Bibinca, the multi layered Goan cake, that can be eaten at any time of the day. Put it in your chapatis and have it for breakfast, with ice cream or alone as a dessert, whichever way you prefer you know that you would want another slice of that delicious Bibinca once again.
Get ready to learn how to make Bibinca, not just any Bibinca but the tastiest Bibinca you would ever eat. Of course unless you are cooking in a stone oven in Goa that is. This one is equally laborious and time consuming, but when its ready, your going to get a lot more love from anyone who bites into it. Thats what makes it worth the effort!
Ingredients:
10 Egg Yokes (The egg whites can be used for the desiccated coconut cake)
350gms Sugar
140gms Flour
1 Big Coconut for Thick and thin Coconut Milk
A Pinch of Salt
Nutmeg Powder (1 and a quarter Nutmeg)
3/4 Cup of Water
Procedure:
You start by heating the water, mix the sugar in the water and keep stirring till it all disappears.
Drop in the flour and continue stirring it, you can also add the pinch of salt with the flour.
The nutmeg powder needs to be strained, so you will have the thinner nutmeg powder filtered.
Keep the filtered powder for later put the slightly thicker powder in the mixture now.
Once again keep stirring until its all evenly mixed.
Now its time to put the yokes in, remember you can keep the egg whites to make a coconut cake out of the egg whites, so they do not go to waste.
Add the yokes and beat them into the mixture one by one
Keep blending untill its all nicely mixed make note of the colour
You need to have two kinds of coconut milk, one is thick and one is thin. The reason behind it is you need to have a precise consistency to build on the layers. Don’t worry its not that difficult.
So you first add the thick coconut milk and its important you stir to get all the batter to mix up with the milk. Then you add some of the thin coconut milk and continue mixing it up.
Now you need to mix the right amount of coconut milk till the consistency reaches a point untill it is slightly thicker than what you require for pancakes. Once you reach that, you will need to filter the mixture with a muslin cloth.
Remember that fine nutmeg powder I had asked you to set aside. Well its time for you to add it in.
Its pretty obvious that you would require to blend it in again!
Alright its time to cook the mixture now, place your vessel on the fire to warm up.
Add some ghee into the vessel and move it around the vessel not too much, you can see the melted ghee in the vessel.
Time to put in the mixture, stir it and put enough to form the first layer of the Bibinca. Every layer after this will have to be stirred as well.
Once you add the mixture cover the utensil and keep it for ten to fifteen minutes on slow fire.
Once the base is done put it on top heat in the oven untill the layer becomes a nice brown on top.
Then apply another coat of ghee evenly on the surface of the top layer.
Once done go ahead and pour the mixture of the second layer, do not forget to give the mixture a nice stir before you do that.
Every layer needs to be cooked for atleast 40 minutes on a nice slow flame so place it accordingly in you over till they get nice and brown.
There you go a delicious Bibinca, sorry no pictures of it when it was sliced cause when its ready my brain tends to stop functioning 🙂 Yummmyyyy!
Since people were posting comments asking for the final version of the Bibinca, I took pictures of the Bibinca we had for easter lunch and put it up!
why did you cook the sugar
Clyde, I haver just become your fan! Goa living in Portugal most of my life learned from my Mother mosto of lhe recifes. She has gone for 5years nos and when in doubt with any of lhe procedures. I allways find it here . Keep on with lhe good work.
Hello, i really like bebinca..but where i live i cannot find coconut…only coconut milk in a can… can you tell me the measure of the coconut milk?
Thank you
Honestly, I thought Cardamom was used instead of the nutmeg. I am going to look for some thick coconut milk in a can and make do.
Thank you for your recipe/
Got to surprise my wife this Christmas with this recipe for Bibinca!
Merry Christmas to you & your family.
A big Thank-you
Hi Clyde, My mother, m-i-i and grandparents were excellent goan cooks. unfortunately, i never learnt to cook from them. As I try out some of your recipes especially the prawns and sweets, memories of childhood and food we used to relish come back. Thank you for this great service to keeping the goan tradition alive! P_Rebel
thanks Maria 🙂 Your welcome
Awesome site!! Thank you so much for putting up even the minutest details of the recipes!
