Gluten Free Pandan Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake

About This Gluten Free Pandan Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake Recipe

This pandan Vietnamese honeycomb cake, also known as bahn bo nuong or bánh bò nướng, is a bouncy, chewy, airy sponge cake! Its English name of “honeycomb cake” references the cake’s unique texture and crumb made of big, chewy air pockets and bubbles. It has an appearance similar to honeycomb when sliced.

The light and airy honeycomb cake is flavored with both coconut cream and pandan. If you love chewy textures and desserts that are “not too sweet”, this recipe is for you! The best part? Thanks to ingredients like tapioca starch, rice flour, and coconut cream, the cake is naturally both gluten free AND dairy free.

For more Southeast Asian simple cake recipes (that are also gluten free!), check out this Bouncy Chewy Gluten Free Ube Mochi Cake and this Traditional Filipino Cassava Cake recipe!

Ingredients and Substitutions

Now that I’ve convinced you to make this Vietnamese honeycomb cake, here’s everything you need for the recipe:

And let’s talk about some key ingredients, where to find them, and any common substitutions:

How To Make The Recipe

Here are the basic steps to make this bouncy, chewy Vietnamese honeycomb cake from scratch:

Prep the ingredients. (Prep Time: 5 minutes)Pro tip—make sure the eggs are at room temperature! That’s the secret to a tall and domed honeycomb cake top.
Make the cake batter. (Work Time: 15 minutes)Another pro tip? Don’t overmix the batter. When mixing, aim for a speed that’s not too fast. You don’t want to incorporate too much air into the batter. But make sure you’re not mixing too slowly, either—tapioca starch and rice flour can be hard to dissolve if you mix too slowly.
Bake the cake. (Bake Time: 40 minutes)If you have a convection setting for your oven, now’s the time to use it! That’s another secret to getting a tall and domed honeycomb cake top.
Cool the cake. (Cool Time: 1 hour)The trickiest part of this recipe is cooling the cake upside down. Check out the gallery below on how to set up a cooling station for this Vietnamese honeycomb cake!

Process Pictures Showing Key Steps In This Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake Recipe

Check out the gallery below for pictures of what the cake batter looks like at different points in the process. I’ve also included pictures of tricky/odd steps in the recipe like cutting the egg yolks and cooling the cake upside down!

The recipe instructs you to break the eggs into a bowl and cut their yolks with kitchen shears.

Cutting the yolks allows you to mix the eggs without incorporating too much air into them.

After you’ve cut the yolks, use the shears to stir the mixture gently.

The recipe instructs you to mix coconut cream, sugar, pandan extract, and salt, microwave it, and add oil.

You then add the eggs to this mixture.

Use a rubber spatula to stir the eggs into the mixture until just combined—don’t worry if there are big lumps in the mixture just yet!

This is what the cake batter looks like after adding the dry ingredients; again, don’t worry too much about the lumps in the mixture.

Hold a fine-mesh sieve over the hot cake pan and pour the batter through the sieve to get rid of the lumps.

You’ll end up with a perfectly smooth, pale green cake batter.

After baking the cake, immediately turn it upside down to cool by balancing the edges of the pan on two tall glasses (I used two tall coffee mugs). Make sure that the cake dome is unobstructed, and be careful! The cake pan will be hot.

Recipe Troubleshooting and FAQ

Help! My Vietnamese honeycomb cake failed. The cake top came out flat and/or sank. What did I do wrong?

Oh no! There are several reasons why the cake could have come out flat and/or sank. Check out my tips below:

Don’t forget to preheat your cake pan with the oven. The hotter the pan, the taller the cake dome.
Make sure your eggs are room temperature. Using room temperature ingredients ensures a tall cake dome that holds it shape!
Make sure to stir gently throughout the cake making process. Incorporating too much air into the batter can cause the cake to sink later.
Cool the cake upside down. This step is key—if you cool the cake right side up, it will likely sink. Turn it upside down IMMEDIATELY after pulling it out of the oven. It will start to sink if you wait too long! And make sure to cool the cake upside down for at least 1 hour before removing from the pan, too. If you remove the cake from the pan too early, it will also increase the chance of the cake sinking.

Can you freeze Vietnamese honeycomb cake?

Technically yes, but I don’t recommend it. Freezing and thawing the cake changes its texture. It will no longer have the signature bounce and chew of classic Vietnamese honeycomb cake.

How To Store Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake

The cake slices can be stored in an airtight container or under a cake dome for up to 3 days.

More Simple Asian Cake Recipes

Bouncy Chewy Gluten Free Ube Mochi Cake
Traditional Filipino Cassava Cake