Cassava Cake/ Getuk Ubi 木薯糕

UPDATE: 13/7/2017

Made this Getuk Ubi (some call it getuk-getuk) again because I just harvested a lot of cassava from my garden. This time, I made a whole tray of it. Recipe has been updated as I find the previous recipe a bit soft. This recipe turned out to be of my liking. If you notice, the cassava used here is of another species and is yellow in colour making the cake looked all the more beautiful. Loving the darker hues of both top and bottom.

Today is Friday and I am going to make this getuk ubi to bring to my cell group meeting. It is rather hard to put a name to this as there are not much written information about this. Suffice to know that my cell members (and I of course) adore getuk ubi.

There are many variations of kuih ubi kayu. This one basically has white mashed cassava with minimal flavouring at the bottom topped with palm sugar grated coconut. When you bite into it, the intense flavour of the grated coconut and palm sugar on top mixed well with the plain cassava bottom. Simply scrumptious! I don't know why but getuk ubi seems to have this unique flavour that is very appealing. Tell this to the old people that survived WWII and they would probably say you "siau"(crazy). This is because food was scarce then and cassava became a staple as it was cheap and easily grown. Those were the days when putting food on the table was not easy. Repackage it and now we have "designer" cassava cake.

It is really not difficult to make but I did have trouble with my top. It was loose and the top came off easily when cut. I then scrape everything off, make a paste using a little water and tapioca starch and dump everything into the pot again. When it becomes dry, I removed from fire and make my top again. Make sure to press as hard as you can so that you would get a perfectly compressed top.
I find the texture of this getuk ubi slightly softer than those outside. I might want to try reducing the amount of sugar in the cassava if I make it again. I used brown sugar instead of castor sugar for the top. However I still find it lighter than those store bought ones. Use gula perang if you want a darker colour. However, it doesn't mean lighter has lesser taste. Just that gula perang is darker. Taste wise, I have no complains. Enjoy!

Cassava Cake/Getuk Ubi 木薯层糕

Recipe adapted from Guai Shu Shu

Ingredients

Botton Layer (A)
1.5 kg  kg cassava/tapioca
1/4 tsp salt
100 g castor sugar
1 tbsp milk powder

Method

1. Peel and cut tapioca into long thin strips. The smaller you cut the cassava, the faster it gets cooked. Steam for 30 minutes or until cassava is soft.

2. Remove from fire and add all ingredients in (A). Using a pestle (in my case I used a pastry cutter), mash cassava finely. Pour into a lined loaf pan. Level and press hard on top.


Top Layer (B)

500 g grated coconut
250 g palm sugar, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp water
2-3 pieces of pandan
2 tbsp tapioca starch mixed with 1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt

Method

1. While you are steaming the tapioca, put in all ingredients for top layer, except grated coconut, into a saucepan. Boil until sugar dissolves. Add tapioca starch slurry. Stir into a paste and add into saucepan. Quickly stir until you get a thick sugary paste. Add grated coconut and continue to stir for 5 mins until sugar and coconut are evenly integrated. Remove from fire.

2. Remove cooked cassava and mash it coarsely. Add in all other ingredients for bottom layer and give it a quick mix. Spread evenly and compress the cassava into a 8" x 8" pan. It is essential that the cake is compressed properly so that the layers wouldn't drop off easily.

3. Add in top coconut layer, spread evenly and compress again. Leave cake to cool before cutting.