About the Recipe
When I visited the Philippines, they had these stalls that sold bibinkga on the street and they were being cooked in terracotta pots over charcoal, giving a smoky flavour to the cake, yielding a sort of sweet and savoury flavour. Sadly I don’t have a terracotta pot or charcoal to replicate that so I am just using my oven for this but it really is best made traditionally.
Now if banana leaf was mandatory for any dessert, it is definitely mandatory for this one because the bibinkga really absorbs all the earthy, grassy flavours from the leaf and without it, it just becomes lack luster. It really complements the sweet coconut milk, butter and eggy flavour coming from this cake.
Top off your bibinkga with salted egg, cheese and coconut and there you have the perfect afternoon snack or breakfast to enjoy.
Ingredients
160 g rice flour
40 g all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
150 g white sugar
80 g unsalted butter, soft
400 ml coconut milk
60 ml whole milk
3 eggs
Banana leaves for wrapping
Optional Toppings:
White Cheese
Salted egg
Preparation
Whip butter and sugar together until lighter in colour, takes about 5 minutes.
Whip each egg one at a time into the butter and sugar mixture until well combined.
Gradually add the coconut milk and whole milk into the egg mixture while whisking.
Sift in the rice flour, all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder and fold together until just combined.
Line cake pan with banana leaves that have been cleaned and softened over low heat. Pour batter into the pan and bake for 375 F for 15 minutes.
Add sliced salted egg onto the batter, and put back in the oven for 375F for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted.
Immediately grate cheese on top once out of the oven.
Serve warm!