Honeycomb Cake Recipe (Vietnamese Pandan)

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This vibrant green honeycomb cake gets its color from Pandan Extract. This traditional Vietnamese cake is known as Bánh Bò Nướng. This cake has a spongy, soft texture, and is lightly sweetened. The pandan leaf extract is nutty and pairs nicely with the rich coconut milk and coconut shavings on top!

If you’re looking for a unique dessert recipe to wow your guests, then look no further! This Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake has a bright green hue, thanks to the use of pandan extract!

Most recipes for banh bo nuong may not turn out exactly right on your first attempt, because it can be quite complex to get the right texture, but this easy honeycomb cake recipe turns out great every time!

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🥮 What Is Honeycomb Cake?

It’s called a honeycomb cake because of the honeycomb structure that it creates in the center when baked. This cake does not actually have any honey in it.

This cake takes a bit of technique to get the right texture. In order to create the beautiful honeycombs pattern, you’ll need to be able to beat the air bubbles into the batter to create the light fluffiness the cake requires.

This homemade honeycomb cake also has a unique texture. It’s not light and fluffy like a typical cake. Instead it has more of a light, spongy, soft texture – with a little chewy bite too. The taste of the cake is slightly sweet and nutty.

🌱 What Is Pandan?

Pandan is a tropical green plant that is used most often in Southeast Asian recipes. It has long blade like leaves. It is most often sold in specialty grocery stores. It has a sweet aromatic flavor with hints of vanilla, coconut, and a grassy undertone. Its extract is used in desserts, and gives this Vietnamese pandan cake a unique look with it’s bright green hue!

👩🏽‍🍳 Why This Recipe Works

• Unique Green Hue
• Spongy
• Airy and Light
• Deep Amber Color on the Outside
• Subtly Sweet
• Unique Coconut Pandan Flavor
• Gluten-Free

🥘 Ingredients

This banh bo nuong recipe calls for many simple ingredients that you likely already have on hand, and one special ingredient that gives this pandan honeycomb cake its beautiful color!

• Coconut Milk: A traditional ingredient used in this recipe it pairs nicely with the grassy flavor of the pandan.
• Pandan Extract: Made from Pandan leaves (from the Pandan plant), it has a green color, and a sweet, vanilla, coconut flavor, with a hint of earthy grassiness. It is most often found in artificial form, but I recommend getting pure pandan extract. Note: You can make this same cake with a variety of extracts for different flavors. For example, coffee, vanilla, almond, etc would all work!
• Eggs: The eggs in this dish make it light and airy, and spongy!
• Tapioca Starch: The tapioca starch combined with the baking soda and coconut milk is what will help you achieve that honeycomb center!
• Baking Powder: Regular baking powder is double acting. This means it reacts once when combined with the wet ingredients, and again when heated. Be sure that you have a fresh double acting baking powder for this recipe (single acting baking powder will not work!)
• Rice Flour: This gluten-free flour helps to leaven the cake and along with the tapioca starch, helps to keep this entire cake gluten-free.
• Sugar: Granulated sugar works best.
• Shredded Coconut or Lemon Zest (optional): Looks and tastes delicious with a sprinkle of shredded coconut and / or lemon zest on top!

🍽 Equipment

• Set of Mixing Bowls
• Spatula
• Measuring Cups & Spoons
• Bundt Cake Pan (I recommend a 9 inch pan)

🔪 Instructions

Preheat Oven: Preheat the oven to 350F/180C degrees.

Beat Eggs: Crack eggs in a medium bowl, and beat lightly with a fork. Do not overbeat otherwise your cake won’t have the beautiful honeycomb texture. I don’t recommend an electric whisk or electric mixer for this since you want to avoid overbeating.

Add Wet Ingredients: Add in water, coconut milk and pandan extract and mix until combined. 

Combine Flour Mixture: In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together. 

Fold Together: Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix slowly until fully combined.

Prepare Cake Tin: Grease the Bundt pan (you can also use loaf tin) with cooking spray and pour the batter into the prepared pan. 

Bake: Bake for 50-55 minutes until the cake is golden brown. Turn off the oven but keep cake in the oven with the oven door partially open for 20 minutes.

Let The Cake Cool: Remove the cake from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. Add shredded coconut to the top of the cake (optional) and serve on a cake stand or large plate.

❓Recipe FAQs

🧊 How To Store

Room Temperature: This Vietnamese cake will keep spongy and light for up to 2 days at room temperature.

Refrigerate: If you have not eaten all the cake in 2 days, transfer it to the refrigerator to keep for an additional 3-4 days.

💭 Expert Tips

• Use a quality Pandan Extract. There are many different varieties out there, some are of low quality with added artificial ingredients. Use an extract that is pure, and bright green in color. Avoid buying anything that looks diluted (a light green vs. dark green color)
• Break up the yolks of the eggs with a fork, and then beat. This will help keep you from over beating the eggs which can cause the cake to have too much air.
• Fold the ingredients together gently. You don’t want to over mix the batter and lose the airy quality.
• Remove the cake from the cake pan to cool right away! This will keep the cake from collapsing on itself in the pan.

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