Cassava Cake (Banh Khoai Mi)

Here is my mom's recipe for cassava cake. It is gooey, coconut-y and good. Cassava is also known as yucca.

Cassava Cake:

3   16-ounce bags of frozen, grated cassava. You could also buy fresh cassava and grate it yourself
3 eggs
1   12-ounce can evaporated milk (not condensed!!)
1   14-ounce can coconut milk (also advertised as coconut cream)
2 cups sugar (1 1/2 if you want it less sweet)
5 tablespoons cornstarch
3 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

Just mix everything together in a big bowl. Pour into a 13"x9" pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven uncovered for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The bake time depends on what pan you use. If the batter pours out very shallow, it may finish baking in one hour. The top should start caramelizing and may be burnt a little bit, that's okay.   Let it cool in the pan. Dig in and enjoy.

Variations: put strips of fresh coconut in the batter, pour caramel or dulce de leche on top.

Banana cranberry walnut bread

I love banana bread! Sorry I didn't take many pictures.

My version of banana bread: 

2 cups chopped walnuts (pecans are a good substitute)

2 cups dried sweetened cranberries

2 cups boiling water

4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tablespoons or 6 ounces), softened at room temperature

2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

5 very very ripe bananas

1/2 cups plain yogurt (or flavored if you feel like it, sour cream would be good too)

1/4 cup vegetable oil (corn, canola, peanut, or a blend)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Chop the walnuts into small pieces, about 1/4 inch pieces. Toast in a dry pan on medium heat. Stir every 30 seconds or so. It should take about 3-4 minutes to toast. Find the largest piece and eat it. Is it crunchy now? Ok the nuts are done then. Immediately pour them into another container. Don't leave them in the pan or else they will burn. If your nuts are slightly burnt, it's okay, you can probably still use it.

2. Boil some water. Put the dried cranberries into a small bowl. Pour the water over the cranberries and let them soak. The level of the water should be 1/2 inch above the cranberries.

3. Place a strainer on top of a small bowl. Pour the flour, baking soda, salt into the strainer. Tap the side of the strainer until all of the ingredients are sifted through.

4. Place the softened butter and the brown sugar in a large mixing bowl.  If the butter is not soft enough, microwave them for 10 seconds at a time till it's soft, then add to the bowl.  Use an electric beater to beat the sugar and butter together for about 5 minutes. The butter should be fluffy and the sugar, completely mixed throughout.

5. Preheat the oven to 325 somewhere around here. Place the peeled bananas in a medium bowl. Use some implement to mash the bananas. I have a potato masher. A fork would also be acceptable. Add the oil, yogurt, vanilla extract and mix well.  Add the eggs one at a time, mix well before adding the next egg.

6. Pour the banana mixture into the butter bowl. Electrically or manually mix. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time. Mix well before adding the next portion of flour. I poured in four additions. 

Before adding the dry ingredients

7. Stir up the water and cranberries in that forgotten bowl you have in the corner of the kitchen. Add the cranberries, walnuts, and cranberry water  to the batter and mix well.

8. Pour into a greased 13"x9" pan. You could also use two loaf pans, or two smaller baking dishes, or many dozens of muffins/cupcake tins. When I bake in my 13"x9", it takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to bake. Halfway through the baking, you can cover the bread with a piece of foil to prevent the top from browning too much.  It will be done when you can start smelling the banana bread and a metal knife/fork comes out clean when you stab the middle of the bread.

My try at macarons

So after making a double batch of creme brulee, I had many egg whites leftover. I tried my hand at making macarons. BTW I like to measure things in grams, I have scale and it makes it easier for me. Sorry, I don't have this in cup measurements.

Italian-style macarons:
400g almond meal
400g powdered sugar
400g sugar
100g water
300g egg whites, divided into two

Chocolate ganache: (half batch)
50 mL heavy cream
125g chocolate

1. In a blender or food processor, blend the powdered sugar and the almond meal together. Sift into a large mixing bowl with a strainer, and set aside.

2. In a small pot, heat the sugar and water until it reaches 245F.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, whip 150g of the egg whites until stiff peaks form. That's when, when you dip the whisk into the bowl and flip it upside down, the egg whites will form a tip and won't fall over.

4. Mix the egg whites on low while slowly pouring the sugar syrup. Then whip on high speed until the mixture is glossy and firm. You won't get stiff peaks anymore.

5. Stir the almond meal/powdered sugar with 150g of the egg whites. Fold in the egg white mixture until it is combined. Now stir until the batter falls in ribbons and the ribbons will disappear back into the batter in 10 seconds. If it takes longer than that, keep stirring. The longer you stir, the more runny it gets. So stop once you reach that 10 second mark.


6. Add food coloring if you want. I did! Pipe the batter onto making pans covered with parchment paper, silicone mats, or foil. Pipe them into 1" rounds. The batter should flatten out. Let them dry out in the air for at least 1 hour.

7. Bake at 320 degrees for 15 minutes. Here are how they turn out. Some of them domed up and was hollow inside. Some were nice. I think it was because I baked some on my bottom rack, and it got too hot. So make sure you place the oven racks in the very middle. Let them cool to room temperature.


8. To make some filling, you can try chocolate ganache. Put the heavy cream and chocolate (chips or chopped) in a bowl. Microwave until the heavy cream starts to bubble. I microwaved it for 30 seconds at a time. It will look like barf at first, but keep stirring until it's smooth and shiny. Leave out at room temperature. It will firm up later on.


Try to find two macarons of equal size and sandwich them together. I also tried making raspberry buttercream, but it did not taste good.

Lots of mishaps, maybe I'll try them again another day.

Easy Creme Brulee

I tried making creme brulee after getting a torch for my birthday from my sister Cindy. Fun with fire! So traditionally, the creme brulee is set in a hot water bath and baked in the oven. This one uses a steamer, which makes it slightly easier to make.

Easy Creme Brulee (makes 3 ramekins, I made a double batch)
4 egg yolks
200mL room temperature heavy cream
100mL room temperature milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. In a mixing bowl, stir your egg yolks and sugar together. Doesn't need to be a whisk. For this dessert, the least amount of air in the mix is desirable.

2. Add the cream, milk, and vanilla. Stir until mixed.

3. Set up the steamer. In the lowest level, pour enough water to make a 2 inch layer and heat on high to bring it to a boil. Use a ladle and strainer to pour the mixture into ramekins (which are oven safe, straight-edged bowls). Cover each ramekin with foil, so that the steam won't condense into the creme brulee.

4. Once the water reaches a boil, place the ramekins into the steamer. Cook for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat but allow the creme brulee to continue cooking. After another 15 minutes, remove the ramekins from the steamer and allow the creme brulee to cool.

Here they are, no bubbles or lumps!

5. You can let the creme brulee refrigerate until chilled or eat them now. Evenly spread one tablespoon of sugar one top of the creme brulee. Then torch it! The flame is very close to the sugar, about 1 inch away. The torch needs to be constantly moving around the ramekin. Brulee until you get a nice browned, crisp top.

Here the sugar is starting to melt and carmelize

Almost done...

Enjoy!