A taste of home: Lanka cooks bibikkan (Sri Lankan sweet coconut cake)

Lanka shares her recipe for bibikkan, a Sri Lankan speciality featuring coconut and caramelized sugar, always popular during festive occasions

A Taste of Home, Issue 5 (Jun/Jul 2022)

1 June, 2022

Share this post:

Portrait of a woman smiling while wearing a black hoodie and standing outdoors with greenery in the background. — *Photos by Vajira Panagoda*

Introducing Lanka

Having originally trained as a pastry chef in her native Sri Lanka, Lanka is a passionate cook who loves to explore and try her hand at new dishes from around the world. Currently a stay-at-home mom taking care of her lovely 28-month-old daughter Zara – something she describes as a full-time job! – Lanka likes to spend her limited free time baking, with her butter cakes with butter icing always proving to be a firm favourite amongst friends and family.

Bibikkan overview

Bibikkan is a famous sweet that has gained popularity primarily along the coastal belt of Sri Lanka, where it is commonly found on festive food tables during Sri Lankan New Year, Christmas, or just about any other special occasion.

The dish has a number of regional variations around the country depending on the locality; however, the coconut and treacle base remains the same, with the latter made from boiling the sap of the kithul palm tree for many hours, until it becomes a thick, dark syrup.

Lanka’s recipe uses caramelised sugar as a substitute, given kithul palm syrup is a little hard to come by in Hong Kong!

It is believed that bibikkan was introduced to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese, who colonised the coastal regions of the country for much of the 15th and 16th century.

Lanka’s top tip!
While freshly baked bibikkan is delicious, it often tastes even better the following day, once the caramelised sugar has had chance to fully absorb into the cake. Give it a try and see for yourself!

Ingredients

400g scraped coconut
300g brown sugar
100g flour
240ml hot water
2 eggs
1 tsp cardamom and cinnamon powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
50g dates
30g cashew nuts

Method

When scraping the coconut, make sure it is scraped into fine pieces. This will make it easier to prepare the mixture and ensure a better texture
Heat the pan to a medium heat, and add 4 tbsp of sugar; caramelise it, add hot water and stir well
Add the rest of the sugar and stir until dissolved; add the scraped coconut, ground cardamom and cinnamon powder and mix well
Keep on the stove for another 5 to 10 minutes, then remove from the heat
Once the coconut mixture has properly cooled, whisk two eggs in bowl, add the mixture and stir well
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, chopped cashew nuts and dates, mixing everything together well
Preheat the oven to 180 °C and bake for 45-60 minutes

A slice of bibikkan, a traditional Sri Lankan cake made with coconut and treacle, is displayed on a dark surface. The cake is moist and features a decorative topping of cashew nuts, with a portion cut out to reveal its texture.

atasteofhome, bibikkan, food, southasianfood, srilanka, srilankanfood, sweetcoconutcake

Author

Written by

Aileen Alonzo-Hayward

Aileen is a second-generation, Hong Kong-born Filipino migrant. Her parents came to Hong Kong as domestic workers from the Philippines in the late 1970s, to escape poverty and look for a better life. After working in the finance sector for over a decade, she found her passion in music, and in 2013, landed her current position as radio presenter/producer for Pinoy Life in HK, a multi-award winning show on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK Radio3). She is also Co-founder of Pangyao.