Tapioca Coconut Cake Adds Twist to Holiday Sweets, Happy Thanksgiving

Pumpkin pie, apple pie, ice cream will be part of the dessert offerings on the holiday table. 

Add a twist to your sweet treats selection with Tapioca Coconut Cake from Simply Ming in Your Kitchen, 80 Recipes to Watch, Learn and Cook (Kyle Books, October 2012) by Ming Tsai  in collaboration with Arthur Boehm.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tapioca Coconut Cake

This
is my version of a cake created by Damien ‘Big D’ D’Silva, a linebacker of a
chef, who appeared on Simply Ming. His cake featured pearl tapioca,
whose wonderful texture I love.

The
pearls are clearly visible in both of our versions, suspended in a cooked egg
mixture. I’ve kicked things up, though, by flavoring the cake with coconut and
lime and serving it with papaya. This makes a unique dessert, one I urge you to
try.

Serves 10

1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted
butter, for greasing the pan

1–2 tablespoons
turbinado sugar

PUDDING

1 cup small-pearl
tapioca

2 cups whole milk

¾ cup dark brown sugar

2 cans (about 14 ounces
each) unsweetened coconut milk

Pinch of kosher salt

Juice and zest of 1 lime

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks 

PAPAYA

1 papaya, peeled, seeded
and diced

Juice and zest of 1 lime

1 Cut
a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of a 9-inch springform cake pan
(see Tip).
Grease the bottom and the sides of the pan with the butter. Place the parchment paper in
the pan and grease with butter. Add the sugar and tilt the pan to coat the
sides evenly.

2 Make
the pudding: Put the tapioca in a medium bowl and add cold water to cover it.
Let the tapioca to soak for 1 hour. Drain the tapioca in a large strainer, rinse well
under tepid running water and set aside in the strainer.

3 In
a large saucepan, combine the milk, brown sugar, coconut milk and salt and bring to a
simmer over a medium heat. Add the tapioca, stir, lower the heat to medium-low
and simmer, stirring, until the tapioca is translucent but still
slightly raw at the centre, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour the pudding into a medium
sheet pan, add the lime juice and zest and stir to combine. Let cool for 5
minutes, stirring
occasionally, then transfer to a large bowl.

4 Preheat
the oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs and yolks and whisk
until just blended. Pour the eggs over the tapioca, fold to combine, and pour into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake is
golden brown in spots and still jiggly in the
centre, 35–40 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool, then refrigerate in the pan for at
least 8 hours or overnight. 

5 In
a medium bowl, combine the papaya and lime juice and zest. Remove the pan ring,
place a serving plate on the cake, and invert. Remove the pan bottom, peel off
the paper, cut the cake into wedges and serve with the papaya. 

Ming’s
tips:

To
cut parchment paper for lining the baking pan, put the pan bottom on a sheet of the
paper. With a pen or pencil, draw around the bottom, then cut out the circle
about 1/8 inch in from the line.

After
baking, the cake will seem unset, but will become firm when refrigerated. 

To Drink:

A lychee tea,
like Blue Ginger’s