Pandan Poppy Seed Butter Cake Recipe

Fragrant pandan, the tasteful crunchy texture of the poppy seeds, and the lightness make this Pandan poppy seed butter cake recipe a delightful all-season cake. It’s mild enough not to overpower your taste buds but aromatic enough to satisfy your palate.

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My bestie Mandy and I are back to our baking routine again; this time, we baked this Pandan Poppy Seed Butter cake as I was seriously craving something light and fluffy that weekend. Mandy (like the angel she is) heard my cravings, and she dug out this old recipe, and we got down to bake this buttercake recipe together. In case you don’t know who Mandy is, she is my old-time buddy, who I’ve known since I was 7 years old, and she is the main contributor to many of my recipes, including my Buttermilk Scones recipe.

As you can see from the photo, this gorgeous butter cake has two layers. The pandan layer is on the top, and the poppy seed buttercake layer is on the bottom. It is made with simple ingredients at room temperature. To make this fluffy cake even more beautiful, I used a bundt pan to achieve the shape shown in the pictures. The sides of the poppy seed cake are a nice warm brown, and the insides are bright, vibrant green, and muted yellow. After letting the cake properly cool in room temperature, you will see that it is a tall cake with a beautiful dome shape.

Ingredients:

So if you are looking for a unique fluffy butter cake this is the cake for you and I’m sure it will soon become one of your favorite desserts.

• Unsalted Butter
• Castor sugar
• Eggs
• plain flour
• Baking powder
• Fresh milk
• Poppy seeds
• Pandan paste (Screwpine leaf paste)
• Some icing sugar for decoration

What is Pandan?

Pandan (pandanus amaryllifolius), it is a plant of the screwpine genus that mainly grows in Southeast Asia and South Asia. It has fragrant leaves commonly used in cooking, baking, traditional medicine, and even as a natural air freshener. The green pandan juice from its leaves is extensively used in Malaysian and Indonesian cuisine as a green food coloring and as a flavoring agent (which we will be using today). It is sometimes used whole and dipped into coconut milk for cooking as well.

As a kid, I often saw my parents and neighbors in Malaysia using pandan leaves as air fresheners for their cars. This pandan cake recipe will definitely freshen up your day, just like those leaves did for my parents’ cars!

What does Pandan taste like?

Pandan has a combination of grassy, nutty, and slightly floral notes. The taste is subtly sweet, with hints of vanilla and coconut. This tropical plant should not be eaten raw as it has no taste and is fibrous.

The best way to find out would be to give this butter cake recipe a go and add pandan extract to your cake batter to bake this buttery cake.

Where can I buy Pandan?

In Malaysia, any baking store or local grocer should sell Pandan leaf extract, pandan flavoring, or screwpine paste. However, in other countries, you can find pandan paste from the frozen section in Asian stores or the Asian area of your grocery stores. It is one of the basic ingredients of this delicious recipe that makes this the best butter cake recipe.

Benefits of Pandan

This simple butter cake recipe not only has an easy recipe but also contains Pandan, which has a slew of health benefits.

• Help Control Blood Pressure
• Pain Reliever
• Good for Skin Health and Hair Health
• Good For Weak Nerves
• Has Antibacterial Properties
• Helps Treat Fever
• Potent Anti-Cancer Herbal Solution
• Helps Relieve Rheumatism
• Helps Treat Insomnia
• Helps Prevent Hair Loss

What Are Poppy Seeds?

Poppy seeds are oilseeds from opium poppies that are used widely in Central Europe and South Asia where they are legally grown. In this butter cake recipe, it forms the bottom cake layer, and if it is the first time you are using poppy seeds, then you will be delighted at the lovely speckled look it gives this simple cake as well as the tender crunch that really elevates this sponge cake.

Benefits of Poppy Seeds

Of course, as one of the main ingredients in this butter mixture, poppy seeds themselves are extremely nutritious!

• rich in manganese (good for bone health)
• May contain pain-relieving compounds
• May boost heart and skin health

This poppy seed cake recipe infused with pandan essence is extremely nutritious, so don’t be afraid to give it a go!

Baking Tips

1. When you add in the eggs, do them one at a time and beat well at low speed using either a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer (any electric mixer will do).
2. The baking pan we used to bake this butter cake is a “Wilton Dimensions Belle Pan”. The pan is about 9″ in diameter (top), so it is only about 60% filled with batter before baking.
3. If you are using a normal pan, then you will have to grease and line your pan.
4. In order to get the bright green color layer on top of the cake, pour the pandan batter first, followed by the poppy seed batter. Remember to have one separate bowl of cake batter with pandan and another mixing bowl with the poppy seeds.
5. We also increased the oven temperature to 170C to bake this cake. (Please note that all ovens and temperatures vary, so be sure to know your oven well)
6. Besides Pandan paste, you may substitute other flavors you like, such as chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, etc.

If you have tried this Pandan poppy seed butter cake recipe and loved it, I have more recipes in my recipe section for you to master. But if you are looking for other of my famous cake recipes, then you can always try my Japanese Cheesecake, Matcha Cheesecake, Blueberry Cheesecake, Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake, and for those who want to indulge without guilt — Low Carb Cheesecake and Burnt Cheesecake both are keto desserts perfect for those who are in a keto or low carb diet.