Cassava Cake with Custard Topping

As a Filipino in the U.S. without complete access to ingredients indigenous to the Philippines, I, often times, have to substitute this for that and that for this in recreating the dishes I have grown up with. Good examples would be in preparing my chicken tinola and ginisang munggo. With malunggay or ampalaya leaves being hard to find even in asian grocers, spinach has been my favorite alternative for these greens in my Filipino recipes. Still, considerable variety of Filipino food products are now being imported and made available for us Filipino-American consumers. Naturally, on most occasions we have to forgo of “freshness” as these items come pre-packaged or frozen, but the convenience and time-saving elements are trade offs I don’t quite mind. If I had to peel and grate cassava roots, crack and milk coconut heads, I’d just as soon forget about making this cassava cake with custard topping. In this case, it was a simple matter of me heading to the freezer section for already-grated cassava and walking down the aisle for canned coconut milk. Within minutes, I had a Filipino treat baking nicely in the oven!

The following recipe is my own proportions. The result is a very rich, yet, not overwhelmingly sweet cake. For the custard topping, I simply halved my filling recipe for mini eggpies.

Makes 12 to 16 Servings

6 cups grated cassava
2 cans coconut milk (14 oz each)
3 cans condensed milk (14 oz each)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups sweetened macapuno strings
margarine or butter, melted

For Topping

1/2 can condensed milk
1/2 can evaporated milk
2 egg yolks

In a deep bowl, combine grated cassava, macapuno strings, coconut milk and condensed milk. Using the melted butter or margarine, grease bottom and all sides of a 12×6x2 baking pan (I used a disposable aluminum pan).

Pour in mixture. Bake in a 375 F oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Meanwhile, prepare topping by mixing well egg yolks, condensed milk and evaporated milk. Pour over and spread across surface of cassava cake. Place back into oven and continue to bake until top sets and lightly browns.

Set pan on a rack until cassava cake cools. Slice into desired serving portions.

 

Recipes From The Oven in The CookMobile Archive:

Leche Flan

 

 

 

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies