Baked Vietnamese Banana Cake (Banh Chuoi)
Vietnamese banana cake or Banh Chuoi is one of the more unique cakes in Vietnamese cuisine. It is characterized by a chewy texture combined with a not-too-sweet banana flavor. The coolest thing about this Vietnamese banana dessert is it is made with no flour! Read more about it in this post!
Vietnamese cuisine has some of the most unique desserts I’ve ever seen. Case in point, Vietnamese banh bo nuong is such a unique cake with its lattice like center and bouncy texture. It’s so cool that it doesn’t use flour at all which contributes to its bouncy texture. Recently, I made a similarly out there cake that doesn’t technically use flour either. This Vietnamese banana cake or Banh Chuoi uses baguettes!! as its “flour”. And oddly, it works really well!
How Banh Chuoi differs from Western cakes
I really did a double take when I had this cake for the first time. It’s definitely a different texture than typical French-style cakes. Less soft and crumbly and more chewy. I also felt like it was a lot easier to make. No need for a stand mixer or stressing out over if your batter is mixed enough. You just throw it all into a bowl, mix it together and pour it into the cake pan. Lastly, like most classic Vietnamese desserts, it does get served with a coconut sauce.
Some deets about key ingredients
- Thai bananas – For this recipe, you have to use very ripe Thai bananas (see picture above). The bananas have to be BLACK. When I was testing this recipe, I used ripe but not very ripe bananas, and it did affect the flavor and texture of the cake. The cake was a lot denser and less sweet.
- White wine – I used white wine in my final recipe, but I did test this with sake, and the cake tasted just as great. I would say use your favorite liquor with this recipe. It can work with anything.
- Coconut milk – Make sure to use full fat Thai coconut milk. I have tried using Western coconut milk brands, and they tend to be a lot more watery than Thai coconut milk. This will change the texture of the cake.
Making my easy Banh Chuoi recipe (with tips!)
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Get the Recipe:
Baked Vietnamese Banana Cake (Banh Chuoi)
Ingredients
Banana Cake
- 500 g Thai bananas, ~6 bananas
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp white wine
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 cup coconut milk, full fat
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ tsp salt
- 100 g baguettes
Coconut Sauce (Optional)
- 1 can coconut milk, full fat
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp corn starch
- 2 tbsp water
Equipment
Instructions
- In a sauce pan, combine 500 grams of Thai bananas (~6 bananas), 1/3 cup of light brown sugar, and 1 tbsp of white wine. Heat over medium heat until the sugar melts, and then simmer for 5 minutes. Flip the bananas to make sure it's coated in the marinade. Let the bananas marinate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (191 degrees C).
- In a mixing bowl, mix together 2 eggs, 1 tbsp of granulated sugar, 1 cup of coconut milk, 2 tbsp of melted unsalted butter, and 1/4 tsp of salt. Mash half the bananas and add that to the bowl. Mix well.
- Lastly, add 100 grams of baguette ripped into very small pieces and mix them in.
- Prep an 8-inch cake pan by brushing it with melted butter and then coating it with granulated sugar. Spoon the cake batter into the pan and spread it out evenly.
- Slice the rest of the bananas and place them on top of the batter. You can choose to slice them length wise (what I did) or width wise. Brush the top of the bananas with the remaining banana marinade from step 1.
- Bake for 40 minutes. Brush with the marinade again and bake for an additional 10 minutes until golden brown on top.
- Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before removing from the cake pan.
- Optional: While the cake is cooling, combine 1 can of coconut milk, and 2 tbsp of granulated sugar in another sauce pan. Mix and heat over medium high heat until the liquid starts to bubble. Mix together 2 tsp of corn starch and 2 tbsp of water and add to the coconut sauce. Mix and heat for another minute before turning off the heat. Drizzle over banana cake and serve.