Baked Coconut Sticky Rice Cake Recipes

STICKY RICE CAKE WITH COCONUT AND PANDAN

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• First, make the sticky rice according to these directions .
• While rice is cooking, prepare the cake pan (standard 8 x 8 size). Generously grease the pan (including the sides) with a little oil. Set aside.
• After rice is done cooking (or "steaming"), remove the lid from the rice pot. Add 1/2 cup sugar plus 3/4 cup coconut milk, stirring both well into the hot rice. Quickly taste-test rice for sweetness, adding up to 1/4 cup more sugar if not sweet enough for your taste. Note: Palm or brown sugar may be used, but this will turn the rice slightly brownish in color.
• Now scoop 1/3 to 1/2 of the rice into your square cake pan. Be sure to replace the lid on the rice pot immediately, as the rice needs to stay hot for these steps.
• Grease the underside of a spoon and use it to smooth out the rice, pressing it into the bottom of the cake pan. This is the first layer of the rice cake. Try to make the rice as flat and even on top as possible.
• Of the remaining rice in the pot, scoop out half into a mixing bowl, once again replacing the lid on the rice pot. Add 2 drops of the pandan essence, and quickly stir to blend it into the rice. This should turn the rice a light green color.
• Using the same technique as before, gently press and smooth this light green rice over the white rice in the cake pan to make the second layer. Try not to press too hard as you distribute the green rice, or you will disturb the first layer.
• To the rice remaining in the pot, add 5 or more drops of the pandan essence, or until the rice turns a noticeably darker shade of green (than the previous layer). Tip: Darker will give you better contrast and be more striking when it's done.
• Now add this rice as the final layer. You need to add this layer gently and carefully, or it will blend with the previous layer. Smooth out the top and then cover your cake pan with tin foil and refrigerate several hours, or overnight (the cold will firm up the dessert).
• To make the coconut sauce, place the remaining 1 cup coconut milk in a medium saucepan and warm up (but don't boil). Add sugar to taste, stirring to dissolve.
• Add the cornstarch dissolved in water. Stir over medium heat until sauce thickens, then remove from heat.
• To serve the dessert, grease a serrated knife or run it under some boiling water (to keep knife from sticking). Cut squares of the rice cake and carefully lift out of the pan, placing them on serving plates. Microwave the cakes briefly, as this dessert- like many Asian desserts-is best served warm. Then pour coconut sauce over. Garnish with fresh raspberries, if using. Tip: This dessert is a superb one to make for a dinner party or any social gathering, since you can make it the day before. Just be sure to eat it up within a couple of days, as sticky rice tends to dry out quickly and harden.

BIBINGKA (FILIPINO COCONUT-RICE CAKE)

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together rice flours, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in melted butter, coconut milk and eggs. Whisk mixture until smooth.
• Wash and dry banana leaf, if using, and line a 9-inch cast-iron skillet with it. (One leaf should be enough, but if more are needed, make sure to overlap leaves so there are no gaps.) Butter the leaf, and trim edges leaving a 1- to 2-inch overhang. Alternatively, generously grease skillet with butter.
• Pour mixture into skillet and bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and top with salted egg and cheese. Return skillet to oven until bibingka is golden and browned, and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes more. Brush with more melted butter and sprinkle with coconut, if desired.

CHINESE STICKY RICE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
• Mix rice flour, canola oil, milk, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir in the beaten eggs. Pour the mixture into the baking pan. Drop small spoonfuls of the red bean paste into the flour mixture about 1 to 2 inches apart, making sure that the red bean paste is covered by the flour mixture. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

SWEET RICE-FLOUR AND COCONUT CAKE

Steps:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Whisk together mochiko, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together coconut milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla in another bowl. Add coconut mixture to flour mixture, whisking until batter is combined.
• Pour batter into an ungreased 13- by 9-inch baking pan, smoothing top, and bake until top is golden and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 1 1/2 hours. Cool cake completely in pan on a rack, about 2 hours. Cut mochi into 24 squares before serving.

NIAN GAO (BAKED SWEET POTATO STICKY RICE CAKES)

Steps:

• Combine the glutinous rice flour and ¾ cup/180 grams water in a bowl to form a dough. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 24 hours.
• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and scrub the sweet potatoes and pat them dry thoroughly with a clean kitchen towel. With a fork, poke holes all over the sweet potatoes. Bake on a foil-lined pan until a fork can pierce it with no resistance, 40 to 50 minutes.
• When cool enough to handle, peel off the skin. Pass the sweet potato through a ricer or mash with a fork. Measure out 1¼ cups/320 grams of the mashed sweet potato. (Reserve any remaining for another use.)
• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine coconut milk, sugar and salt in a large saucepan. Set the saucepan over medium-low heat, and whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is hot but not boiling, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the butter, stirring until it melts. Mix in the sweet potato mash, followed by the tapioca starch, then add the refrigerated wet glutinous rice flour gradually in chunks, whisking as you go. Add the egg and whisk until smooth.
• Heat 1 or more kuih bahulu pans in the oven until very hot, 7 to 8 minutes. If you don't have a kuih bahulu pan, a decorative cakelet pan or mini muffin tin made out of cast iron or aluminum works (see Tip). The batter yields 24 to 42 nian gao, depending on the size of the hollows; work in batches if needed (see Tip). Remove the pan from the oven and, using a silicone or pastry brush, lightly and quickly brush its hollows with oil. Stir batter, then quickly pour it into the hollows, filling them 80 to 90 percent full.
• Bake on the center rack until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of one emerges moist and sticky, but with no pasty raw batter on it, 20 to 40 minutes. The exact baking time will vary depending on the size and heft of your pan.
• Use a wooden skewer or butter knife to pry out and remove the nian gao from the pan. If the pan was properly heated and oiled, the nian gao will not stick. If needed, repeat with the remaining batter. If the pan cools off too much while you are removing a batch of nian gao, heat it for a couple of minutes in the oven before baking the next batch.
• These nian gao are best served slightly warm while the edges are still crisp and the centres are soft and chewy. They are best the same day they are made. You can keep leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator and steam, pan-fry or microwave them to reheat the next day, but they will not completely recover their freshly cooked texture.