Hello Foodie!
Welcome back to an updated Pandan Honeycomb Cake recipe! This honeycomb cake also known in Vietnamese as Bánh Bò Nướng and in Indonesia as Bika Ambon. Pandan honeycomb cake is a very popular Vietnamese dessert, while in Indonesia it’s known as Bika Ambon, though it’s made slightly different from the Vietnamese version. After baking, the cake has a beautiful honeycomb like crumb. The texture is spongy yet soft on the inside, with a chewy and slightly crispy exterior. It’s sweet, coconutty, and has a subtle hint of pandan flavor, making it a truly unique but pleasant dessert.
In Indonesia, instead of the signature green pandan color, the cake is made with turmeric, giving it a beautiful golden-yellow hue. The honeycomb structure comes from yeast instead of baking powder. It’s also flavored with kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and other spices. While quite different from the pandan version, it still retains the distinctive honeycomb pattern in the center.
I’ll be showing you how to make the Vietnamese version, pandan honeycomb cake. I wanted to update you all on how to make this cake with success. It’s pretty much the same recipe as my previous one but with a slight adjustment to the directions and baking. Many of you have sent me a lot of messages about why your cake didn’t turn out so I hope these instructions will help you out. This cake is simple in ingredients but it can be quite technical. If the eggs are over whipped, the cake will fall after baking. If the baking powder is not active, you will not have the honeycomb structure. If you use too much flour, the cake will be dry. If you bake it too long, the cake will be dry. There are lots of ways this cake can go wrong. I have worked on this recipe numerous times and finally found the right portions to make it to the way I like it. A lot of recipes I found were too dry. My recipe is just the right tenderness and it has not failed me yet. Hopefully you can try out this recipe and get the results you want. Happy baking! 
TIPS for a successful cake:
- Make sure the double acting baking powder is active/working
- Do not over whip the eggs. And make sure the eggs are at room temp.
- Preheat the oven with the pan in
- USE A GOOD aluminum cake pan for the best honeycomb crumb.
- Allow the batter to sit for 10 minutes before baking! This ensures the starches are fully hydrated and the baking powder is getting distributed into the batter.
Main Ingredients
Tapioca flour: Gives the cake the chew
Rice flour: Gives structure so the cake doesn’t collapse
Eggs: I use medium size eggs! This recipe uses 6 medium size eggs which weighed out to be 260 grams in total. So use a kitchen scale for the most accurate measurement. DO NOT OVERMIX the eggs. Just lightly poke it with a fork to loosen the yolks.
Pandan flavoring/extract: This is what gives it the color and flavor
Double acting baking powder: Now lets talk about baking powder. Most recipes calls for the Alsa brand SINGLE acting baking powder. But in my recipe, I’ll be using DOUBLE acting baking powder. What’s the difference? Single acting baking powder reacts immediately when it is mixed in with liquid. Double acting will react twice; in liquid and in heat. The reason why we’re using double acting baking powder is to create a better honeycomb crumb. Once you put the cake into the oven, the cake will rise even more with the double acting baking powder.
Sugar, Coconut milk, and oil: Add sugar for sweetness, coconut milk for taste and moisture, and oil for added moisture.
BEFORE MAKING THE BATTER, PLACE THE BAKING PAN INTO THE OVEN AND PREHEAT IT TO 325’F! Heating the pan in the oven will help start up the honeycomb structure once the baking powder in the batter touches the base of the hot baking pan.
Slightly warm up the coconut milk, sugar, pandan extract and salt: This helps with melting the salt and sugar crystals; giving the cake a shinier exterior.
Mix in everything gently. There will be lumps, and thats okay. It will be put through a sieve. 
Letting it go through a sieve will help break apart the egg whites without having to to give it air bubbles. It’ll also ensure a smoother batter.
Allow the batter to sit for 10 minutes before baking! This ensures the starches are fully hydrated and the baking powder is getting distributed into the batter. 
Pour the batter into the UN-GREASED PAN! YES! YOU DO NOT NEED TO GREASE THE PAN WITH OIL/SPRAY!!! Just pour the batter, close the oven and let it cook. You want the cake to stick onto the pan so it can keep it’s structure. Cook the cake for 1 hr in a 325’F oven.
COOL THE CAKE UPSIDE DOWN so it can keep it’s shape. Let it cool for at least 1 hr before taking out the cake and cutting it into slices.
THIS CAKE IS BEST EATEN AT ROOM TEMP!!! I find this cake quite EGGY if you eat it HOT/WARM. Some recipes will add vanilla extract to help reduce the eggy flavor. I usually don’t add vanilla extract since I want the pandan to shine. So eating the cake at room temperature is ideal since you can taste a less eggy flavor and the pandan a lot more.
EXPERIMENT: Here are the results using the 3 different pans at different oven temps and cooking times!
What kind of pans is best??
I wanted to try different baking pans to see how the cake turned out. I used Wilton red heart cake pan (9-Inch), Wilton fluted tube pan 3″ W X 9″ L, and an 9x3inch OR 8x3inch aluminum bakeware round cake pan.
Wilton red heart cake pan (9-Inch): This pan is nonstick and coated. It will work, but I found that the honeycomb structure deflates a bit (especially at the top of the cake) because it can’t be flipped upside down to rest since the cake will slip out. My suggestion for any coated or nonstick cake pan is to leave the cake in the oven once it’s done baking, with the oven off and the door closed for at least 20 minutes before removing it to cool completely.