Hi Clyde,
I wrote you earlier but since my comment was anonymous you have not published it. I was the one that wrote you earlier with an anonymous comment and you published it since it was innovative. I tried it a second time, it works with saving a lot of time. Here's what one needs to do. (1)Line a baking sheet with foil and then parchment. (2) Brush the non stick pan well with ghee to ensure the bottom of the pancake browns well. (3) Cook the pancake/layer till the top is slightly undone. (4) Flip over on lined baking sheet. (5) Brush the top of the layer generously with ghee. Caramelize 1/4 cup of sugar until golden brown. Add some of the sugar syrup (from the recipe — don't need all that sugar in the batter) to dilute the caramel. Set this aside and brush each layer (the tops) when assembling. Helps to enhance the layers and identify each layer. If you don't do this, the layers are pale. Continue till all are done.
Place the ring of a spring form pan around the pile of pancakes/layers and bake 20/25 minutes to ensure the slightly undone layers are cooked. Before baking, weigh down the pile of pancakes with a flat disc/plate for 10 minutes, then bake. Choose a pan the size of your spring form ring. Alternatively, the pile can be carefully inverted into a baking pan the size of the pancakes. IT WORKS PROMISE. YOU MUST TRY IT.
Hi Clyde,
I'm the lady that suggested making the layers in pancakes and stacking them. Finally, I did try it with half the recipe. Before I go further, I have a query. Why is the flour lightly cooked in the sugar syrup. Is there a special reason for this? I think that's what makes the batter fragile and stickey. Here are the results of my experiment. The pancakes were a little fragile and initially a little trickey to manipulate. Once I got into the swing of things, it seemed to work better. Here's what I did: I made the first pancake, flipped it into a round pan — that was trickey. I cooked each pancake till it was brown on the bottom but slightly undone on top. Needed very little ghee to brush the top. It took me 1 hour 15 minutes to make a 6 inch cake from start to finish including 30 minutes in the oven — 12/15 pancakes/layers. I was impatient and couldn't wait to try before it cooled so I cut a slice when it was fairly warm. After it was baked, I placed a heavy pan on it for 5 minutes. The layers did not separate. I must admit the pancakes were fragile, and not like the traditional coconut pancake batter. Trying to flip them over into a round pan was challenging. Next time, I am going to try this on a silpat. After I have stacked all the pancakes, I will slide the silpat on a flat baking sheet and bake. To clarify, each pancake was stacked as it was done. I live in Canada and used tinned coconut milk which expedited the process. I wrote you later, after my first comment, and suggested working with 3 pans to expedite the process; The 3 stacked layers could then be sandwiched together with a smear of batter — that will work too. So for all the lazy/impatient people like me perhaps they would like to try my experiment. Another tip, I will reduce sugar next time to half….Lydia
I love Bebica and have enjoyed it when my goan friends have made it but have tried making it myself because it sounded so tedious. This is a traditional recipe and in the good ol' days people did things differently. We, of this generation, are impatient and time is of the essence. Would this work. How about working with 3 round pans of the same size. The 1st layer will be made in all 3 pans. Then, each pan will be topped with additional layers (and baked at the same time thus cutting down the time by 2/3rds). Then, to assemble all the layers, smear the top of one pan with a little batter just to glue the layers of the 2nd pan together. The top pan can be finished with the last layer while the other layers stick together. I think that should work.
Love this site , I am a proud Goan migrated to NZ and have misplaced all my recipes in the process. So glad to see our traditions and yummy food being passed on to the next generation !! God bless
Beverley
hi, i tried the bibinca, it taste yummy , but it has turned to be a bit hard. reason ??? also i got a bit confused by the first procedure, the base must be done on the gas on a slow fame then we need to bake it further. do we need to turn the first later ? 2nd Q .. all the next layers to be cooked in the oven covered or uncovered ??? awaiting your reply
@ fiona
yes we do have the mock bibinca recipe will try putting it up soon
do you have the recipe of mock bebinca which is made using potatoes and coconut milk
WOW – this looks so amazing!!! a lot of work though
@ anonymous
generally a nameless comment doesn't get published, but since yours is innovative it was far to interesting to delete.
I think your ideas pretty sound and you should have a go at it and let us know what happens. All the best
I'm always looking for an easier way out. I have tasted Bibinka and it is delicious but I'm intimidated with the tedious process. Has anyone tried makingindividual pancakes similar to the first one but leaving the top slightly undone. Then, when all are done, each pancake/layer is brushed with butter and assembled one on top of the other. The reason that the top is left slightly undone/sticky is that they adhere to each other and do not separate. Then, they can all be baked. Is this too far fetched!! What are your thoughts.
Wow!!! my cousin got this for us last summer from Goa and i am a fan of this ever since. Thanks alot for sharing, now i can make my own Bibinka..Yay!!
