Pandan Coconut Cake with Gula Melaka

Pandan Coconut Cake with Gula Melaka

Every year, I bake cakes at home for our family celebrations—birthdays, festivals, and special occasions. It has become a quiet tradition in our household. Because of this, we very rarely buy cakes from outside. There is something deeply satisfying about baking a cake yourself and sharing it with the people you love.

This year, for my husband’s birthday, I decided to make a Malaysian Pandan Coconut Cake with Gula Melaka, topped with a light cream and coconut milk mixture. Pandan is one of my favourite flavours—it’s fragrant, delicate and beautifully green—and when paired with the deep caramel notes of gula melaka, it creates a wonderful balance of taste and aroma.

Instead of using a regular cake tin, I baked the batter in some unusual little cupcake moulds I had at home. Each one held about 100 grams of batter, and I made three of them. After baking, I simply layered the cakes, adding the gula melaka and coconut cream topping between the layers.

The result was surprisingly charming. The small layered cake looked elegant, tasted delicious, and—most importantly—was just the right size for the four of us to enjoy together in one sitting. No leftovers, no temptation to overindulge, just a perfectly portioned homemade celebration.

Sometimes the best cakes are not the biggest or most elaborate ones, but the ones made with care, shared with family, and enjoyed at the moment.

And that, to me, is truly having your cake and eating it too.

The recipe I used was originally meant for a 5-inch cake mould, but it worked beautifully in these small moulds as well.

Ingredients:

Dry

100 g flour (all-purpose or wheat flour)

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

Wet

2 eggs

80 g sugar (I used 60gms)

60 ml coconut milk

40 ml neutral oil (or melted butter)

1–1½ tsp pandan extract or pandan paste

½ tsp vanilla (optional)

Optional

2 tbsp desiccated coconut for extra flavour

Method:

Preheat oven to 170°C.

Line and grease a 5-inch cake pan.

Beat eggs and sugar for about 3–4 minutes until light and slightly fluffy.

Add:

coconut milk

oil

pandan extract

vanilla

Mix until smooth.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt.

Fold the dry ingredients gently into the batter.

Do not overmix.

Stir in desiccated coconut if using.

Pour into the pan and tap lightly.

Bake 30–35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool completely before slicing or frosting.

Simple Coconut Topping (optional)

Mix:

120 ml whipping cream (I used milk cream)

1 tbsp icing sugar

2 tbsp thick coconut milk

Whip lightly and spread on cake.

Sprinkle toasted coconut on top.

Tip for layering:

If you want a 2-layer 5-inch cake, bake the batter in two pans or bake once and slice the cake horizontally after cooling.

Original amount

80 g sugar

Safe reductions

60 g sugar – very safe reduction, cake still soft

50 g sugar – mildly sweet, still good texture

40 g sugar – possible, but cake will be slightly less moist

For pandan cakes, 60 g is usually perfect because coconut milk already gives some richness.

Tips if reducing sugar:

To keep the cake soft when reducing sugar:

Add 1 extra tbsp coconut milk

Or add 1 tbsp milk

Do not overbake

If using wheat flour

Since wheat flour can make cakes slightly denser, I recommend:

60 g sugar (best balance)

Other Birthday Cakes For You To Try

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