Wilton fluted tube pan 3″ W X 9″ L: This is a nonstick, coated Bundt pan version, which I used in my previous recipe. I’ve found nonstick Bundt cake pans to be a bit tricky because they often cook inconsistently. Most Bundt pans are also coated and nonstick, which prevents you from flipping the cake upside down UNLESS you use the aluminum ones. If you do, it is possible to flip the cake over as the cake will stick to the pan! The only problem is take the cake out of the pan since there’s so much crevices. If you are using a nonstick heavy duty Bundt pan, I recommend leaving the cake in the oven once it’s done baking, with the oven off and the door closed, for at least 20 minutes before removing it to cool completely. If you’re using an aluminum bundt cake pan, you can flip the cake upside down to cool! It might be a tedious to remove the cake itself though!
9x3inch OR 8x3inch aluminum round cake pan: THIS IS THE WINNER! Since aluminum cake pans (anodized aluminum in particular) have no nonstick coating, they’re great at holding the cake and allowing it to stick to the pan. DO NOT SPRAY or line them with anything. If you grease the pan, the cake will slip out easily, which prevents you from flipping it upside down to cool. Cooling the cake upside down helps it keep its shape and prevents it from deflating.
A 9×3inch aluminum round cake pan created a great honeycomb crumb and had a decent height. A 8x3inch pan also created a great honeycomb crumb with a pretty high cake, though I think the honeycomb structure looked a little bit more visible using a 9x3inch aluminum bakeware round cake pan.
Cooking the cake at a lower oven temperature seems to create a more structured honeycomb crumb. A high-temperature oven is great for the initial rise from the baking powder, but halfway through baking, it can cause some compression and deflation. It also browns the exterior of the cake much more. If you prefer a darker, crustier exterior, you can bake at a higher temperature for the first half and then reduce it, but this may result in some inconsistency in the honeycomb crumb. You can also see some deflation using the nonstick pans (Wilton fluted tube pan and Wilton red heart pan) since it couldn’t be flipped to cool vs the aluminum cake pan which was flipped over to keep the cake structure intact. The 350’F oven with 45 minutes of cooking time also works great too but take a look at all the cakes I tested in different pans at different oven temps below so you can decide.
FINAL THOUGHTS
THE WINNER FOR ME: 9x3inch aluminum bakeware round cake pan baked at a 325’F oven for 1hr. I love the height and even cooking throughout. The exterior is not as brown but that’s okay. I prefer a soft, bouncy and chewy interior with a pretty good honeycomb crumb. The 8x3inch round cake pan works great too! The cake will be just a tad bit higher!
Anyways, I hope this helps you out. Best of luck making this quite technical honeycomb cake! Let me know if you try it out and how it comes out!
Happy cooking!
-Cindy Her (C.HerCreations)
Pandan Honeycomb Cake (Banh bo nuong)
Equipment
- 1 9x3inch Aluminum Bakeware Round Cake Pan
Ingredients
- 14 oz coconut milk [Aroy D brand] (396 milliliters)
- 214 grams sugar
- 6 grams salt
- 6 grams pandan extract/flavoring
- 6 whole MEDIUM sized eggs (260 grams) [ROOM TEMP]
- 270 grams tapioca flour
- 34 grams rice flour
- 15 grams baking powder
- 22 grams melted coconut oil (or you can use any neutral oil of your choice)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325'F with the round baking pan inside to heat up.
- In a small pot, add in the coconut milk, sugar, salt, and pandan extract. Cook on medium until the sugar is JUST dissolve. DO NOT BOIL. Once you feel no grittiness at the bottom, take it off the heat. Let it cool if it's really hot. You can cool it over ice water if needed for faster preparation (I like the coconut base to be at around 98'F or at ROOM TEMP before pouring it into the eggs). Set aside.
- In another bowl, crack 6 MEDIUM size eggs. With a fork, gently poke the yolks and break it apart along with the whites but do not whisk or create any air bubbles. This will cause too much air pockets in the cake during baking time which causes the cake to deflate once it's cooled.
- Add in the cooled coconut sugar mixture along with the SIFTED flour and baking powder. Mix gently with a spatula so the starches can soak up the moisture. There will be chunks and that's okay. The batter will go over a sieve/strainer. You just want to mix the starch well enough into the eggs/coconut sugar mixture just so it's hydrated (again, don't create too much air pocket).
- Pour the chunky batter over a sieve or strainer over a bowl. Use a spatula to break apart any chunky parts. Once it's been well strained, add in the melted coconut oil. Mix gently. Allow the batter to sit for 10 minutes before baking! This ensures the starches are fully hydrated and the baking powder is getting distributed into the batter.
- After 10 minutes of resting the batter, give it a gentle stir and pour it into the hot baking pan. You can take the pan out onto your counter and quickly transfer the batter into it and straight into the oven OR you can open the oven and slide out the rack with the pan and carefully pour the batter over and then close. YOU DO NOT NEED TO GREASE THE PAN WITH OIL/SPRAY!!! Just pour the batter, close the oven and let it cook.
- Let it cook for at least 1 hr until the cake is cooked in the middle. I cooked mine for exactly 1 hr. Remove from the oven and immediately turn the cake upside down on a rack and let it cool completely for at least 1 hr before slicing. Aluminum cake pans are great at holding the cake and letting it stick to the pan if you do not spray or line them with anything. If you grease the pan, the cake will slip out easily, which prevents you from flipping it upside down to cool. Cooling the cake upside down helps it keep its shape and prevents it from deflating.
- Once cooled, flip it back up and take an offset spatula and remove the cake from the edges of the pan. Flip out the cake and slice into your desire portions and enjoy! This cake is best at room temp! If you eat it hot, it will taste EGGY. Room temp is best so you can taste the pandan.
Notes
