Cassavekoek A Passover Cake from Suriname

 

I am very excited to be trying this recipe, for which I am grateful to my brilliant colleague Eli Rosenblatt.

 

The word "cocosnoot" will never cease to delight me

 The recipe comes from “Teroenga” April 1942, the Jewish journal of Paramaribo Suriname.  While I have been arguing for years that cassava (yuca, manioc) is perfect for peysekh, I have not come up with any recipes other than yucas fritas.  This year I am making at least two yuca-centric preparations, this cake, and a vegan sancocho for a  Seder Caribeño or Caribische Seder .

If you have time, Prepare the cassava a day ahead so you can freeze the grated cassava overnight and thaw it out before baking.  Remember to thaw the cassava.  I almost skipped this step.

Cassavekoek (Cassava Bojo)

1 Cassava (about 1 pound to yield about 2 1/2 cups pulp)

1 ripe coconut

1 cup milk

8 ounces ( 1 cup) dark brown sugar (or any sugar, more or less, to your taste)

2 ounces (4 tablespoons, 1/4 cup) butter

5 eggs

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (I had no cinnamon this time, but 1/8 teaspoon would be good)

6 ounces (1 cup) raisins, soaked in 1/4 cup slivovitz, if desired

butter for the pan 

Heat the oven to 350F /180C, and butter a nine-inch cake or pie pan, and six muffin cups or a nine by thirteen pan.

Peel the cassava. You will need a sharp knife because the skin is tough and probably coated with wax. Cut the cassava lengthwise and remove the woody core. 

Grate the pulp or grind it up in a processor. If you have time, freeze the pulp (remmeber to thaw before baking).

 

Pierce the coconut and drain the water.  Bake for about 20 minutes. Smash open, and pry out the pulp.  You need not peel off the brown membrane for this cake. Grate the coconut pulp or grind it in a processor.  While the processor is running add the milk (water would probably be fine).

 

Melt the butter over low heat, and continue cooking a few minutes until it becomes deep brown and smells like the best bakery.

Beat the eggs, beat in the sugar, and drizzle in the brown butter. Fold in the coconut and cassava and the raisins. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.  Bake for forty minutes until the surface is golden and a knife emerges clean

 Some notes on the original recipe and my adaptations

1. I do not know any Dutch

2. The recipe calls for a sweet cassava.  Fortunately, all the cassava available in the United States is sweet cassava.

3. I browned the butter, because brown butter.

4. Yes, even without knowing Dutch, I can sort of see that the original recipe calls for only three spoons of sugar, but I just have a strong feeling that they are large English-style dessert spoons, about four teaspoons 1 1/3 tablespoon each. Maybe even larger.

5. Traditionally you might soak the raisins in rum, rather than Slivovitz

6. This might be prettier in a cake pan, but one leniency I allow myself is to make all Peysekh cake in aluminum pie pans.