Pandan Madness

Yes, I'm still alive in case you're wondering. Haven't been baking all that much lately. There were so much work to do, so much going on that I couldn't squeeze in some time aside to bake. It was also my birthday two weeks ago and I was occupied with birthday lunch, dinner, dinner again, and some other celebration. Whenever I decided to set aside some time to bake later, I was stuck with the hardest question ever "what do I want to bake?". There are a lot of cakes, desserts on my list, but it's hard to decide which one I WANT to make. I need to have that mood for that particular cake/dessert to make it. Yes, call me weird or crazy, but that's how it is. I won't bake even if I have the whole day if I don't feel like making something particular. That kind of mood just come and go as they wish and I never know when.

Anyways, finally forced myself to bake something last Sunday. I had a 2.5-hour nap that afternoon and I was wide awake the whole night. I was by myself at home at that time, and not wanting to be useless, I decided to go downstairs and be productive. I wasn't in the mood of baking something fancy or complicated lately. So I baked pandan chiffon cake which I covered with buttercream and cheese later on for my brother. He's been asking me to make this cake for him since about three weeks back. I know, I can be that mean sometime :D.

Making chiffon was pretty quick, and I still had the whole night to kill. So, I made another cake, a type of Indonesian steamed pandan cake with shredded coconut on top. I made it a couple of times before, but I felt like experimenting a little that night. So, I modified the already-modified recipe that I usually use, change this and that, add this and to the steamer it goes. I was a little worried about the result. For a second there, I regret what I did and thought that I should have sticked with the one I used before. The batter was thinner than I would have expected, but it was too late. I was smiling happily when I took the cake out of the steamer, unmold, and touch it to find out if the texture improved. It was soft, moist and light. I don't usually like steamed cakes as they're usually dense and very filling. But not this one. It stays soft, even after 4 days (in an airtight container of course) without having to microwave it for a few seconds. I was really pleased with it.

I guess my night turned out to be not so useless after all :D