First of all, greetings to our Spanish-speaking amigos and amigas on Hive! Puto is a sweet delicacy here in my country, Philippines. Lol.
Few weeks before the holidays last year, I've seen a post about Puto Cake. It looks delicious and the ingredients and process of making it seems easy so I eyed on adding it to my holiday menu.
For a short background, puto is a steamed rice cake and a delicacy in the Philippines. Commonly white in color, it's soft, moist, sweet, and best with a slice of cheese on top! It's small in size that's why it's difficult to control the amount you're consuming, especially when you're preoccupied with your amiga's latest tea.
Also, did you know that my hometown, Calasiao, is recognized to produce the best puto in the Philippines. Yup, we're the Puto Capital!
Now, going back to the puto cake. I'd say the taste is almost similar but the texture is not exactly as the puto. As this is my first time to make this type of cake, I was quite doubtful that it will come out good. Well, it almost failed. I just had a short panic first but I managed to cook it in the end.
● Combine cake flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and milk. Mix until the mixture becomes smooth and no visible lumps. Set aside. It just like making pancake batter, right?
● Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. We will only be needing the egg whites. Don't throw away the yolks, you can use it for another recipe or just fry them later on. Place the egg whites in a bigger bowl or pot then add sugar and cream of tartar.
● Begin mixing by using a mixer. Continue mixing until the mixture becomes thick and fluffy.
● It's already good when you try to lift the mixer and you see the mixture forming a soft peak like this.
● Pour the batter mixture into the meringue mixture.
● Then mix with a laddle using the cut and fold technique so the cake doesn't deflate.
● Lay parchment paper on the bottom and side of the pan. This will help to unmold the cake easier. You can do this ahead of time so you don't forget it like mine. Lol. I have to remove the mixture and clean the pan again to place the paper. Ugh.
● Now place it in your steamer and steam for around 30 minutes. Check the cake occasionally and add the toppings when the mixture begins to solidify. Use a toothpick to check if it's already good to remove from heat. Poke the toothpick anywhere into the cake and the toothpick must be clean when you take it out. If bits of the cake comes off with it, then you have to steam it more.
For people like me who doesn't have a steamer, don't worry because we can improvise! I used a bigger pot and used the tiny feet of my steamer rack where I'll put the pan.
The pan is quite tall making it impossible to completely close the cover. There's like an inch gap between the cover and pot. What I did was cover the gap with aluminum foil so the steam stays inside the pot. Of course, don't forget to add water in the pot for the steam to work.
Now, here comes the problem which caused me some panic. The cake doesn't get fully cooked even after an hour and a half of steaming. Bits of the cake were still attaching into the toothpick. I wonder what's wrong?
I got fed up waiting and increased the heat to medium high. And voila, the cake got fully cooked around almost half an hour. So the problem was the lack of heat. Anyway, take note of this so you don't experience the same.
I'm really relieved that this cake turned out alright despite looking unaesthetic. I used a bread knife to help unmold the edge that's why it looked like it was murdered. The top also had several holes from poking the toothpick.
When it comes to its taste, the bread is almost bland but it tastes good on the parts which has cheese and salted egg. I'll suggest to be generous with the toppings.
It was a good try and I glad I did because it's another recipe unlocked to my cooking journey. I like trying new recipes on special occasions and panic when something goes wrong. I don't know why! Lmao.
Such a nice experience but I might just buy real puto next time!
Thanks for reading! :)
