My first try at a zebra cake, not so perfect as the colours are too close, but the taste is yummilicious. Pandan and Gula Melaka are a match made in heaven. So here’s a record of the laborious process to get it done.

Recipe (7″ cake tin)

Gula Melaka mixture

• 90g Gula Melaka, shaved
• 20g coconut milk

Pandan mixture

• 6 Pandan leaves, soaked, cut and blended
• 35g coconut milk
• 10g hot water

Yolk batter

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/3 tsp salt
• 50g cooking oil
• 90g cake flour
• 1/3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Pandan paste or green colouring

Meringue

• 5 egg whites
• 30g caster sugar
• 1/3 tsp cream of tartar

Method

1. Soak and cut Pandan leaves into about 2 cm in length. Blend using handheld blender.

2. Add hot water and coconut milk. Squeeze and sift out 45g of Pandan mixture. Set aside.

3. Melt Gula Melaka and coconut milk in a pot over Low flames. Set aside.

4. Whisk egg yolks and salt till light and fluffy. Add cooking oil and whisk some more.

5. Add Pandan mixture, follow by Gula Melaka mixture.

6. Sift in cake flour and baking powder. Fold gently to mix in. Divide batter into 2 portion, measure by weight.

7. In one portion, add the koepoe Pandan paste, mix well and set aside.

8. Beat egg whites in stand mixer till large bubbles, then add cream of tartar. Beat some more and add sugar in 3 batches. Beat till stiff peak.

9. Divide the meringue into 2 equal portions by weight, mine was 100g each. Mix in 3 batches into each of the 2 yolk batter.

10. Using 2 identical spoons, start to spoon each batter spoon by spoon into the cake tin. Tap gently after each few spoons. Here’s a step by step.

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11. Bake in the oven using the following steps to get a smooth top.

first 10 min – 175 deg

next 35 min -145 deg (do skewer test)

next 3 min – 160 deg to get rid of squishy sound when pressed.

12. Invert when out of oven. Cool and slice.