Pandan Swiss Roll (Cooked Dough Method) 班兰瑞士卷

If you have ever tried an original Pandan Swiss Roll, you will not be contented with just pandan essence. Nothing beats the natural taste and flavour of the pandan (also known as screwpine leaves). Primarily found in the South East Asia, the Pandan Swiss Roll is insanely popular with variations like Ondeh Ondeh Roll, and Pandan Kaya Roll. Today, I'm just introducing a simple Pandan Swiss Roll with fresh cream. Once you have the basic sponge mastered, you can easily adapt your filling.

Once again, I am using my trusted cooked dough recipe as it will leave the sponge soft and moist for many days. Most importantly, crack-proof. To understand more about cooked dough method (tang mian in Chinese), you can go to my Easy Sponge Cake recipe. I explained quite a bit here.

For this Pandan Swiss Roll, you will need an extra step of blending the pandan to extract the natural juice. It is well worth it. Nothing beats the original taste of pandan leaves. However, I must also caution that you should not use excessively or it will leave a bitter, raw aftertaste.

Now, I know some of you might have issues with coconut milk which is used in this Pandan Swiss Roll recipe and prefer not to use it. Besides cholesterol issues, sometimes I find it a hassle to finish up the coconut milk as I only need 55g of it. I will also be introducing you an alternative that is equally good. Replace 20g butter with a good quality coconut oil. Then replace the coconut milk in this recipe with milk! Voila! It will come out aromatic and tender, guaranteed to receive praises!

Pandan Swiss Roll 班兰瑞士卷

Makes a 9 x 11" roll

Ingredients

3 pcs pandan leaves (cut into small pieces)
60 g cake flour
55 g coconut milk
40 g butter
3 egg yolks
a pinch of salt

3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
40g sugar

whipped cream for filling, or
pandan kaya (click here for recipe)

Cooking Instructions

1. Cut pandan leaves and blend with 55g of coconut milk. Strain and extract the juice and measure 55g out of it. Add some coconut milk if it is not enough.

2. Add butter to a pot and leave to simmer until butter is slightly bubbly (not boiling bubbly).

3. Add in flour and stir until flour is cooked. Set aside to cool for a while.

4. Add in pandan coconut milk and stir. Then add in egg yolks, one at a time, whisking until combined.

5. Whisk egg whites until foamy and add in cream of tartar. Continue to whisk. Add in sugar in 3 installments. Once all the sugar is added, whisk in high speed until soft peaks formed (meringue will be glossy and have a hook on the tip when lifted).

6. Add meringue to egg yolks mixture in 3 installments. Use a spatula to thoroughly mix the batter until there are no dark green colour or no lumpy meringues.

7. Pour into a 9 x 11" lined baking pan. Drop pan a few times to remove bubbles. Bake for 15 mins in 180C.

8. Remove from oven and drop pan on the table. Loosen sides with spatula. Cover pan with baking paper and turn over pan to remove cake. Trim the sides. While cake is still warm, loosely roll the cake and set aside to cool.

9. Gently apply filling and roll into a log. Use a clingwrap to wrap the cake. Keep chilled until serving.

Note: I received some comments on how smooth the cake is. The smoothness of the cake depends on how you handle the meringue.

Tips:
1. The meringue should be glossy and evenly beaten to soft peak.
2. When mixing, be gentle and try not to lift it so that there will be lesser air bubbles incorporated.
3. When pouring, lift the batter a little and pour gradually at an angle. You will see the batter being stretched and disappear.
4. Knock the tray to eliminate bubbles. You will see bubbles appear on the surface and you can gently burst it.

Need another flavour to this yummy roll? Try my Chocolate Swiss Roll

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