Joshua WalboltHoney comb cake is one of those cakes that have a texture that is something we yearn after. These cakes develop a delicious crust on the outside and the inside has a delicious chewy texture. That texture is produced through many different techniques and ingredients. Notice in this recipe you’ll notice that we don’t use any flours that develop gluten. So what do we use?
Tapioca Starch
You can read all you want about tapioca starch. You might be familiar with tapioca starch in tapioca pearls or in boba. It is chewy and a cool thing about it is if you want to use it as a slurry to thicken a sauce it will remain clear. But what is tapioca? It is extracted from cassava. Cassava is a fibrous root plant that is naturally gluten free. This may bring up another questions. If tapioca is from cassava, is cassava and tapioca starch the same thing? The short answer is no.
Tapioca starch vs Cassava starch
Okay so we know that they both come from the cassava plant, but what is the main differences? Tapioca starch is made up of the starchy parts of the cassava while cassava flour is made up of the entire plant. The main effect of this is going to be that tapioca starch has a stronger thickening power.
Ube
You may be familiar with this ingredient. the purple yam. Let’s not get it confused with taro. Ube is popular in desserts to bring that bright purple color. I’ve seen different forms in the market although fresh ube may be hard to find. Although there are many different colored potatoes on the market, that is not saying that these colorful potatoes will taste the same. Ube is naturally sweet and can be found in different forms if fresh is not an option. Look out in your local Asian markets for ube extract, ube condensed milk, or frozen grated ube.
Ube Honey Comb Cake
Equipment
- 1 Baking pan 9×9, Steel or pyrex works
Ingredients
- 30 grams Mochiko Rice Flour Mochiko brand
- 260 grams Tapioca Starch
- 15 grams Double Acting Baking Powder
- 265 grams White Sugar, granulated
- 13.5 fl.oz Coconut Milk 1 can. Chaokoh brand is my preferred brand.
- 1.5 tbsp Ube Extract McCormick brand
- 6 each Whole eggs, large at room temperature for 20 minutes
- 1 pinch salt, kosher NOT iodized
Instructions
- Pre-Heat oven to 350F. Add pan to oven while pre heating.
- Â Into a small pot add sugar, salt and coconut milk and melt together until homogenous. Do not boil or reduce.Â265 grams White Sugar, granulated, 13.5 fl.oz Coconut Milk, 1 pinch salt, kosher
- Chill the coconut and sugar mixture.Â
- Into a separate bowl add the rice flour, baking powder and tapioca starch. Set aside. In another bowl add the 6 eggs and break the yolks using a fork. Try not to create any air bubbles or mix it to much.Â30 grams Mochiko Rice Flour, 260 grams Tapioca Starch, 15 grams Double Acting Baking Powder, 6 each Whole eggs, large
- Add the chilled coconut syrup to the eggs and add the ube extract. Mix together again. The egg whites should still be visible as streaks throughout the batter.
- Â Add the dry ingredients and mix well. If it gets lumpy that is okay.Â
- Next run the batter mix through a sieve to remove excess clumps. Remove the hot pan from the oven and spray with some pam or oil spray.Â
- Add the batter and cook for 45 minutes until you can insert a cake texted and it comes out clean.
- Â Once this happens leave the cake in the oven and turn off the heat and allow it to start to cool down in the turned off oven with the door ajar. Let is rest for about 20-30 more minute in the pan before removing it from the pan onto a wire rack and allow to completely cool before cutting into it. Enjoy!