My mom has been on a baking kick recently! She’s been experimenting with various Filipino kakanin. Kakanin is Filipino term for Filipino sweet delicacies. They are sweet desserts that typically include coconut milk and sweet rice. One special main ingredient that is never missing is love. These desserts are always made with a labor of love. They’re typically served at family parties and special occasions.

One of my favorite Filipino desserts that my Mom has recently made is cassava.

Ingredients she used for this sweet dessert are: 2 packages of grated cassava, 2 cans coconut milk, 1 can condensed milk, 4 eggs and macapuno strings.

First up for making this was she preheated over to 325F.
She then mixed all of the above ingredients in a mixing bowl and then poured it into a rectangular pan. After baking for about 30 minutes, she topped the cassava with the macapuno strings, spread it evenly and then put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes. The result of this was a wonderfully soft cassava cake. I loved the overall soft consistency of the cake throughout and the macapuno strings on top were a nice touch! It gave a perfect sweet kick!

The other Filipino kakanin that my mom recently experimented making is karioka! Karioka is a sweet sticky rice ball deep fried.

Ingredients for the main rice ball are 1 cup sweet rice flour, 3/4 cup coconut milk, 2 cups cooking oil and 1 cup shredded coconut. For the outside glaze, ingredients are 1/2 cup coconut milk and 1/4 cup brown sugar.

My mom didn’t have any shredded coconut and so she went with a using kaong instead. Kaong is sugar palm fruit in syrup. To make this dessert, she mixed the sweet rice flour, coconut milk and kaong and then from the mix formed little balls. Each dessert ball was then deep fried until golden brown. The glaze was made separate. The coconut milk was boiled and then brown sugar was added. Once the glaze sauce thickened, the karioka balls were dipped in. The result of this was a nice, sweet karioka. Outside it had the perfect crisp and inside it had a sweet mochi like texture. The kaong was a pleasant twist giving the karioka an extra little sweet kick right in the middle of the dessert! This was my mom’s first try making these cute little snacks and she did an awesome job. They were yummy! 🙂

I’m very proud of mom and love how she’s learning to make all these Filipino desserts! All of the ones she’s made so far have been a success and have brought out some smiles at our family parties! Yay mom & yay to happy desserts! 🙂