Cassava pone is that feel good snack treat that you appreciate as a Caribbean adult. So much so, I had to write this entry in a rush to guard them against my eager mother. As my official tester on anything Bajan and Caribbean related, she’s been insistent she needs more to solidify the taste in her mouth (ha! yea right). Two slices later, I had to swat her away so I’d have something left to take pictures of.

My uncle that lived with us when I was younger, loved some cassava pone. Yet only a few passed the test for him to willingly go back for seconds. This sparked my grandmother and my aunt taking up the baton to bake acceptable pone on demand, although my uncle occasionally dabbled in baking it himself occasionally. However since he passed, pone stopped being a thing in my house. Meanwhile my child palette could never see what the fuss was about – it was a soft, mildly sweet ground provision cake…okay?

My mom knew better than to proclaim she was making it unless it was to be sent overseas to my aunt because:
1. I was never going to eat any, so she’d have a whole tray for just herself.
2. Her little minion (me) would never grate the ingredients.

So pone became the below average experience whenever she found some to buy. No lie, I felt bad I was partly to blame. But pone just wasn’t that popular anymore. Good pone was an even scarcer commodity. That is until I discovered the wonders of frozen grated products, cassava and coconut included. Discovering that all I needed to do was thaw a few bags to give my mom a treat every now and then changed the entire pone game for me. It also gave me the opportunity to reevaluate the flavour for myself since I now had creative control. I went to my mom’s red book with handwritten recipes to find a base recipe that I could make my own. Since then, I’ve worked to tweak our perfect recipe that my grownup self now sees a sweet pleasure.

I decided to make mine individual because both mom and I are edge girls. We asked the question early on – who would eat the center pieces? I got my mini loaf pan from Amazon but any loaf pan will do. This recipe can make two 8 inch loaf pans or about 12 mini loaves.

Cassava Pone

Hadi Cassava pone is that feel good snack treat that you appreciate as a Caribbean adult. So much so, I had to write this entry in a rush to guard them against my eager mother. As my official tester on anything... Sweet Treats cassava pone, baked, starch, yucca, healthy, sweet, treat, local European Print This

Serves: 12 Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 1 hour 1 hour

Nutrition facts: 246 calories 11 grams fat

Rating: 4.6/5

( 7 voted )

Ingredients

• 2 cups grated cassava
• 1 cup cassava flour
• 1 cup grated coconut
• 3/4 cups brown sugar (1 cup if you really have a sweet tooth)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp grated nutmeg
• 2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp melted vegetable shortening
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp almond essence
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup raisins

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325°.
Grease pans for use with butter or shortening.
Add ingredients into a dry bowl and mix together thoroughly.
Fill pans almost full (cake will not rise).
Place in the oven, after 45 minutes, raise the temperature to 350° and check the oven in 15 minutes for mini loaves or 35 minutes for regular loaf pans.
Test cakes by sticking a knife in the center. If it comes out clean, it’s done.