do u use anything to make it perfect?
ReplyDeleteI use a cake/pie marker. It's not necessary but just aids in making even slices.
ReplyDeleteHi Corrine,
ReplyDeleteJust made a cake today. I made your mango chiffon but covered it with fondant and made fondant designs like your nativity. Thanks for your work, it's an inspiration. Will make your Buco Pandan but mini mamons instead and give away to my friends for Christmas. Happy Holidays! Say L.
Hi Say. Thanks for trying out the mango chiffon. Why not send me photos of your cake?
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you too.
Hi Corinne,
ReplyDeleteI love your red velvet cupcake how did you make your cupcake so flat, because i can't make my cupcake flat... its always like a mountain on top... do you use anything to make them perfect?
and also how did you make you nativity centerpiece i would like to try it also... thanks!
Nel
Hi Nel,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure about what causes the cupcake to dome. Are we using the same recipe? (Link to recipe mentioned in one of the comments above.) Maybe try lessening the cake batter you put in each baking cup and also decrease the oven temperature by a bit. See how that goes.
As for the nativity centerpiece...I mentioned the book where the idea came from. Have you made fondant/gumpaste figures before?
hi corinne,
ReplyDeletei tried to lessen the cake batter, i just made a chocolate cupcake yesterday and tried to put just half of it.. and still a cupcake dome appeared... i'm using 190 Celcius and baked it for 18mins.. do you think its too much???
regarding with the fondant/gumpaste figures, nope never made one...:)
P.S.
thanks for a quick response!
Nel
For cupcakes, I bake at 180 degrees for around 20-25 minutes. The high temperature you use probably makes the cake rise too quickly. If you are using the nonstick, dark muffin pans, you should further lower it by 10 degrees. Try it next time you bake.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of tutorials on the web on how to make fondant figures. My suggestion is for you to practice with simple figures first before moving on to more complicated ones. It's not that difficult once you get the hang of it.
thanks for so much help... one more thing is the food coloring you used in red velvet cupcake is a liquid one or powdered??? which is much better??? thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI use liquid food colouring. It works for me so I have stuck with it.
ReplyDeleteWow-what a fantastic recipe.
ReplyDeleteHi Corinne, do you have a special tool to create those slice mark on top? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYes, Rommel. I use a cake marker. You can find a sample here:
Deletehttp://fantes.com/cake-cutters.html
Hi Corrine,
ReplyDeleteLove your works...truly blessed with beautiful hands. Keep up the good work and hope you will continue on sharing your talents and ideas to us.
I tried your Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but it was not a success. It was a bit runny and i find it hard to pipe borders. How many grams of butter do you use in your recipe? The butter were 250g or 500g stick/block. Sorry I am used in using ingredients by grams and not cup.
Thanks!
I use the 250g block which is actually a little more than 1 cup but the difference doesn't really matter to me.
DeleteWere your eggwhites still hot when you added the butter? Or was your butter too soft? Maybe you could have refrigerated the buttercream for a bit then beat it again afterwards.
Thanks Corrine, that was quick. Maybe the eggwhites is still hot when I added the butter. I will try it again tom and will let you know how it goes :)
DeleteGod Bless!
Hi Corinne,
ReplyDeleteI notice the descriptions from the photos of your cake it said "filled with custard" what is that custard that you use in filling your cake to make it look higher?
Thanks!
What cake are you referring to? I don't really use custard/pastry cream often to fill a cake. Most often, I just use the same frosting I use on the outside as filling. But if you are interested, the pastry cream recipe I've used before can be found here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/PastryCream.html
DeleteIt was from you flicker photo:
ReplyDelete"Caramel Cake
This is a lemon chiffon cake frosted with a creamy, soft, custard-like caramel icing. Borders and leaves are made from Swiss Meringue Buttercream and roses fom gumpaste.
I made this in remembrance of my dear mom whose favourite colour was yellow. She passed away 2 years ago today."
That's different then. Please see my post on the caramel cake. The recipe is right there.
DeleteThank you :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I posted the wrong description from the photo...
ReplyDeleteHere is where the creamy custard appeared as filling.
"Dulce de leche cake"
Here's my version of the Dulce de Leche Cake....layers of chiffon cake, filled with creamy custard, frosted with dulce de leche swiss meringue buttercream, sides covered with toasted cake crumbs, topped with dulce de leche and chocolate clusters...
That's the pastry cream I was talking about before. If you have any other questions, it would be better to email me instead. My email address is on the bar on the right side of the page.
