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.
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, sugar, 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