Bibingka or rice cake is another Filipino delicacy that I can gobble in a heartbeat.  It’s strange how I don’t really like rice much but when it’s turned as an ingredient for a cake I dig it like no other.  Any Filipino delicacy that involves rice flour or glutinous rice, I would devour in an instant.

Whenever we’re in the Philippines for a holiday, I would get my fill of bibingka, puto, biko, sapin-sapin – you get the picture – to the amusement of the blue-eyed husband.  Our conversation at the table would usually be like this:

Husband:  “What are you eating?”  Me:  “Bibingka.  It’s delicious, would you like some?”

Husband:  “What is it made from?”  Me:  Rice flour, coconut cream, sugar, etc”

Husband:  “What’s the other one on your plate?”  Me: ” Puto.  It’s one of my favorites, too.”

Husband:  “Why is it white? Let me guess, it’s from rice flour, too.”  Me:  *Just nods. Mouth too full to speak.

This is my first time to make bibingka ever and I’m surprised how it turned out well.  I browsed online for the basic ingredients and came up with my own recipe by adding or subtracting this and that.  Usually, people use coconut cream instead of coconut milk but I don’t like it when a bibingka is too moist, too creamy and very spongy.

If you have brown sugar at home, by all means use it instead of the white crystal that I try to avoid using in my baking.  Unfortunately, we ran out of it yesterday.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice flour, sifted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• a few  banana leaves

Instruction:

• Beat eggs and sugar together.
• Mix in milk, melted butter and coconut milk.  Mix well.
• Slowly add rice flour and baking powder, mixing well after each addition.
• Pour into a banana leaf – lined baking molds.
• Bake in a pre-heated 180°C oven until cake top turns brown.
• Let cool.  Peel out banana leaf before serving.

Recipe yields six medium size bibingkas.  Only five are in the picture because the baker ate one right after they came out of the oven.  As of this writing, only two are left standing. But not for long. 🙂

 xoxo