Well, this Yuca Cake recipe has been a long time coming. It took four tries to get the recipe just right and good enough to share!
The Yuca Cake recipe I had was an old island recipe that my mother got from Miss Lenore in French Harbour. She was famous for her Yuca Cake, but of course, as most old island recipes go, it called for no less than five pounds of Yuca 🙄!
I didn’t want to go down the same road as when I made Johnny Cakes a few weeks ago; which resulted in several failed attempts and having to practically develop the recipe from scratch.
No way! I didn’t want to do that again. So I decided to follow the Yuca Cake recipe to the”T.”
I peeled and chopped the five pounds of Yuca in the recipe, then I used a food processor to blend it. But despite using this small shortcut, I still got a blister on the palm of my hand from all the peeling and chopping! Then to top it off, the cake was an epic fail!😩 You see, the recipe said to add a little flour if you didn’t want the Yuca Cake to be too “stretchy” and that’s what I did. But the flour made it hard as a rock and there was no way anyone could eat it.
By the end of the day, all I wanted to do was soak in a warm tub filled with Epson-salt! By the way, if you ever have achy legs after standing all day in the kitchen, I highly recommend soaking for fifteen minutes in a tub with Dr. Teal’s Epson Salt! It removed all the tiredness from my legs, and the Lavender was soothing and relaxing before bed.
Anyways, at that point, I had given Yuca Cake a new name: “The Once In A Lifetime Cake” and I made a vow never to make it again! But when my sister-in-law came over to make her famous Flan, we decided to experiment on the Yuca Cake because she had made it once before. So we set out on the second attempt but with a smaller Yuca Cake this time — only two pounds of Yuca instead of five! Once it was finished, the texture was perfect, but it was not sweet enough. We called that one the “Yuca Cake de Dieta.”😂
The following morning, I knew exactly what to do. I would use two cups of sugar instead of one like we did the day before. This time, however, I decided to melt the butter in the bottom of the pan, instead of lightly spreading it. I thought it would be more like Miss Lenore’s, with a custard on top, because that is what her recipe said to do. But nope, adding the butter was mistake number three! The butter floated to the top of the cake, making it hard to tell if it was cooked through and I ended up baking it for too long. Ugh, so frustrating!
On my way home, I bought two more pounds of Yuca. I was determined to make it right this time! Once I got home, I wrote out the ingredients and asked my housekeeper to peel and chop the Yuca while I pulled on my comfy clothes. (I wasn’t about to get another blister 😉). Then with the hard work done and the Yuca ready to go, I added the coconut milk, coconut oil, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and a little salt. Then into the oven, it went for an hour and a half.
Whew, finally it turned out pretty good! Not with the custard on top that I was hoping for but very tasty and not too sweet. So here it is — a small Yuca Cake recipe that’s easy enough for you to make any day of the week. I hope you enjoy!
I didn’t add the instruction photos with this post, but it’s really simple to make. Take a look at the video below and you’ll see!
Watch The Yuca Cake Recipe Video Here!
Yuca Cake
Yuca Cake from the Bay Islands of Honduras.
Ingredients
- 4 Cups Yuca Mashed
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 2 1/2 Cups Coconut Milk
- 1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
- 1 1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
- 2 Tbs. Vanilla
- 2 Tsp. Salt
Instructions
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Peel and chop Yuca.
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Preheat oven to 350˚ Fahrenheit
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Blend Yuca in a food processor.
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Add sugar, coconut milk, coconut oil, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt.
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Pour into a greased pan.
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Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours.
Recipe Notes
If the Yuca is not fine enough after the food processor, put it in a blender. Don't over bake. Yuca cake should have a soft, pudding-like texture.
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