How I Tried (and Failed) And Tried Again to Master the Goan Bebinca Cake
My rollercoaster quest to conquer the eggy, seven-plus-layer Goan dessert
Last Christmas, I made the journey from “still-on-lockdown” Mumbai to my “everything-is-normal here” home in Goa, India. I arrived just in time to prepare the Christmas sweets. My mother, sister-in-law Larissa, and I sat together to curate a list of what would feature in our Christmas tray, or kusvar. My mama prefers the comfort of cakes like the semolina-and-coconut bathk and simple shortbread biscuits like nankhatais. Larissa and I decided, on a whim, to try bebinca.
Bebinca is often called the “queen of Goan desserts.” In fact, the Goan government recently announced it is pushing for it to get an official Geographical Indication (GI) tag from the World Trade Organization. The multilayered cake or pudding is sweet, buttery, and eggy (like a custard) with spice notes. It is made with several egg yolks and baked one painstaking layer … Read more