The Filipino rice cake often cooked in clay pots and sometimes described as a pancake is bibingka.
Bibingka is a baked rice cake traditionally made from galapóng, a batter produced by soaking and grinding glutinous rice. The batter is poured into a shallow terracotta container lined with banana leaves, then cooked with heat below and above. This gives it a soft, slightly spongy center and a toasted, leaf-scented surface.
It is especially associated with the Christmas season in the Philippines, where it is commonly eaten after Simbang Gabi. Typical toppings include butter, sugar, grated coconut, cheese, and salted duck egg. Modern versions may use rice flour, metal pans, or electric ovens rather than fermented rice batter and clay cookware.
Bibingka is not the same as puto, which is generally steamed, or espasol, a chewy rice-flour sweet. The pancake comparison refers to its broad, flat shape and rice-based batter; bibingka is normally baked rather than fried on a griddle. Regional versions include cassava bibingka, bibingkang malagkit, and the pancake-like salukara.