Chewy Mini Bika Ambon Pandan
This post may contain affiliate links.Learn how to make this chewy soft Mini Bika Ambon Pandan with this easy, super quick recipe that gives you a beautiful honeycomb texture!
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Bika Ambon
Bika ambon is Indonesian favorite traditional cake made with coconut milk, eggs, and tapioca flour. It is a fermented cake that creates soft honeycomb texture. Asian people also call this cake bingka ambon or kueh bingka, while in Malaysia it is more famous as honeycomb cake.
Bika means cake, while Ambon is a small city in Indonesia. The cake doesn’t originally come from Ambon. It was first produced and sold in Jalan Ambon, a street name in Medan, North Sumatera. So it is called Bika Ambon until now.
Recipe Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Coconut Milk – You can use fresh coconut milk or canned coconut milk. They both will give the same flavor.
Pandan Extract – Use fresh pandan extract or store-bought pandan essence.
Tapioca Flour – Tapioca flour is the main ingredient to make the cake bouncy.
Instant Yeast – Make sure you have new instant yeast so the fermentation can go well.
How to Make
- Mix instant yeast, sugar, and water in a bowl. Stir well and leave it for 15 minutes until you can see some bubbles coming out. (image 1)
- In another bowl, pour coconut milk, water, and pandan extract. Mix well and set aside. (image 2)
- Put the eggs, sugar, and condensed milk into a bigger mixing bowl. Whisk well. (image 3, 4)
- Sieve cake flour, tapioca flour into the egg mixture (image 5). Whisk well until smooth.
- Pour the pandan mixture into the egg mixture. Mix well. (image 6, 7 )
- By this time, the yeast mixture should be bubbly already. (image 8) Pour the yeast into the pandan mixture. Stir well. (image 9)
- Pour the batter into the egg mixture. Stir well until incorporated. Cover with cling wrap and leave it for one hour.
- After one hour, the batter should be bubbly (image 10). Whisk until the bubble subsides. Pour in the melted butter. Stir well.
- Preheat the pancake pan. Brush some butter in each hole. Pour the batter into each hole (image 11, 12, 13). Cover with the lid and let the holes form.
- You can flip it (image 14) if you want both sides to be a bit brownish.
- They are ready to serve if the surface is no longer wet. Slice the cake to see the honeycomb texture. (image 15, 16)Enjoy!
Pro Tips
- Preheat the pancake pan. Grease with butter. The pan has to be hot enough so the batter sizzles when you pour it into the holes.
- Let the yeast mixture ferment for 15 minutes. If the yeast is good, it should be bubbly. If it is not, you must repeat with good yeast.
- After fermentation, stir until the bubble subsides and pour into the pan. Every time you want to pour the batter into the pan, you have to stir to let the bubble subsides.
FAQs
Storage
This cake contains coconut milk so it can’t last long. I highly recommend you finish it on the day you bake it. Or if you really have to keep the leftover, keep it in a closed container in the fridge. You can reheat it on a pan the next day.
Our Favorite
Indonesian Snack Recipes
Mini Bika Ambon Pandan
Equipment
- 1 omelette maker
Ingredients
- 65 gr coconut milk
- 235 gr water
- 50 gr pandan extract
- 70 gr cake flour
- 150 gr tapioca flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 50 gr water
- 3 eggs
- 130 gr sugar
- 40 gr condensed milk
- 60 gr melted butter
Instructions
- Mix instant yeast, sugar, and water into a bowl. Stir well and leave it for 15 minutes until you can see some bubbles coming out.
- In another bowl, pour coconut milk, water, and pandan extract. Mix well and set aside.
- Put the eggs, sugar, and condensed milk in a bigger mixing bowl. Whisk well.
- Sieve cake flour, tapioca flour into the egg mixture. Whisk well until smooth.
- Pour the pandan mixture into the egg mixture. Mix well.
- By this time, the yeast mixture should be bubbly already. Pour the yeast into the pandan mixture. Stir well.
- Pour the yeast into the egg mixture. Stir well until incorporated. Cover with cling wrap and leave it for one hour.
- After one hour, the batter should be bubbly. Whisk until the bubble subsides. Pour in the melted butter. Stir well.
- Preheat the pancake pan. Brush some butter in each hole.
- Pour the batter into each hole. Cover with the lid and let the holes form.
- You can flip it if you want both sides to be a bit brownish.
- They are ready to serve if the surface is no longer wet. Slice the cake to see the honeycomb texture. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Preheat the pancake pan. Grease with butter. The pan has to be hot enough so the batter sizzles when you pour it into the holes.
- Let the yeast mixture ferment for 15 minutes. If the yeast is good, it should be bubbly. If it is not, you must repeat with good yeast.
- After fermentation, stir until the bubble subsides and pour into the pan. Every time you want to pour the batter into the pan, you have to stir to let the bubble subsides.
I usually don’t want to make honeycomb cake because I was afraid I could not get the honeycomb texture successfully. But this recipe is so easy and with just an omelette pan, I can create the texture out!