Two weeks ago Becca and I joined some Khmer ladies from our church to learn how to make three different kind of Khmer cakes. The ladies were getting together to teach Liesl, a lady who was finishing her two-year mission in Ban Lung, to make the cakes before she headed to the States to get married in October. (Liesl stayed with us for about two weeks right after we moved here).

The most time consuming part of the process was preparing the banana leaves for the cakes to be wrapped in. The leaves had to be cut from the tree, dried, have their stems cut off, ripped into smaller pieces, and finally cut with scissors.

The pumpkin cakes were the easiest to make: you mix smashed boiled pumpkin, sugar, coconut, and rice flour. After that you spoon the mix into the banana leaves, fold them, and steam them.

The bean cake and coconut cake required a flour and water dough. After the dough was prepared, the fillings (bean mixed with a few spices or coconut mixed with sugar) were wrapped inside the dough. These balls were placed inside the banana leaves and folded different ways to show which cakes were which. Then all the packets were steamed.

I was able to participate in almost all the different steps. We had fun being with the ladies. But before your mouth continues to water thinking of all these yummy cakes, I warn you: cake is not really the right word to use. Steamed rice flour isn’t exactly like baked wheat flour. And they are really only good the day you make them.