My wife wanted to make some cassava cake for her birthday (and our 2nd anniversary). I had fun watching her make it. I have had cassava cut up and boiled, as a side dish. It is quite good. She had to remind that I had it before – I told her it tasted like butter. I looked up cassava and found out it is another name for yucca root, and is what they make tapioca out of. Who knew? Not me ha ha
First you have to peel and grate the cassava. It has a pretty thick skin so she peeled it with a chef’s knife, not a peeler. The grater was quite interesting. A #10 can opened up flat and lots of holes drilled in it. I had not seen this before. She borrowed it from a cousin. Her grandfather had one with a wooden frame added. That would be easier to use. I offered to buy her a regular grater and she liked the idea. But it was cool to see this worked.
After grating the cassava you have to squeeze out excess water. I would use a cheese cloth, but we don’t have any… any cloth will do. It is about like squeezing the water out of potatoes, or curds.
Also you will need coconut milk. In the US we bought it in cans, here we make our own. At the wet market we buy a brown coconut, and have them grate it for us. They have a cool electric machine to grate it, looks more like a juicer. You take the grated coconut and add water. Squeeze the coconut in the water a bit. Drain out (and keep) the water. Take the coconut and squeeze out remaining water. That is coconut milk. Quite easy as long as you have a wet market handy to grate it for you. Take the coconut and feed it to the pigs or ducks.
After that it is a quite simple recipe. It is a good cake. Kind of creamy. Like cake and flan combined.
I am unsure on the can sizes for the condensed milk and evap milk – they are not standard US sizes. The standard US condensed milk can is 15 ounces, evap is 14.5 ounce. I thought they were #1 cans (11 ounces) but I looked and they are 390 grams, which is about 14 ounces. Not a big deal as cooking is more of an art than a science. Neither my wife or I use measuring spoons much. I was just trying to get the correct amounts to write a recipe. For us just saying 1 can is good enough.
With the condensed milk, coconut milk, sugar, and cheese she called for 1 can milk, 2 cups coconut milk & sugar, and 1/2 cup cheese. You reserve back about 1/4 of each for the topping. I tried to specify amounts in the recipe to make it simpler.
My only concern is the cheese. Here in the Philippines they use Eden cheese. A white cheese that is totally devoid of any flavor or cheese like texture. In the US I do not know what you would substitute it with. …but cheddar is always good.
Cassava Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake:
4 cups grated cassava (grated and drained)
1 3/4 cups coconut milk
1 can evaporated milk
3/4 can condensed milk
½ cup grated cheese (set aside 1/3 of cheese for topping)
½ cup melted butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Topping:
2 tbls flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ can condensed milk
Cheese (remaining from cake)
¼ cup coconut milk
Added after topping:
1 egg white
Directions:
Peel and grate cassava and use cloth to squeeze out excess water. Mix eggs and grated cassava. Add in melted butter, condensed milk, evaporated milk, grated cheese, and sugar – mix well. Add coconut milk and mix well. Put batter in greased baking pan and cook 1 hour at 175C (325F).
While cake is cooking make topping. In a saucepan combine sugar and flour. Add condensed milk, cheese, and coconut milk – mixing each one separately. Heat for about 10 minutes, until thickened.
When cake is done, remove from oven and add topping. Brush with egg whites and bake until golden. About 15 minutes.
Note – You are really just using 2 cups coconut milk & sugar. Use most in the cake, set back about ¼ cup for topping. Same with the can of condensed milk, and cheese. Exact amounts are not a big deal.
