Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Cassava Pone
A dense, chewy bake of grated cassava, coconut, and warm spice, a much-loved Guyanese teatime slice.
Guyanese · easy · serves 10
prep 20 min · cook 75 min
~566 cal · 3g protein · 72g carbs · 31g fat · 7g fiber · 31g sugars · 25g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
pone is a cornerstone of Guyanese and wider Caribbean baking, a dense, chewy bake that turns humble grated into a spiced, coconut-rich treat. Its roots run back to the Indigenous peoples of the Guianas, for whom was the staple crop.
Grated is mixed with grated coconut, sugar, and butter, then spiced generously with cinnamon and nutmeg and often a little grated pumpkin for moisture. Baked slowly, it firms into a sliceable, sticky-centred slab quite unlike a light cake.
It keeps well and travels well, which made it a fixture of lunch pails and church teas. Cut into squares and eaten with a cup of tea, it is the sort of unfussy, deeply satisfying sweet every Guyanese grandmother has a version of.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 10
4 cups grated
Hard to find? frozen grated cassava, thawed and squeezed - sold in Asian and Latin freezer aisles; identical in the bake and spares the grating
2 cups grated coconut
1 cup grated pumpkin
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1
Mix the grated cassava, coconut, and pumpkin with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, and vanilla.
✎ Chef’s note
The black pepper is the traditional Guyanese signature of cassava pone; it adds a gentle warm bite against the sweet coconut and cassava.
2
Stir in the melted butter and coconut milk to a thick, spoonable batter.
3
Pour into a greased baking dish and bake at 350F (180C) until firm and deep golden on top, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
It is done when the edges pull away and the centre is set but still a little sticky. Cassava pone is meant to be dense and chewy, not cakey.
4
Cool completely before cutting into squares, so it firms up enough to slice cleanly.
Guyanese Caribbean baking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Demerara (Georgetown). Cassareep is the whole trick and it needs care. The juice of bitter cassava is poisonous raw and has to be boiled down hard into a thick dark syrup, which is what makes it safe and also what keeps the pot. That is why a pepperpot can be reheated and added to across days without spoiling.
🗺️
Guyana. Cassareep is what makes pepperpot work and it is a chemistry lesson: the juice of bitter cassava, which carries cyanogenic compounds and is dangerous raw, boiled down for hours with spices until it is a black syrup that is both safe and antibacterial. That is why the pot can sit out and be reheated day after day.
🌍
South America. Migration reworked the plate within living memory. Japanese arrivals in Peru and Brazil produced Nikkei cooking, Italians made pasta and pizza entirely ordinary in Argentina, Uruguay and Sao Paulo, and West African cooking carried into Bahia by the slave trade gave Brazil dende palm oil, okra and a whole ritual repertoire.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Guyana
Guyanese PepperpotMeat slow-simmered in cassareep, cinnamon, and hot pepper until glossy black, the Amerindian-rooted Christmas classic.
Sada Roti with Tomato ChokaSoft griddled flatbread torn and dipped into smoky fire-roasted tomato choka sharpened with garlic and onion, a vegan Guyanese classic.
Cook-up RiceA one-pot of rice and peas simmered in coconut milk with meat and herbs, Guyana's Saturday-night comfort dish.
Browse all Guyana recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Cassava Pone?
A dense, chewy bake of grated cassava, coconut, and warm spice, a much-loved Guyanese teatime slice.
Where does Cassava Pone come from?
Cassava Pone is a Guyanese dish from Demerara (Georgetown), Guyana.
Can Cassava Pone be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Cassava Pone recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Cassava Pone safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Cassava Pone take to make?
About 95 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 75 minutes cooking), serving 10.
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