It's like having a fluffy soft donut but in a form of a loaf. The donut cake is flavored with pandan and coconut milk. After all, pandan and coconut milk are two combinations that often goes together so well.
Preheat your oven to 325 F (170 C) for a conventional oven. For a convection oven, perheat to 300 F (150 C). Position the oven rack in the middle of the oven
I suggest using a light-colored loaf pan. A dark-colored pan will make the cake darker on the sides and the bottom and it's easy to overbake the cake too. Line your loaf pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper overlapping horizontal and vertical wise. The side can overhang a bit so you can easily lift the cake out of the pan later
Prepare the cake batter:
Combine the coconut milk with vinegar. Let it sit for 10 minutes. We are making a "buttermilk" but coconut milk version.
Make sure the butter, eggs, coconut milk are at room temperature so the butter won't curdle when you mix them together
Combine all the dry ingredients and set aside. Put butter and sugar in a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat at speed 6 on Kitchen aid until the mixture is creamy and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Then add pandan essence and beat for another minute. Lower the speed to 4 and add the eggs, 1/3 at a time. Scrape the side of the bowl halfway if necessary. Lower the speed to 2 and add 1/3 of the flour mixture alternating with the coconut milk mixture, ending with the flour mixture. Don't worry if the flour is not fully incorporated yet. Stop the machine
We don't want to overmix the cake batter. Use a spatula to finish folding the flour into the batter. This is a thick cake batter
Scoop the cake batter into the prepared loaf pan
Baking:
Place the baking pan on the positioned rack and bake for 60-75 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the cake should come out clean
Let the cake cool in the pan place on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Then remove the cake from the pan by grabbing the parchment paper and put on a cooling rack to let it cool down for about 30 minutes. The cake will still feel warm after that
Coat with powdered sugar (optional):
Put some powdered sugar on a shallow plate/pan or something flat
If you want to coat with some powdered sugar, brush the sides and top of the cake with some melted coconut oil.
Carefully coat the right side of the loaf with melted coconut oil and then put this side on top of the powdered sugar to coat. Brush the left side with coconut oil and do the same. Repeat with the front and the back side. Lastly, brush the top with coconut oil and sieve powdered sugar over it
Let the cake cool down completely after that. I suggest waiting 24 hours before slicing the cake. The flavor gets better and the cake will be moist and flavorful. Please refer to my post above on how to store the cake properly