Traveling to Can Tho, experiencing with folk cakes, you should not miss the taste of honeycomb cake (Banh Bo: cow cake) that captivates many people when tasting. Although grilled honeycomb cake is not a delicious dish, it promises to bring a distinct western feeling.
By Thomas Vietnam at vemekong.com | All Best Foods & Restaurants in Can Tho
1. Better to Know as a Food Lover
Find them: Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho city.
Best time: Dusk-Dawn
Don’t miss: Honeycomb cake
Local’s pick: Trien Chieu honeycomb cake
Tourist’s pick: Ut Dut honeycomb cake restaurant, Cow cake restaurant…
Blog: https://vemekong.com/honeycomb-cake-can-tho-food/
Facts: Honeycomb cake is a type of cake originating from southern China and popular in Vietnam.
2. Better to Know Honeycomb cake
Honeycomb cake is a type of sponge cake made from: rice flour, water, sugar and yeast. The surface of the cake has a lot of small bubbles because there are many air holes in the cake. The type of honeycomb cake in China is called bai thang gāo (白糖糕) – literally “white sugar cake”, this honeycomb cake is a bit sour and omits the coconut ingredient – an indispensable ingredient in honeycomb cakes in Vietnam. Honeycomb cake is generally eaten as a dessert or eaten with spring rolls…
According to Paulus Huynh Tinh Cua’s dictionary of Dai Nam Quoc Yin, this cake is named “cow cake” because it is “like a cow’s udder”. However, someone explained that, during the fermentation of the dough with yeast, the dough will “crawl” onto the rim of the dough bowl.
3. Honeycomb cake in Can Tho
Some typical honeycomb cakes in Can Tho City:
Steamed honey cake
Steamed honeycomb cake is the most diverse type of honeycomb cake that people often see in the tray of pepper cakes, or street stalls. Steamed honeycomb cake is made from a mixture of liquid flour (rice flour, tapioca flour, rice wine), without coconut milk. The cake usually has a small round or triangular shape cut from a large loaf. When the cake is torn, the inside is interlaced with “fibers” that look like bamboo roots, so in addition to the name steamed honeycomb cake, it is also called bamboo-root cake. In addition to eating with pepper cake, steamed honeycomb cake is also highly appreciated, served with coconut milk sprinkled with sesame salt and peanuts on top.
Grilled honeycomb cake
Grilled honeycomb cake is not only diverse in the West but also in the North or Central region, this type of cake has a mixture of flour like steamed honeycomb cake, and with coconut milk or in some places can replace the milk. coconut milk. Instead of steaming, grilled honeycomb cakes are cooked by pan grilling, often with a yellow outer layer thanks to baking, and the inside is also interlaced with “bamboo roots”.
Soft honeycomb cake and flaking honeycomb cake
Soft honeycomb cake and flaking honeycomb cake are two different types of honeycomb cake, but in terms of ingredients, both types of honeycomb cake are impressed by the milky white color and fragrant thanks to the coconut milk ingredient. The surface of the cake often has many small bubbles due to the fermentation process and the release of air when steaming in the pot. When eating, the cake has a sour, sweet and sour taste (depending on the type). The feeling of eating for the first time is like enjoying the crust of a dumpling.
4. How to Make Honeycomb cake
Ingredients for making sponge cake with coconut milk
Warm water: 210ml
White granulated sugar: 150g
Yeast: 5g
Vanilla powder: 1 pack
Coconut milk: 200ml
Salt
Rice flour: 200g
Tapioca flour: 50g
Roasted sesame
How to make delicious and greasy coconut milk sponge cake
Step 1:
Put yeast, 2 tablespoons of warm water, 1 tablespoon of sugar in a large bowl, stir until dissolved and leave for 10 minutes.
Put the vanilla powder, the remaining sugar, a little salt and coconut milk in a pot, put the pot on the stove. Heat the mixture on the stove over low heat, stirring constantly. Wait until the sugar dissolves into water, then turn off the stove.
Step 2: Knead the dough
Put the rice flour and tapioca flour in a bowl and add some cold water. Knead well until the dough is combined and smooth.
Step 3:
Pour the brewed yeast mixture in step 1 into the bowl of dough kneaded in step 2. Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it sit for about 7-10 hours.
Note: If you want the finished cake to have a beautiful green color, you can use pandan leaf juice mixed into the dough before brewing to create color.
Step 4: Steam the cake
Put water in a steamer, bring to a boil. Put the bowl or cake mold into the pot (You can add a little cooking oil to the cup or mold to prevent sticking). Then put the dough in each bowl and steam.
Cooking time depends on how big or small the cake is. Usually about 20 minutes after the cake is cooked, if the cake is too big, it can take about 40 minutes.
Step 5: Enjoy the results
After the cake is cooked, remove the cake from the steamer and let it cool. Then, pull out the cake with a bamboo stick or toothpick and place it on a plate. Eaten with coconut milk and toasted sesame has the spongy taste of cake, the aroma of sesame and pandan leaves, and the greasy taste of coconut water.
5. Pro tips:
Here are our tips for easing your mind (and stomach) around food-handling environments that you may not be used to.
Make sure the food is freshly cooked. If you’re eating hot street food, it’s always safest (not to mention more delicious) to eat food you can see being cooked to order.
Look for lines and busy stalls. Busy street food stalls are an indicator of popularity, and their high turnover rate means the food is never sitting out for hours and developing dreaded bacteria. Yes, long lines can be discouraging when you’re hungry after a full day of exploring, but it’s not worth the risk of grabbing precooked food from the empty spot next door.
