Num T'not — Palm Sugar Cake
នំត្នោត
Num t'not is Takéo's palm-sugar cake — steamed rounds of rice flour and ripe palm fruit, sweet, fragrant and stained gold by the sugar-palm country itself.
By Cambodian Cookbook Kitchen · May 27, 2026
តាកែវ Takéo & the SouthChenla era, c. 550–802
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Serves
- 12
- Level
- Beginner
The sugar palm gives twice. First its sap, tapped at dawn and boiled to the dark paste that sweetens the whole southern kitchen; then, once a year, its fruit — a heavy cluster of pods whose translucent flesh perfumes the sweets of Takéo and Kampong Speu. Num t'not is what the palm-sugar country does with both at once: a steamed cake of rice flour, melted palm sugar and sieved palm-fruit pulp, gold all the way through and crowned with salted fresh coconut. It is market food and festival food, sold in banana-leaf cups from stalls under the very trees it comes from, and it tastes unmistakably of the delta that has been living off these palms since the canals of Angkor Borei were dug.
There is nothing hard here, which is why it belongs to home cooks and children's afternoons rather than the wedding table. Melt the sugar so no grit survives, loosen the flours with coconut milk and the floral palm-fruit pulp, and steam the batter dense in little cups until a skewer comes clean. The one non-negotiable is the coconut on top — grated fresh, tossed with a pinch of salt, and heaped on while the cake is still warm so the savoury crown plays against the caramel sweetness underneath. Made right, num t'not is proof that the humblest of the palm's gifts, the fruit nobody outside the country thinks to eat, becomes one of its most quietly perfect sweets.
The palm fruit pulp is what makes it num t'not and not just a sugar cake — if you cannot find it, ripe palm sugar syrup gets you most of the way, honestly.
ពាក្យពីចុងភៅ · A word from the kitchen
Ingredientsគ្រឿងផ្សំ
Serves 12
០ of ៨ gathered
The batter
To finish
Methodវិធីធ្វើ
Step 1: Melt the sugar
Warm the palm sugar with a splash of water over low heat until it melts to a smooth dark syrup, then let it cool. Melting it first means no gritty lumps in the batter and lets you taste the smoke of the sugar before it hides inside the cake.
Step 2: Mix the batter
Whisk the rice and tapioca flours with the melted palm sugar, sieved palm fruit pulp, coconut milk and a pinch of salt until smooth and pourable, like a loose pancake batter. Stir in the baking powder last if using. Let it rest ten minutes so the flour hydrates.
Step 3: Fill the moulds
Pour the batter into small oiled cups, ramekins or a lined tin, filling each about three-quarters. The cakes rise a little and set dense; leave room but do not underfill, or they steam flat and tough at the edges.
Step 4: Steam until set
Steam over rapidly boiling water for twenty-five to thirty minutes until a skewer comes out clean and the tops spring back. Keep the lid wrapped in a cloth so no water drips onto the cakes and pocks their surface.
Step 5: Crown with coconut
Cool the cakes a little, then turn them out and pile the salted grated coconut on top while still warm. The contrast is the whole point — dense caramel-sweet cake under a fresh, faintly salty snowfall of coconut.
ឧបករណ៍ · The tools
Equipment
Granite mortar & pestle
ត្បាល់THE Cambodian tool. Kroeung is pounded, never blended — the stone bruises fibre and oil out of lemongrass and galangal in a way a blade only chops. Buy the heaviest one you can lift.
Shop on Amazon →Clay pot
ឆ្នាំងដីThe earthenware pot for kho — caramel-braised pork or fish. Holds a low, even heat that keeps a braise gentle and carries it to the table still bubbling.
Shop on Amazon →Tiered steamer
សម្ភារៈចំហុយStacked tiers for amok cups, steamed cakes, and fish — gentle, even heat that sets custards without breaking them. A wide pot with a rack stands in.
Shop on Amazon →Sticky-rice basket
ចង្អេរThe cone-shaped bamboo basket that steams soaked glutinous rice into fluffy, separate grains — the way sticky rice is meant to be cooked, not boiled.
Shop on Amazon →Charcoal grill
ចង្ក្រានអាំងCambodian grilling is charcoal grilling — sach ko ang, grilled fish, skewers. The smoke is half the flavour, and a small clay or steel grill is all you need.
Shop on Amazon →
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Questions from the kitchen
What is palm fruit and where do I find it?
It is the jelly-like flesh of the mature sugar-palm fruit — the same tree that gives the sap for palm sugar, so nothing on it goes to waste. Khmer and Thai groceries sell the pulp frozen, often labelled toddy palm. Its floral, faintly cheesy perfume is what sets num t'not apart.
Can I make it without the palm fruit?
You can make a lovely palm-sugar steamed cake without it, and many do — just lean a little harder on the palm sugar for colour and depth. It will not be true num t'not, which owes its particular fragrance to the fruit, but it will be an honest sweet in the same family.
Why is my cake rubbery?
Too much tapioca or glutinous flour, or over-steaming. Keep the tapioca to a fifth of the flour weight at most and pull the cakes as soon as a skewer comes clean. A good num t'not is tender and slightly crumbly, not bouncy.
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