By Culture Expert 
3 Ingredient Cassava Cake with Coconut Milk:
Quick Summary
What is it? A baked Filipino dessert made from grated cassava, coconut milk, and condensed milk — no flour, no eggs, no fuss.
How does it taste? Dense, chewy, and lightly caramelized, closer to mochi cake than Western sponge cake.
Is cassava the same as yuca? Yes, same root. Tapioca is the refined starch extracted from it, not the whole root.
How long does it keep? About 4 to 5 days refrigerated, or up to 2 months frozen in sliced portions.
I’ve stood in a lot of kitchens where the dessert list turns into a hostage negotiation. Someone’s gluten-free. Someone else “doesn’t do” refined flour. Someone just wants dessert to stop being complicated. I get it — I’ve been there myself, apron dusted in cassava starch, wondering why a “simple” bake somehow needed nine ingredients and a trip to three different specialty shops.
That’s the exact itch this cake scratches. This three-ingredient bake strips a centuries-old Filipino dessert down to its pure essence: grated cassava, coconut milk, and condensed milk. Full stop. No flour. No leavening drama. No fussy custard layer to babysit at midnight. It bakes into something dense and chewy, faintly caramelized on top — the kind of tray that empties before it’s fully cooled.
At Culture mosaic, I spend a lot of my time tracing dishes that migrated across oceans and somehow got better along the way. This one traveled from South America to the Philippines aboard a Spanish trading galleon in the 16th century and never left. Below, I’ll walk you through exactly how to make it, why your last attempt probably turned out soggy, and what to change this time.
What Does Cassava Cake Taste and Feel Like?
Honestly? It tastes like a milkier, chewier cousin of Hawaiian butter mochi. The interior has that characteristic pull — a slight stretch when you cut into it — from the cassava’s natural starch. The flavor itself is mild and nutty, acting as a blank canvas that soaks up whatever milk you pour into it.
Coconut Milk adds richness and a faint tropical perfume.
Condensed Milk brings the sweetness and that caramel note along the edges, where natural sugars kiss the pan and turn amber.
It is not spongy. It is not fluffy. If you’re picturing a Western-style layer cake, recalibrate now — this sits closer to a custard-cake hybrid, dense enough to hold its shape on a fork and soft enough to melt on the tongue. Both cassava cake and butter mochi lean on starchy roots or glutinous starches for structure instead of wheat flour, landing right between cake and pudding.
Is Cassava the Same Thing as Tapioca or Yuca?
Short answer: Cassava and yuca are the exact same root.
Longer answer: “Cassava” is the term commonly used in English-language agriculture and international culinary writing, while “yuca” is the word Spanish-speaking communities across Latin America and the Caribbean use for that exact same tuber. Don’t confuse it with yucca (two c’s); that’s an ornamental desert plant, completely unrelated, and definitely not dessert material!
Tapioca is a different product entirely. Tapioca is the refined starch extracted from the cassava root, while cassava flour is made from the whole root, ground fine. That distinction matters here: tapioca pearls, tapioca starch, and the boba in your bubble tea all started life as cassava, just refined down. This cake uses the fresh or frozen grated root itself, which is exactly why it has a chewy texture tapioca pudding never quite gets.
Important Culinary Safety Note: Raw cassava contains cyanogenic glycosides, which release hydrogen cyanide if eaten raw. Thorough cooking completely neutralizes this compound. Every authentic cassava cake recipe, including this one, bakes the root completely. Buying pre-grated fresh or frozen cassava from an Asian or Latin grocer means the peeling and initial processing steps are already safely handled.
Cassava Cake Ingredients — The Three That Actually Matter
Here’s the deal. Bakery versions of this dessert pile on eggs, butter, evaporated milk, cheese, and a whole separate custard topping. Delicious, sure. But that’s not what we’re making today. For the true 3 Ingredient Cassava Cake with Coconut Milk, you need only:
Grated cassava (fresh, or frozen and thawed and drained well)
Full-fat coconut milk
Sweetened condensed milk
That’s it. The condensed milk pulls double duty as sweetener and binder, while the coconut milk carries fat, moisture, and flavor. No eggs means no risk of scrambling your batter if your kitchen runs warm. No flour means it’s naturally gluten-free — not as a substitution, just by default.
