Puto (steam cakes)

By duckieq

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1 plus 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (not cream)
• 4 to salted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• Cheddar cheese – cut into cubes for topping optional: grated coconut for topping

Details

Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 20mins

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare the puto molds by lightly spraying with non-stick spray.

Heat at least 4 cups of water in the steamer while you're preparing the batter.

In a large bowl, sift all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, whisk to mix well.
In another bowl, mix to combine coconut milk, melted butter, water and eggs. Add this to the dry ingredients, mix until batter is smooth, but don’t over mix it.

Divide batter into two bowls.
Cheddar puto – add 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 cup shredded cheese and a drop of yellow food color, optional
Purple Yam or Ube puto – add ½ to 1 tsp Ube flavor and a drop of purple food color, optional

Divide the batter equally into prepared puto molds about 2/3 full each.

To cook in Instant Pot:
Note: You'll have to do it in batches depending on how many can fit in your Instant Pot.
Put 2 cups of water in the pot. Put trivet on top. Press saute setting to heat the water. When water it hot, turn IP off. Arrange molds on top of trivet. Close the lid, turn valve to sealing. Press steam setting for 6 minutes, Quick Release. After the pin dropped, open the lid, put 1 piece of cube cheese on top and let it softened from the residual heat, take out cooked puto, let it rest in a cooling rack for about 10 minutes before taking it out of the molds.