ReplyDeleteHi ms. Corrine,i have tried your ube macapuno recipe,everyone loves it,so yummy.next to try is your pandan chiffon cake,can i use the mc cormick pandan flavor,is it the same to the extract that you're referring to?
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing your recipes:)god bless:)
Cathy
Yes, it's the same thing. You can also use the McCormick Buko Pandan flavour if you want.
DeleteThank you ms. Corrine for the quick response.by the way i'm a fellow pinay also from melbourne(western suburb).thank you so much for sharing your recipes.i'm a newbie baker and cake decorator.and i'm so glad i've come acrossed your food site,my friends loved the ube macapuno,they were all asking me to bake it for them.masarap naman kasi talaga.and one more thing pa po,which one is your personal choice between the coconut juice and coconut milk?
ReplyDeleteMaraming salamat.
Cathy
Lately, I've been using coconut milk. Mas malasa yung cake.
Deletehi corinne, what tip did you use for te border of the Christmas cake and what is it called? thank you!
ReplyDeleteI used a ruffle tip #88.
Deletehello! is green gel paste just green food colouring? can I use green liquid food colour instead?
ReplyDeleteGel paste is more concentrated. Yes, you can use the liquid kind but will have to increase the quantity to get your desired green shade.
DeleteHi Ms Corrine,
ReplyDeleteSo happy I found your blog! Your cakes are so divine! Anyway I just baked your Ube Cake and my! It was soo good! I didnt nailed it though as I think my cake is a bit stiff, I think I underbeat my egg white coz I didnt have that stiff peaks( So afraid I might overbeat the whites) but still good! Just a question for the cake batter do you mix the ings. B before mixing it on A? or put it all @ once then mix? Also, can I prepare the frosting a day bfore? Thank you and more power
You can do either (both ways will work).
DeleteI prefer to prepare my frosting when I am ready to frost the cake, not earlier. You can do it a day before if you want. Just whip it a bit before using.
After making that yummy Ube cake this is my 2nd cake inline. Will make this for my 3th bday Just want to ask if its ok to make the cake like 2 or 3 days in advance? How do I store it so that it’s still fresh? Also how do you manage to put all the gumpaste deco in the middle of the cake so perfectly w/o ruining the frosting? Do you use any special tools? Many Thanks! Love all your work.
ReplyDeleteIf you are to bake your cake 2 or 3 days in advance, I suggest that you freeze it unfrosted. The night before you need it, thaw the cake for about an hour then frost and decorate. Store in a box or a cake container either in the fridge or just leave it out if the weather is not hot.
DeleteMy gumpaste decorations are almost always on top of a small cake cardboard round. I cover the board with fondant then arrange my gumpaste decorations. I do this in advance so when it's time to frost, I just need to place in on the cake. If the board is heavy, I support it with straws underneath so it won't sink into the cake.
Thanks Ms Corrine! Very much appreciated. Hope I can meet you someday when we go to melbourne :-) Im from adelaide
DeleteI love cooking and baking...but haven't bakes in so long. I will try this recipe this weekend along with your ube cake. I will post pictures for you once i've done so...thanks
ReplyDeletehi ms corrine! really love ur site, done ur caramel cake and my family and friend loves it so much, can i ask ur recipe of whipped cream frosting. thanks and God bless u more...
ReplyDeletePlease refer to the ube cake recipe. The whipped cream frosting recipe is there.
DeleteHi Corinne, is it OK if I doubled up your recipe. I need to bake 12" round cake
ReplyDeleteMany thanks
For a 12" round, 1 1/2 recipe is enough. Use 11 eggs.
DeleteHi po Ms Corinne, yung 150 g water, coconut miilk (75g water and 75 g coconut milk)? or 150 g water and 150 g coconut millk? thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhere does it say 150g?
DeleteThe recipe says 2/3 cup water, coconut juice OR coconut milk. So choose which one you like and measure 2/3 cup of that.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteHow do you maintain the cake without shrinking? I always use tube pan in baking chiffon as I find my cake collapsing or shirking any tips please?
Aside from the usual rules - i.e. using ungreased aluminum pans and inverting pan right after baking, my advice is to just skip lining the bottom of the pan. Parchment paper is non stick so the tendency is for the cake to pull away from it once it is inverted. Just sprinkle the bottom of the pan with some water then pour the cake batter in. Yes, the cake will stick but it will still unmould safely. And it will not sink!
DeleteCan you make another icing? Like the texture of yema frosting.
ReplyDelete