Eat when the locals are eating. The last and most important element here is when to eat. You’re likely already on a weird eating schedule while you’re traveling, but it’s important to try and adjust to the eating times of where you are. A bowl of pho might be lunch for Americans, but it’s breakfast for the Vietnamese. This ensures that you’re eating freshly cooked food and that you can find the best and most popular places to eat.
If you can’t drink the water, then you can’t eat the salad. Most people get so hung up on not drinking the water or skipping ice in drinks that they don’t think about all of the other ways in which water is used in food service. Fruits and vegetables tend to be washed with tap water in most places, rather than the filtered water that locals drink—or sometimes it’s not washed at all. If you’re really craving some produce, try fruits you can peel or cooked veggies.
Trust your gut. If you’re unsure about the food or the way that it’s being prepared, then keep moving. Eating street food all over the world doesn’t make you an expert. Every stall and every country are different, and sometimes the rules can be harder to follow. When something doesn’t look, smell, or feel right, don’t eat it! Trust your judgment. Chances are that there’s another spot close by that’s making something more delicious.
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Can Tho: Co Ut’s Cong cake, Ut Dzach Fine Rice Vermicelli, Thanh Van Grilled Pork Sausage, Crab Noodle Soup At Floating Market, Scorched Rice with Caramelized Fish Sauce, 7-Toi’s Duck Meat Pancake, Banh Mi Thuy, Banana Blossom Salad, Fried Spring Rolls, Fresh Spring Rolls, Fetal duck egg (balut), Honeycomb Cake, Mini Sticky Rice Cake, Cassava Silkworm Cake, Grilled Banana Wrapped in Sticky Rice, Khmer-style Bun Goi Da Soup, Egg Coffee, Con Son Grilled Snakehead Fish, Bun Mam – Fermented Fish Noodle Soup, Lau Mam – Fermented Fish Hotpot, Grilled Snails with Pepper, Magenta Sticky Rice Cake, Duck cooked with Fermented Tofu, Rice Noodle Pizza, Vegetarian Noodle Soup, Snails Stuffed With Pork…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Chau Doc: Chau Doc Fish Noodle Soup, Sugar Palm Fruit, Basa Fish Hot Pot, Mam (Fermented fish), Phu Huong Beef Noodle Soup, Broken Rice with Pork Chop, Long Xuyen Broken Rice, Nui Cam Pancake, O Thum’s Chicken Grilled with Lime Leaves, Stir-fried Shrimp with Sesbania Flower, Sweet & Sour Soup with Siamese Mud Carp Soup & Sesbania Flower, Caramelized & Braised Catfish, Grilled Rice-field Rat with Salt and Chili…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Soc Trang: Pia Cake, Cong Cake (Banh Cong), Bun Nuoc Leo Soc Trang’s Noodle Soup, Soc Trang’s Bun Goi Da Soup, Duck Noodle Soup with black Pepper, Curry Noodle Soup, Grilled Beef on Tile, Khmer-style Tube Cake, Khmer-style Mung Bean Cake (Banh In), Dried Radish (Xa Bau), Stir-Fried Noodles with Seafood (Mi Sua), Soc Trang’s Green Rice Flakes…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ben Tre: Phu Le Rice Wine, Ben Tre’s Coconut Candy, Flat Banana, Coconut Rice, Snail Pancake, Sea Snail with Coconut Milk, Coconut Worm, Young Coconut Salad with Shrimp & Pork, Son Doc Puff Rice Paper…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Cai Be: Puffed Rice Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Vinh Long: Elephant Ear Fish (fried giant gourami)…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in My Tho: Fried Sticky Rice, Snakehead Fish Rice Porridge, Hu Tieu My Tho (Noodle Soup), Coconut Banana Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Tra Vinh: Macapuno Coconut, Bun Nuoc Leo Tra Vinh’s Noodle Soup, Tra Cuon’s Sticky Rice Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Sadec: Sa Dec Noodle Soup, Sadec Crab Hotpot, Lai Vung Spring Rolls, Sa Giang Shrimp Puff Pastry, Lai Vung Tangerine…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Bac Lieu: Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, Bac Lieu’s Three-striped Crab, White Radish Pies, Bac Lieu Thick Noodles & Creamy Coconut Milk, Bon Bon Pickles…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ca Mau: Banh tam ga cay (Silkworm rice cake with curried chicken), Grilled Vop clams with salt and pepper, Grilled Mudskipper Fish, Stone Crab Roast With Salt, Young Bee Salad, Nam Can’s Crab, U Minh Forest’s Honey, U Minh’s Fermented Fish Hotpot…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Hau Giang: Cau Duc Pineapple, Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge, Hau Giang’s Bronze Featherback Fish Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ha Tien: Herring Fish Salad, Spider crab cake soup, Ken Noodle soup, Xoi Xiem (Siamese sticky rice), Steamed Noodle soup, Ha Tien Oyster porridge…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Rach Gia: Stir Noodle Soup, Kien Giang Fish Noodle Soup…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Con Dao: Bang nut jam, Vu Nang Snail, Roasted Pork Bread (Banh Mi), Coconut Ice Cream…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Phu Quoc: Phu Quoc Sim Wine, Phu Quoc Pepper, Phu Quoc fish sauce…
Hopefully, the above tips will help you to come up with a great plan for your adventure in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Have a safe trip!
“Sleep less, travel more, respect more” – Thomas Vietnam – Local travel expert.
Thank you