Want the bakery-style version with the caramelized custard crown on top? That’s a longer, different recipe, and I’d point you toward Allrecipes’ well-reviewed 3 Ingredient Cassava Cake with Coconut Milk if you want the fuller build with cheese and a separate topping layer. What I’m giving you here is the essential, weeknight-doable version.
How to Make Cassava Cake with Grated Coconut
If you want to lean into more coconut flavor rather than more coconut milk, fold in unsweetened desiccated coconut or fresh grated coconut along with your cassava — about half a cup per pound of cassava is plenty, before it turns from “fragrant” into “coconut brick.” Grated coconut adds texture without adding liquid, which actually helps if your batter already looks loose. Squeeze your grated cassava in a clean kitchen towel first to push out excess water; skip that step and you’re setting yourself up for a gummy center, which brings us to the recipe itself.
3 Ingredient Cassava Cake Recipe
Yield: Serves 10 to 12
Prep time: 20 minutes (plus grating)
Bake time: 50 minutes
Cooling time: 2 hours (non-negotiable)
| Ingredient | Amount | Notes |
| Grated cassava, drained | 2 lbs (about 900 g) | Fresh or frozen and thawed; squeeze dry in a towel first |
| Full-fat coconut milk | 1 can (13.5 fl oz / 400 ml) | Canned, well-shaken; don’t substitute light coconut milk |
| Sweetened condensed milk | 1 can (14 oz / 396 g), divided | Reserve 3 tbsp separately for the top glaze |
Method
Preheat & Prep: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan generously — glass or ceramic both work well here.
Mix Batter: In a large bowl, combine the grated cassava, coconut milk, and all but 3 tablespoons of the condensed milk. Mix until fully combined; the batter will look loose and wet, and that’s correct.
Pan & Layer: Pour into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer, about 1.5 inches thick.
Bake: Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is set and the edges begin pulling slightly from the pan.
Glaze & Broil: Brush the reserved 3 tablespoons of condensed milk over the top and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, watching closely, until deep amber patches form.
Cool: Cool completely — at least 2 hours — before slicing. This step is not optional. A warm cassava cake falls apart under the knife.
A note on structure: some bakers stir in 2 tablespoons of cornstarch for extra insurance. The purist three-ingredient version skips it and simply asks for patience during cooling.
Can I Use a Glass Baking Pan?
Yes — and honestly, I prefer it. Glass gives you a visual read on the bottom of the cake; you can actually watch the edges turn deep amber-gold, which a metal pan hides from you until you flip the whole thing over and hope for the best. Glass also conducts heat more gently and evenly, which forgives an oven that runs hot.
The one adjustment to make: glass retains heat longer than metal, so pull the cake about 5 minutes before your timer says you should, and let the carryover heat finish the job. Ceramic behaves the same way. Just skip flimsy foil pans if you can; they warp under this much liquid batter and bake unevenly.
Why Is My Cassava Cake Too Soggy?
Nine times out of ten, it’s water. Grated cassava holds a shocking amount of moisture, and if you don’t squeeze it dry before mixing, that liquid has nowhere to go but into your batter, where it sits stubbornly in the center of the pan and refuses to set. My fixes, roughly in order of how often I actually need them:
Squeeze the grated cassava hard in a towel before you measure it. Not a gentle press — wring it like laundry.
Bake slightly lower and longer (350°F instead of 375°F) if the center is still jiggling past the 50-minute mark; a fast oven can set the edges before the middle catches up.
Let it cool fully. A cassava cake sliced warm looks soggy even when it’s actually done — the starches need time to firm up as they cool.
The wildcard fix nobody mentions: Swap 2 tablespoons of the coconut milk for 2 tablespoons of thick coconut cream, the layer that sits at the top of an unshaken can. Less water, same flavor, a firmer set.
If you’ve done all of that and it’s still loose, your cassava itself may have simply been extra watery — frozen grated cassava varies more than fresh, so drain it in a fine mesh sieve for a solid 15 minutes before you even reach for a towel.
How Long Does It Last, and How Do I Store It?
Cover it tightly and refrigerate — it holds for 4 to 5 days, and honestly tastes better on day two once the flavors settle into each other. Don’t leave it out at room temperature past a couple of hours in warm weather; the coconut and condensed milk make this a perishable bake, not a shelf-stable one.
