I am going to share how I make a cassava cake without an oven. There are a lot of the same version out there online, but mine is different. I am using tapioca balls and grated coconut. I have a lot of cassava growing in my garden and it was time to do something with it. It’s a versatile root that can be cooked and prepared in many different ways.
This recipe I learnt from my grandmother. It is one of the ways Indonesians make their cassava cake. Instead of baking, we’ll be steaming it. For Indonesians it’s also called manioc cake and in Java it’s called Lemet singkong. Great for after a dinner!
Ingredients
- 500gr Cassave
- tapioca balls 100gr
- 1 pineapple
- grated coconut
- 1/2 cup sugar
- food colouring (optional)
Other equipment you need are: Steamer, banana leaf, tupperware that can be in the steamer and a grater.
Cassava preparations
Cassava grows below the surface of soil. So first peel the skin and wash it after. When this is done you grate the cassava. If you don’t have a grater, you could slice the cassava in tiny pieces and blend it.

The other ingredients
For the other preparation you need to chop up the pineapple. Do this in tiny pieces. Soak the tapioca balls in water so they can absorb some water and become bigger an softer. The cassava you just grated can be mixed now with grated coconut and sugar.
Now I am going to divide the mixture of cassava, coconut and sugar in 3 separate bowls. I add a few drops of food colouring and the soaked tapioca balls in 2 of them (red and yellow). Mix it well so it becomes a paste of the colour.
Steaming
Before steaming the cassava cake, prepare banana leaf or something else that can be used in a steamer. I also used a tupperware (note, mine is suitable for steaming). Use any container that can be used. Add layers of each bowl into the container. When everything is ready, add it to the steamer.
The steaming process takes about 30-40 minutes.
Cassava cake done
That was it. A delicious cassava cake steamed without the use of an oven. It shows 3 beautiful colours with 2 of them having a slighlty different taste.


Cassava cake without an oven
Equipment
- 1 grater
- 1 steamer
- 3 bowls
- 1 container for the steamer
Ingredients
- 500 gr cassava
- 100 gr tapioca balls
- 1 pineapple
- 100 gr grated coconut
- 2 food colouring of choice (optional)
- 1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
- Peel the cassava and then wash it
- Grate the cassava
- cut the pineapple in tiny pieces
- Soak the tapioca balls
- Mix the cassava pineapple, grated coconut and sugar
- divide the mixture in 3 bowls
- In 2 of the bowls add a different food colouring (optional)
- Fill the container, making 3 layers of each casave mix
- Steam it for 30-40 minutes