Pandan Kaya Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes

Pillowy soft and airy Hokkaido style chiffon cupcakes with an amazing sweet pandan aroma and filled with rich and creamy kaya filling is one of our family’s favorite chiffon cupcakes.

If you feel overwhelmed having to bake the whole chiffon cake or if you don’t have a chiffon tube pan, these chiffon cupcakes are great ways to enjoy that soft and airy texture of chiffon cakes but much easier to handle. Hokkaido-style chiffon cupcakes are usually baked in tall, sturdy, and decorative paper cups. I don’t have any and so I just use regular muffin tins lined with paper liners

I use my pandan chiffon cake recipe with minor adaptation. I know pandan leaves aren’t always available for some of you who live outside of Asia (like myself). So, instead of using pandan juice, I’m just using pandan essence in this recipe for simplicity and convenience.

The recipe rundown

Taste: Lightly sweetened cake with rich and creamy kaya filling
Texture: Soft and airy texture of cupcakes with creamy kaya jam
Level: Intermediate

How to make pandan kaya Hokkaido chiffon cupcakes

1. Separate the egg yolks from the white. The meringue whips better at room temperature. UPDATE: Heat oil in a microwave for 30-40 seconds or until its about 160 F (70 C). This step gives the cupcake a shiny crust. Add this to the cake flour and whisk quickly to combine. Add the egg yolks, sugar, oil, coconut milk, and pandan essence and whisk into a smooth batter. Set aside

2. Place the egg whites in a clean mixing bowl. I use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. You will have trouble whipping your meringue if there’s a trace of grease in your utensils or bowls. Beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy

3. Add cream of tartar or lemon juice/vinegar and whip until it turns whitish

4. Gradually add the sugar as you beat, in 3 batches

5. I beat them at high speed (speed 6 on Kitchen Aid). When you lift the whisk up, it will hold its shape with a slight bent on the tip. Stop once you reach this firm peak. Overbeating the meringue will break it. You can always stop to check on the meringue so you won’t under or overbeating it

6. Gently fold 1/3 of the meringue into the thick batter. Using a whisk, using a cutting motion, and fold over to mix. Repeat this motion several rounds. Continue on with the second 1/3 of the meringue again to mix.

7. For the last 1/2 of the meringue, use a rubber spatula instead to ensure you get all the batter at the bottom of the bowl mixed in as well. Use a cut down in the middle and fold over motion to fold gently but quickly. Make sure you don’t see any more white meringue.

8. The mixture should be fluffy and voluminous

9. Pipe the batter into the muffin tins, otherwise, you can just use a regular spoon, to scoop the batter into the muffin tins, about 3/4 full. Use a toothpick to draw a zigzag pattern on the batter to pop any bubbles inside the batter. (Sorry forgot to take photos on this step)
10. Please see recipe card for baking temperatures. There are 4 adjustment on temperatures to ensure cupcakes won’t deflate after taking them out from the oven

11.Remove from the oven and set the muffin pan on top of the cooling rack. Don’t move the cupcakes out yet Let them cool down completely in the pan like this
12. Transfer the kaya jam into a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle of your choice. Gently poke the tip of the nozzle into the cupcake and gently squeeze out the filling. You will fill the kaya jam fills up the cupcakes on the inside and you can stop piping once the filling shows up a bit on the top or you can continue to swirl or create a pattern on top of the cupcakes if you like

Pandan flavor and kaya jam are like a match-in-heaven combo IMHO. Look at that creamy filling inside the cupcakes.

How to store Hokkaido cupcakes

1. For cupcakes without filling or unfrosted: you can keep the cupcakes at room temperature, well-wrapped to prevent loss of moisture, for 2-3 days. You can keep the kaya jam in the fridge.
2. For cupcakes with filling or frosted: Keep them in an air-tight container for 2-3 days. The longer you keep, the drier the cake will get. You can also keep them in the freezer for up to one month

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Pandan Kaya Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Servings 12 standard size muffins

5 from 3 reviews

REVIEW & RATE PRINT

Ingredients

0.5x1x2x

US CustomaryMetric

Dry Ingredients:

• ▢ 50 gr cake flour
• ▢ ⅛ tsp salt

Wet ingredients:

• ▢ 3 egg yolks room temperature from 58 grams egg (large egg) with a shell
• ▢ 50 g coconut milk
• ▢ 33 g cooking oil
• ▢ ½ tsp pandan essence

Meringue:

• ▢ 3 egg whites room temperature
• ▢ ¼ tsp cream of tartar or 1/2 tsp of vinegar or lemon juice
• ▢ 40 g granulated sugar please don't cut down on sugar