For longer storage, slice it first, wrap the pieces individually, and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving, so the texture comes back to life instead of staying rubbery straight from the freezer.
3 Ingredient Cassava Cake Without Coconut Milk
Allergic, or just out of a can? Swap the coconut milk one-for-one with evaporated milk for a lighter, less tropical version — you’ll lose some richness but keep the custard-like set. Whole milk works in a genuine pinch too, though the cake will read noticeably less dense.
What you shouldn’t really substitute is the condensed milk; it’s doing structural work here, not just sweetening, so I’d leave that ratio alone even while you’re experimenting with the other two ingredients.
What Makes This the Best Cassava Cake Recipe for Beginners
It’s forgiving. There’s no yeast to proof, no egg whites to whip, no window of time where the whole thing can collapse if you look away for a minute. Three ingredients means three places things can go wrong instead of nine, and I’ve walked you through every single one of them above.
If you’ve been putting off a Filipino baking project because it looked intimidating, start here. And if you love the way root vegetables behave under heat, our Classic Southern Cornbread Recipe uses a similar starch-forward logic on the savory side — worth a look once this one’s out of the oven.
This cake shows up constantly at Filipino holiday gatherings, and it’s not the only humble-ingredient dessert with that kind of pull at a table. I wrote about a few more in Festive Dishes Make Happy, if you want more of that “simple ingredients, big occasion” energy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make 3 Ingredient Cassava Cake with Coconut Milk ahead of time for a party?
Yes, and I’d actually recommend it — the flavor deepens overnight in the fridge as the coconut and condensed milk settle into the cassava. Bake it the day before, cool it completely, cover, and refrigerate. Serve it slightly chilled or bring it to room temperature first; both work well.
Is cassava cake supposed to be chewy, or did I overbake it?
Chewy is correct, even expected. The starch in fresh cassava creates that dense, slightly stretchy texture naturally, similar to mochi. If your cake is genuinely tough or dry rather than pleasantly chewy, that’s overbaking — next time, pull it as soon as the edges begin pulling from the pan rather than waiting for a fully firm center, since the middle finishes setting as it cools.
Can I use frozen grated cassava instead of fresh?
Absolutely — most home cooks outside the Philippines do exactly that. Thaw it fully, then drain and squeeze it just as hard as you would fresh cassava. Frozen cassava tends to release even more water during thawing, so don’t skip this step, or you’ll land right back in soggy-cake territory.
Why does my cassava cake taste bland even with condensed milk in it?
Usually it’s a ratio problem, or the coconut milk was a light or “drinking” carton version that skipped most of the fat, and the flavor along with it. Use full-fat, canned coconut milk, not the diluted kind meant for smoothies. A small pinch of salt also makes a bigger difference than most people expect — it’s not there to make the cake salty, it’s there to keep the sweetness from tasting flat.
What’s the difference between cassava cake and cassava pudding or cassava bibingka?
Mostly texture and format rather than a genuinely different dessert. Cassava cake is baked in a pan and sliced into squares, closer to a Western-style cake in presentation even though the interior stays dense. The dish goes by several regional names — cassava pudding, cassava pie, cassava bibingka, budin — and while some versions add a distinct custard topping, others skip it entirely; the naming reflects regional variation more than a strict category difference.
About the Author
Dr. Elena Caruso is Culture Mosaic’s culinary historian, tracing how dishes like this one crossed oceans on old trade routes and settled into new kitchens without losing their bones. She writes about the food traditions that outlast trends: the ones that still show up on every holiday table, and why.
Read more of her work at Culture Mosaic.
Sources
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Roots, Tubers, Plantains and Bananas in Human Nutrition — Toxic Substances and Antinutritional Factors.” fao.org
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Cassava, a 21st Century Crop.” fao.org
Hall, Michael J. “The Dangers of Cassava (Tapioca) Consumption.” Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Journal, vol. 102, no. 2, May 1987. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Legarda, Benito Jr. “Two and a Half Centuries of the Galleon Trade.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, vol. 3, no. 4, Ateneo de Manila University, 1955. archium.ateneo.edu
Kimura, Jun, et al. “Galleons Crossing the Pacific and the ‘Manila Galleon System’ (Sixteenth to Early Nineteenth Centuries).” Crossroads Research, in association with the National Museum of the Philippines. crossroads-research.net