Life has different ways of telepathically connecting you to people. Friday night my husband reminded me of a number that appeared in our caller ID and thought that it might have come from one of our very close friend who lives in British Columbia, Canada. I checked the number and it did had a BC identification but I was not really sure that it was our friend, Malou Arico-Pucovsky, who called. So I re-dialed the number and I got this telemarketing company. I didn't make the conversation long enough for them to convince me of buying something from them.
However, the next day, I got an email from my BC friend, Malou, who requested the recipe to a dessert that I made years ago, when she visited our family here in Massachusetts. It's funny because she thought that it was my husband who made it since most people know that it is him who is the cook in the family and yours truly is just the "sous chef"(always the sous chef, never the chef!). And since most friends are also aware of my culinary handicap, they just assume that my hubby does all the work. Not one to drown my inadequacies in the kitchen with "take outs", I have made some improvements on myself thru the years and have learned to cook and bake a little.
I have learned especially here in the US of A that in order to be able to get a taste of Philippine cuisine, one has to learn to make it yourself especially if you don't live in California, New Jersey and New York where there is a huge community of resident Filipinos thus spawning businesses that would cater to Filipino taste buds and cultural styles.
Everytime, we get a chance to visit my sister-in-laws and brother-in-law in Jersey City, New Jersey, I always make a point to shop for Filipino stuff (mostly food anyways) to my husband's consternation. It truly is a long drive from Massachusetts to New Jersey so I better make up for it.
But anyway, my friend requested for the cassava cake recipe which I am sharing here with you all. My Aunt Ofie who lives in Ohio was the one who taught me how to make this and she in turn got the recipe from Nora Daza's "Let's Cook with Nora" cookbook which is called Cassava-Bibingka. This dessert is so easy to make and also worth the time to make.
Cassava Cake Recipe(ingredients here are doubled to fit a 9 x 13 inch pan/pyrex dish):
1 stick butter
2 cups sugar
6 egg yolks
2 packages of grated cassava
1 package of shredded young coconut (optional)
1 can coconut milk
2 tsps vanilla
2 cups sugar
6 egg yolks
2 packages of grated cassava
1 package of shredded young coconut (optional)
1 can coconut milk
2 tsps vanilla
Custard Topping:
1 can condensed milk
6 egg yolks
2 tsps vanilla
Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees. With butter at room temperature, put in bowl and add the sugar. Mix and then add the egg yolks.
Mix again, add the cassava, young coconut (optional) and coconut milk.
Mix thoroughly and then add the vanilla flavoring. Put mixture in a rectangular 9 x 13 inch baking pan or pyrex dish. Bake for about 35 - 45 minutes.
Once the top hardens take out from the oven and add the topping mixture (add all topping ingredients and whisk until smooth and creamy).
Bake for another 15 mins or so until topping is slightly brown and toothpick comes out clean after inserting into the middle of the dish.
*Thanks to daughter Karrol for making the cassava. My hubby took the photo of the finished product and arranged the placemats in such a way that it look like a flower. Nice, ha?
I really like cassava cakeee!! yum yum!!