Filling:

• ▢ 1 recipe Easy Authentic 10-minute Kaya Jam (you may have some leftover)

Instructions

 

• Prepare the kaya jam the day before
• Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. If you use the thick paper cups, place them on top of a baking sheet

Prepare cake batter:

• Separate the egg yolks from the white. The meringue whips better at room temperature.
• UPDATE: Heat oil in a microwave for 30-40 seconds or until its about 160 F (70 C). This step gives the cupcake a shiny crust. Add this to the cake flour and whisk quickly to combine. Add the egg yolks, oil, coconut milk, and pandan essence and whisk into a smooth batter. Set aside

Whip the meringue:

• Preheat your oven to 250 F (120 C) for conventional oven.If you have a convection oven, I suggest lowering the temperature by 20 F (15 C).
• Place the oven rack 3rd from the top. Place the egg whites in a clean mixing bowl. I use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. You will have trouble whipping your meringue if there's a trace of grease in your utensils or bowls.
• Beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy, add cream of tartar or lemon juice/vinegar and whip until it turns whitish. Gradually add the sugar as you beat, in 3 batches. I beat them on high speed (speed 6 on Kitchen Aid) until you reach a firm peak but still have a slight bent on the tip. You don't want to overbeat the meringue

Fold meringue into the batter:

• Gently fold 1/3 of the meringue into the thick batter. Using a whisk, using a cutting motion and fold over to mix. Repeat this motion several rounds. Continue on with the second 1/3  of the meringue again to mix. For the last 1/2 of the meringue, use a rubber spatula instead to ensure you get all the batter at the bottom of the bowl mixed in as well. Use a cut down in the middle and fold over motion to fold gently but quickly. Make sure you don't see any more white meringue. The mixture should be fluffy and voluminous.
• UPDATE: transfer batter to a piping bag and pipe into the muffin liners, about 3/4 full. Alternatively, you can use a regular spoon, to scoop batter into the muffin tins, about 3/4 full. Use a toothpick to draw a zigzag pattern on the batter to pop any bubbles inside the batter

Baking:

• UPDATE: there will be 4 temperature adjustments to increase over temperature gradually to ensure the cupcake rise slowly and they won't deflate after taking them out from the oven
• Bake at 250 F (120 C) 20 minutes on the middle rack. Then increase temperature to 270 F (130 C) and bake for 5 minutes. Increase temperature to 300 F (150 C) and bake for 15 minutes. Increase temperature to 330 F (165 C) and bake for 8-10 minutes. For convection oven, please lower the temperature by 20 F (15 C).
• The surface of the cake should feel dry and bouncy to the touch. If you insert a toothpick into the center, it should come out clean
• Remove from the oven and set the muffin pan on top of the cooling rack. Don't move the cupcakes out yet Let them cool down completely in the pan like this
• If the top of the cupcakes sink after they have cooled down completely, it could be that they need to be baked a bit longer. Next time, you can try to add another 5 minutes or so during the last baking temperature adjustment. Overmixing your cake batter (deflating too much of the meringue) can cause the cupcakes to deflate too.

Fill and decorate:

• Transfer the kaya jam into a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle of your choice. Gently poke the tip of the nozzle into the cupcake and gently squeeze out the filling. You will fill the kaya jam fills up the cupcakes on the inside and you can stop piping once the filling shows up a bit on the top or you can continue to swirl or create a pattern on top of the cupcakes if you like
• They are ready to be served. I suggest only fill as many cupcakes with the filling you want to serve. That way you can keep the chiffon cupcakes, well-wrapped to prevent loss of moisture, at room temperature for 2-3 days and the filling can be kept in the fridge to chill. When you want to serve them, you can fill it up on the same day

RECOMMEDED TOOLS

Kitchen Aid Standmixer

Electric hand mixer

*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*

Nutrition Facts

Pandan Kaya Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes

Serving Size

 

1 plain cupcake

Amount per Serving

Calories

79

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

5

g

8

%

Saturated Fat

 

1

g

6

%

Trans Fat

 

0.01

g

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

1

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

2

g

Cholesterol

 

49

mg

16

%

Sodium

 

40

mg

2

%

Potassium

 

41

mg

1

%

Carbohydrates

 

7

g

2

%

Fiber

 

0.1

g

0

%

Sugar

 

3

g

3

%

Protein

 

2

g

4

%

Vitamin A

 

65

IU

1

%

Vitamin C

 

0.04

mg

0

%

Calcium

 

8

mg

1

%

Iron

 

0.3

mg

2

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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