This coconut rice cake is so tender, moist, delicious and with the perfect crumbs, you won’t believe you’re eating a cake that’s actually completely gluten-free! This Bibingka is so insanely good it can rival any regular wheat cake in taste and texture. Bibingka is often served warmed up with some butter on top and enjoyed with coffee either in the morning or mid-afternoon. It’s delicious as a plain cake for everyday consumption, but for special occasions, it’s topped with extra cheese and some salted duck eggs, too.
Our cookbook – RICE. NOODLES. YUM. (Everyone’s Favorite Southeast Asian Dishes) is officially one month old today! It was published exactly 30 days ago, on June 11, 2019. To celebrate, I thought we’d share a free recipe from our cookbook. We consulted our friends on Facebook and asked them which recipe they wanted to see for this blog post.
This is what they chose – Bibingka (Coconut Rice Cake) and what a good choice this is indeed! This coconut rice cake is so tender, moist, delicious and with the perfect crumbs, you won’t believe you’re eating a cake that’s actually completely gluten-free! This Bibingka is so insanely good it can rival any regular wheat cake in taste and texture. It’s that good!
Before we proceed though, let me just tell you that you can order our cookbook on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, IndieBound and anywhere books are sold.
You can certainly order it from anywhere, pretty much, as it is both in kindle (e-book) format and on paperback. It’s available for online ordering so purchasing a copy is as easy as a touch of a button. You can simply click the photo and order via Amazon, too.
Anyway, I just wanted to show you the kind of recipes you can find in the book. The photo below is what I used when I asked our friends from FB what they wanted to see on the blog. They are all delicious!!!
Are you excited yet? Make sure to pin the recipe to save it!
Bibingka (Coconut Rice Cake)
This coconut rice cake is so tender, moist, delicious and with the perfect crumbs, you won’t believe you’re eating a cake that’s actually completely gluten-free! This Bibingka is so insanely good it can rival any regular wheat cake in taste and texture.
Ingredients
- 8 (7-inch [17.5-cm]) banana leaves (optional, see Note), softened
- 2 cups (230 g) cups (230 g) rice flour, firmly packed
-
2
tbsp (28 g)
baking powder
-
1⁄2
tsp
salt
- 4 eggs, room temperature
-
1 1⁄4
cups (250 g)
sugar
- 1 (13.5-oz [400-ml]) can coconut milk
- 2 tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
-
Prepare eight mini pie or tart pans by lining each with softened banana leaves that hang over the edge of the pans. The banana leaves are optional but the cake is traditionally baked in them as they add aroma and a subtle sweetness to the cake. If you cannot find banana leaves, line the pans with parchment paper instead. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190oC).
-
Sift together the rice flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add the sugar, coconut milk, melted butter and vanilla extract. Mix well.
-
Slowly add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, mixing the batter continuously as you do so. Whisk until the batter is completely smooth and has achieved a pourable consistency.
-
Divide the batter evenly between the eight prepared pans. Bake for 18 to 23 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle of each cake comes out clean. Leave in the pans for 10 minutes then remove from the pans and transfer to a rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature, with coffee.
Recipe Notes
The Bibingka may also be baked in two pie pans or in muffin tins lined with banana leaves or parchment paper. If baking this muffin-style or cupcake style, do not overfill your muffin pans because these cakes expand a lot so do not go over 2/3s full. If using shallow muffin tins, better to divide the batter between 16-18 muffins than 12 because the batter may overflow.
Banana leaves can be purchased frozen from Asian stores. Defrost first then clean the banana leaves by wiping them with moistened paper towels. To soften the banana leaves, simply run each leaf over a flame or over an electric stovetop. Heat until the leaves are deep green all over.
I made your recipe for a gathering the other day and everyone kept asking for the recipe. It was totally a hit!
Author
So glad you enjoyed it! This is delicious indeed!
Everyone has to try this, it’s divine!
Author
That is so true! Thanks!
Yum! I loved this cake, so nice to change it up with coconut milk, absolutely delicious!
Congrats on your book! So excited to try this and many other recipes 🙂
These look so yummy and fluffy! I cannot wait to try this delicious treat! I’ve never had bibingka but you had me at coconut! Thanks for this recipe!
Happy 1 month to the cookbook! Amazing – just like this recipe. It was a huge hit with my family!
I love anything with coconut and these look delicious.
It’s says you can use 2 pie plates or muffin tins, what temperature & how long to cook if using these methods?
Author
I would check at 30-35 minutes for the 2 pie plates and maybe check at 18 minutes for the muffins. Make sure the tester comes out clean and it springs back (just like a baked cake) when you lightly press it to ensure they’re cooked properly.
Hi
Could I substitute the sugar with honey? Or even omit the sugar completely ?
Author
I have never made this with honey and I don’t think anyone in the Philippines would have because it won’t be bibingka anymore and this is meant to be sweet as it’s a rice cake so if you remove sugar, sorry, it won’t be nice. But you can certainly try either lessening the sugar or sub honey, may be worth it and if your successful do let us know. Thank you!
Oh, I love these baked cuties! I just need to purchase banana leaves, and I will bake using my favorite muffin pan. The recipe is interesting for sure 🙂
Looks like a book I’d like to check out. I love rice – but haven’t explored much with rice noodles or baking with rice flour.
I tried this recipe and it was so good. I love all things coconut. Highly recommend this recipe and will be making it again.
What a flavorful gluten free cake this is. Coconut lover and can’t wait to try this out!
What a delicious treat! Can’t wait to make this!
Love the simplicity of this cake! Will definitely be making soon. Bonus it’s gluten-free too!
I love this recipe! Absolutely delicious! I added sliced salted egg just before it firmed up, plus sugar and cheese as topping at the end. Thank you for this recipe!
Author
Oh so glad you enjoyed it! What a yummy idea and I should do that soon, too! Thank you so much Maricar for letting us know.
Thank you for sharing this receipe. This bibingka recipe is so delicious and my fren order this to me. They absolutely loves the bibingka, i been making this to make extra income specifically im only work as a partime mom. Thank you
I will definitely try this recipe. Thank you.
Joy
Author
Hope you enjoy it. Do let us know. Thanks!
Can Rice Flour be substituted with coconut flour?
Author
I haven’t tried it because it’s traditionally done with only rice flour and coconut flour is totally different and may not require the exact same amount. But if you do, let us know how it works. Thanks.
If I were to bake this in cake pans what sizes would you recommend? 🙂
Author
You can use 2 pie pans – they’re not meant to be thick or tall like regular cakes so pie pans are excellent to use – 9-inch should be fine.
I made the mistake of using glutinous rice the first time. Of course, it did not turn out fluffy but sticky, like kutsinta. But it was quite delicious (especially after I got over the fact that I was aiming for bibingka to begin with).
Can these be frozen?
Author
Yes, make sure it’s completely cooled down first then wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in freezer-friendly airtight container. Simply thaw and heat to defrost.
I was wondering. Does it need that much baking powder? Looks delicious and I want to make it Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Author
Yes.
Curiosity got to me so I made these, they are delicious. I put lemon curd on top when they were done. Thank you. Amazing!!!
Author
So glad you enjoyed the rice cakes! Yay! Love the idea of the lemon curd!!!