Honeycomb Cake (Bánh Bò Nướng)

My parents always said this to me, "Do not give up. Try and try until you succeed". I do not talk about anything that is so important, but making the honeycomb cake is the hardest cake that I had ever tried.  This cake is one of my childhood favorites and still is. I tried and failed so many times. I went to many websites to get some ideas and some famous chefs to help to prepare this cake, but there was still something that did not cause this cake to have the "honeycomb" appearance, as the name implies. However, I kept trying and finally today, which must be my lucky day, the honeycomb cake is perfect. I learned not to whisk the eggs too much, just enough for the yolk and white to become homogenized, sifted the flour twice, baked the pan until hot, and sprayed the oil just at the bottom of the pan. I love this cake because it brings me back the fond memory that I had when I was a young girl living in Vietnam. It has the simplest ingredients and directions, but I had no idea how it is so hard to achieve, until today.

Ingredients:
2 cups tapioca starch
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup sugar or 1/2 cup more
1 bag of baking soda
1 bag of vanilla sugar
1 tsp pandan extract
7 eggs
1 or 2 drops of green color (optional)
1 tbs butter or oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400° with the baking pan.
Cook coconut milk and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add vanilla sugar, pandan extract, and food color. Let it cool.

Sift the flour and baking soda twice.
In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs slowly until homogenized and add the cool coconut milk onto the eggs.

Sift the flour into the coconut-eggs mixture. Whisk lightly until combined. Pour the batter through sieve to remove all the lumps.

Now the baking pan should be hot enough. Add 1 tablespoon of butter into the hot pan. Pour the batter through a sieve into the hot pan (some cooks say this guarantees the honeycomb effect). Turn heat down to 350° and bake for 45 minutes.

I did not remove the cake right away; instead, I slightly opened the oven door to let the cake cool a little longer in the oven. I think this is the best way to prevent the cake from depleting.