Hot Milk Cake with Pandan Kaya filling

So we went to Hoo Hing recently and as usual Random Things To Try somehow found their way into the trolley.

This time the things included a jar of Pandan Kaya, which turned out to be a thick custard-like spread made from eggs and coconut milk, flavoured with pandan leaf. My immediate thought on trying it was that it would make an excellent filling for a cake. Preferably a light plain sponge cake that would show off the filling's flavour without overpowering it.

This American Hot Milk Cake from Farmers Weekly sounded perfect, just needing a couple of tweaks.

I don't bother to keep self-raising flour AND plain flour, and of course when I looked in the cupboard there wasn't quite enough plain white flour left so it ended up being about 2/3 plain white flour and 1/3 chapathi flour.

Recipe For Hot Milk Cake

Bakes in 2x large round sponge cake tins - around 21-23cm diameter.

• 250g plain flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 230ml milk
• 30g butter
• 225g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla essence

Prepare the cake tins by greasing and lining the bottoms with greased greaseproof paper or baking parchment.

Preheat oven to 180C (or 160C for fan oven).

Sift the flour and baking powder together two or three times.
Measure the milk and butter into a microwaveable jug and zap for ~1 minute to melt the butter.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until thick and pale.
Whisk the vanilla and warm milk mixture into the egg mixture.
Spoon the sifted flour mixture in and fold together until well combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for ~25mins until the cake has pulled away from the sides of the tin, springs back when touched, and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Let stand for 5 mins and then turn the cakes out of the tins onto cooling racks.
Let the cakes cool completely.

Sandwich the cakes together with generous quantities of Pandan Kaya. I ended up using most of the jar.

If you like, drizzle the coconut icing glaze from the Coconut Almond and Courgette Cake recipe over the top to decorate. Actually, Pandan Kaya would be an excellent alternative filling for that cake too...


Categories: Cake