Hi there,
Your walnut drops recipe was brilliant.
My mother used to make them for my son every Christmas. She passed away in May 2009. This Christmas I decided to follow the tradition and make them myself. Thanks to you they turned out real well. You helped us to relive our memories of mum!!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Keep up the good work.
I'm not from India but from the Philippines. We have a similar delicacy called bibingka – probably came from the same origin… The migration of Indians to the Philippines many centuries ago
I've only just discovered this site and can safely say that the effort put here to not lose our tradition is invaluable. Tell us if there is anything WE can do to help you. Is there a way we can at least donate towards your good cause? :o)
–Leo
clyde, your mom is fantastic, at even trying to help the next generation of goans, pass on some of these good recipes to our kids. A big thank you and hug to her. – sal
Wow am so impressed with this site, I usually call my Mum or Mother In law for goan recipes. But am based in UK and I always have to consider the time difference when calling them up…this site is brilliant, thanks so much 🙂
@ Sara
hey Sara you need to filter the batter so that watever bits of nutmeg or crystals of sugar are not yet fine are caght, because the batter has to be smooth
hi Clyde, i am really looking forward to trying this recipe. just need to clarify one thing though, why do you need to filter the batter through the muslin cloth?
Can someone pls inform me where I may buy real good homemade bibinca in Mumbai.
Thanks,
Mehli.
Hi Clyde, I loved the pictures but you know what… one more picture of the bibinca when completed (out of the container) showing all the layers & sliced would have been really nice!! Maybe you could still add it here. Though I have been cooking for the past 28 years the pictures are really helpful & anybody trying this out for the first time has all the steps with pictures. I am going to try this tomorrow & will post a comment on how it came out. And hey, if I get fed up I will just cook every layer on the stove & throw it over the other!! I'm sure it will taste as good! Lorraine
@luckysanjana
hehe 🙂 after the effort put in Annonymous kindof ticked me off 🙂
she does take orders but at the moment shes busy with her easter egg orders 🙂 perhaps after easter if you like 😀
by the way Clyde tell your mom she rocks………..anyone who can go through so much labor is tops ……………
hi clyde………i found that anonymous comment hilarious……………and your answer even more……….LOL………..honestly i love bebinca but nah i aint going to make it ever……….too laborious……and besides what if the eggs get wasted?????……..LOL…..hey does your mom take orders for bebinca?
@ Edward, the thing is my oven doesnt have a setting for the top heat it has just one setting while the lower one has a choice of temperatures. Its a medium setting, a setting that takes 40 minutes.
@ Anonymous, my mother says its possible for a single layer to seperate after baking and that could be because of less ghee. Perhaps you have gone wrong somewhere, if you could leave a more detailed explanation would like to help you out!
But according to my experience a person who tries this recipe out and fails would not be cribbing about 10 egg yokes but would crib about the amount of time consumed in the procedure that would keep you busy all day! 10 hours is more expensive than 10 yokes for me 🙂
And my mother would not want you to waste your time nor your yokes! God bless you 🙂
this did not come out good at all.. the layers seperated after baking and was a complete waste of egg yolks,
thanks clyde. any idea on the approximate temperature of the oven ? am a complete novice so dodn twant to take any chances !
cheers.
ed
No I mean on a low flame in the Oven, it does not have to be on the gas. Sorry for the confusion Ed, hope you enjoy your Bibinca.
Cheers,
Clyde
after the base layer , do you bake each additional layer or do you place the mixture on a flame ? if you bake each layer, at what temperature do you bake it ? I got confused because you talk about cooking each additional layer for 40 minutes on a low flame ?
thanks ed
i had a quick question, after the base layer, do I need to bake each additional layer or do i cook each additional layer ? i got confused because you speak about a low flame for 40 minutes ?
thanks !
Ed
First of all, thank you. For keeping the Goan tradition and cuisine alive through your site, I am a Goan living in austria and I miss Goan food, so I cook often using recipes from your site. Thanks to your mum.
I wanted to try my hand at Bebinca, however, I can’t find the exact specifications for coconut milk(I plan to use canned/tinned coconut milk), so could you please ask your mum the coconut milk specs?
Thanks a ton.
Fantastic recipe. Hey anyone tried to do this in an airfryer
Hi.. how about doing in an oven? What r the temperature n timings?
Pls tell me the type of flour is used for this amazing recepie
hi i want to know if this can be done on plain gas as i do not have an oven
170 deg celcius for 30 mins per layers