The Ultimate Pandan Chiffon Cake Taste Test (Which do you Like?)

Just like how we would always carry boxes of pineapple pastries from Taiwan or egg tarts from Hong Kong back to Singapore, tourists are also known to lug home boxes of Pandan Chiffon Cakes. It’s definitely not only a hot favourite among Singaporeans, as it is well-loved by visitors too. 

History of Pandan Chiffon Cake

Pandan Chiffon Cake is ubiquitous to South East Asia, in particular Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. However, we don’t know for sure how or where this cake originated from. Perhaps, it’s an evolution of traditional chiffon cake influenced by both the Dutch and English when they colonised these lands.

So, what makes a good Pandan Chiffon Cake?

Everyone has their own criteria when it comes to picking the best pandan chiffon cake. To us, the perfect pandan chiffon cake should taste good, smell good and look good. It’s best made from extracted juices from pandan leaves (screwpine leaves), instead of artificial pandan paste. The chiffon cake’s texture should be fluffy and light, and reasonably sweet.

We went around the island getting pandan chiffon cakes, so let’s begin by introducing these 11 different brands of pandan chiffon cakes.

1933 @ Capitol Piazza

1933 is a themed restaurant by BreadTalk Group. Paying tribute to the year that Capitol Theatre building was completed, 1933 attempts to bring us back to the 1930s by serving the finest rendition of cuisines during that period. The Gula Melaka Pandan Cake ($7.90 standard size) is a childhood favourite that is baked with bits of palm sugar for that extra fragrance and served with delightful Gula Melaka syrup. They also have a tea time set at $8.90++ for this cake and a choice of coffee or tea.

Pure Pandan

As its name suggests, many might already know this shop for their Classic Pure Pandan Chiffon Cake ($1.70 per slice / $15 per cake). The chiffon cakes here are simple, uncomplicated and are made with only the purest pandan juice. No artificial paste, pandan essence or colouring are added. Besides pandan chiffon cakes, they also pride themselves in creating other flavours of chiffon cakes, using only pure juices and natural ingredients.

Bengawan Solo

Bengawan Solo was founded in 1979 by Tjendri Anastasia, from Indonesia. She started baking and selling baked goods from her little home kitchen of her HDB flat. However, officials from the Ministry of Environment caught up with her and her unlicensed food production, resulting in her decision to set up the very first Bengawan Solo Cake Shop in Marine Terrace. Since then, her Pandan Chiffon cake ($1.50 per slice / $15.00 per cake) has been a best-selling item amongst her Nonya kueh(s) and other offerings.

Yummi Chiffon

If you’re working near Tanjong Pagar MRT Station, it’s hard to miss the colourful array of mini chiffon cakes displayed at Yummy Chiffon – too tempting! According to the server, these mini chiffon cakes have no added preservatives and no artificial colouring. “It’s also low in fat,” chimed the server. Perhaps, this might attract many OLs working in the area.

Galicier Confectionery

This is a neighbourhood bakery that I’ve patronised since my secondary school days. It is established in 1998 and has been at Serangoon Central for the past 20 years. They make tasty cakes, pastries and bread, which are sold at reasonable prices. The pandan chiffon cake is one of the crowdpleasers, and it’s almost always sold out if you head down too late. Baking of all their products is done in their kitchen, so you can smell the fragrance of freshly baked goods upon entering the shop.

Joe & Dough

This is more of a cafe, but Joe & Dough’s Gula Melaka Pandan Cake ($5.80 per slice / whole cakes start from $52) uses pandan essence that is extracted the traditional way – by blending the leaves before pressing their juices through a sieve to acquire the bright green liquid. It features a buttery texture, slathered with a thick layer of Gula Melaka, and sprinkled with desiccated coconut and ground almonds.

Moon River

The two outlets aren’t the most accessible but this does not deter their customers from making the trip to purchase their highly raved pandan chiffon cake. If not for online recommendations, we wouldn’t have come across this ‘brand’. So, we’ll try and see how good this is during our taste test.

Love Confectionery

Located near Alexandra Village Food Centre, this old-school bakery features a nostalgic décor and traditional cakes and pastries. Don’t overlook their simple pandan chiffon cake! We heard it’s one of the top favourites among residents living nearby.

PrimaDeli

The scent of PrimaDeli’s waffles always attracted me to their shop, and I’ll end up buying a few of their breads and their pandan chiffon cake for my family for breakfast. Launched in 1992, this home-grown bakery franchise now has outlets all across Singapore.

Balmoral Bakery

Founded by Hainanese “Ah Kohs” (big brothers), Balmoral Bakery started selling cakes and pastries with an English touch in 1965. This bakery garnered a reputation for their delicious, crusty, golden pastries and moist, flavourful cakes that were reasonably priced. Well, the fact that they’ve been around for almost 50 years is a testament that they’re doing something right in their kitchen.

Drips Baker’s Playground

It’s a perfect place for a quick afternoon tea session if you wanna sink your sweet tooth into the bakery’s dainty tarts that are freshly prepared daily. If you’re not into tarts, pair your tea with a slice of pandan chiffon cake for a lovely afternoon.

We roped in a total of 20 people to help with our tasting session and graded the cakes according to the following criteria – (i) appearance, (ii) fragrance, (iii) sweetness, (iv) moistness and, (v) fluffiness and lightness. 5 is excellent and 1 is the direct opposite. Here’s our top 3!

1. Galicier Confectionery
Pandan chiffon cake here scores the highest when it comes to having an airy-fairy feathery lightness. It’s fluffy, with just the right amount of moisture. Its sweetness is also well-balanced. 

2. 1933 @ Capitol Piazza
1933’s Gula Melaka Pandan Cake features a relatively moist texture, with its sweetness enhanced by the layer of gula melaka hidden within the chiffon cake. The whipped cream topping gives this pandan chiffon cake a slightly creamy and delightful texture.

3. Bengawan Solo
As compared to the other two above, Bengawan Solo’s pandan chiffon cake is very moist and soft. Its sweetness is also reasonable. However, its bright-green appearance made it look unappetising – that’s just the first impression.

Hope our little guide will help you decide on which pandan cake to try next!

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visits and paid its own meals at the stalls featured here.

Let’s build a food community that helps to update the food news in Singapore! Simply comment below if there’s any changes or additional info to the stalls listed above. We will verify and update from our side. Thanks in advance!