Steamed Banana Cake Recipe (Bánh Chuối Hấp)
For our fist recipe, we’re making one of the most incredible desserts in Vietnamese, Steamed Banana Cake (Bánh Chuối Hấp). The cake is not overly sweet and topped with creamy coconut sauce. It’s tasty and delicious. This is one way of using up all of our ripe/black banana. Other main ingredients include rice flour (or tapioca starch) and coconut milk. You will need a steamer for this recipe.
Check out our youtube channel for more short cooking videos, https://www.youtube.com/NPFamilyRecipes.
Steamed Banana Cake Recipe (Bánh Chuối Hấp)
Steamed banana cake is one of the most incredible desserts in Vietnam. The cake is not overly sweet and topped with creamy coconut sauce. It’s tasty and delicious.
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 5 banana ripe
- 1 1/2 cups tapioca starch (or rice flour)
- 6 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 drops vanilla extract
- 2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
For the Sauce
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp tapioca starch
- peanut (crushed or sesame seeds)
Instructions
- Peel the bananas. Take 2 of 5 bananas and slice thinly. Smash the remaining by using a knife.
- Transfer the bananas into a big bowl. Add 1/4 tsp salt and 6 tsp sugar. Mix well and let it stand for 5 minutes.
- Add flour, water, vanilla extract, food yellow coloring. Mix well until combined.
- Brush oil over cake pan bottom and sides. Pour batter into the pan and place into the steamer and steam for 20 minutes on medium-high heat.
- Meanwhile, for the sauce, in a small bowl, add flour and water. Stir until it’s smooth.
- In a sauce pan, add coconut milk, sugar, water, and salt. Stir well until dissolved.
- Cook on medium heat until simmer and stir often. Add rice flour mixture and continue to cook and stir for 1 minute or until thicken. Turn off heat and set aside.
- Check the steamer and remove the cake and let it cool down for 45 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the pan and cut into diamond shapes.
- To serve: Place the cake on a dessert dish. Top with coconut sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds or crushed peanuts.
Video
Notes
Cooking tips: When buying bananas for the cake, be sure to choose as ripe as possible. It’s good to have bananas with a few black spots on the skin. Making this cake is also a good way to use up all ripe bananas in your house.
The amount of water for the cake is not listed among the ingredients.
Hi Len,
We used 1/2 cup of water for this recipe.
Thank you for visiting our site.
Is it tsp sugar or tbsp? In your ingredients list, it said tsp but in the instructions it says tbsp?
Hi Cara,
Good catch. It should be tsp, teaspoon. We’ve updated the instructions.
Thank you for stopping by.
I want to try… Please add info about how to make the peanut crushed and sesame seeds. Btw, how much is the one can of coconut milk? And how much is the one cup size of flour? Thank you…
Hi Dea,
– A can of coconut milk is 13.5 oz (400ml).
– For the peanut, you can roast them until golden brown on medium/low heat. Just remember to stir them frequently. Then wait for them to cool down. Remove the skin and crush them.
– For sesame seeds, just roast them in a pan on low heat until golden brown. Be careful that sesame seeds are easy to get burnt.
– A cup of flour is about 5 oz.
Thank you for stopping by!
Looks yummy… How many portion can be provided by this recipe, thanks
Hi Dea,
This recipe can serve up to 4 persons. Thanks.