Friday, September 28, 2012

Chinese White Honeycomb cake (Bak Tong Gou, 白糖糕) and Steamed Rice Cake (松糕 )

These 2 recipes are even simpler than the steamed cake recipe in my post steamed mug cake. Simple ingredients, no whipping of eggs. That sounds easy to me as I do not have any egg beater.

There are different versions in the net. Below are adapted from recipe books. Minimal steps is required and it is quite effortlessly done.

My hubby loves the White Honeycomb cake and requested that I do it again. I will do it next time as I had already finished my batch of rice flour playing with steaming different rice cake and radish cake.


Chinese White Honeycomb cake (Bak Tong Gou, 白糖糕)

Recipe adapted from Cake in Steam 蒸糕招 by Liu Fenglan 刘凤澜.!

Ingredients: 
  • 150g rice flour
  • 125ml water
  • almost 1/2 cup castor sugar
  • 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Procedure:-
  1. Mix rice flour and some water. Knead into soft dough.
  2. Add in 125ml water, castor sugar and yeast. Pour into the rice flour dough. Stir with a fork till everything looks dissolved. Filter the sediment away. 
  3. Cover the bowl of watery mixture with a piece of wet cloth and let it rest for 6 hours.
  4. Set up the steamer. remove the cloth and steam for 30 minutes.
Yeast mixture and rice flour dough
watery mixture
Mixture after resting for 6 hours

After steaming


Steamed Rice Cake (松糕 )

Recipe adapted from Magic Steamed Cake  蒸出蛋糕香  by Alex Goh  吴景发 .!

Ingredients: 
  • 2/3 cup (9.5tbsp) rice flour
  • 110ml water
  • 1/4 cup castor sugar ( This is lesser sugar than the recipe called for)
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 3 tsp vinegar
Procedure:-

Pour into mould 90% full
  1. Mix all ingredient with a fork.
  2. Pour the batter and fill up cupcake liner 90% full
  3. Steam for about 25 minutes

If you like to have colouring, you may want to add some. I would recommend using natural food colouring/ juice obtain from  food source. Mix them into the water and make up 110ml. Happy experimenting with natural food colourings. You may be surprise to see what you get!

Saffron orange cake

Orange cake

Back: Purple sweet potato as colouring. Some what I think when mixed with vinegar turns green
Front: Plain 

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46 comments:

  1. You always have those unique food to share, something different. Interesting recipe =)

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  2. Thanks for your compliment! I'll always try to find some recipes for comfort food. But nowadays I am working, probably not much time to try out new recipes.
    See how it goes.

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  3. Ohhhhh!!! I like the Honeycomb cake! It is one of my favourites and yes, your recipes are so interesting! It is so homely yet people do not make them anymore. Which brand of yeast do you use? From NTUC? I wanna have a go! :D Thanks for sharing

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your compliment! I used bake king instant yeast. :) Actually, any brand will do.

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  4. Is the sugar necessary? Can I use substitute sugar? I love honeycomb cake, but then the sugar is a killer...

    By the way, yours looks great! Nice effect.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! The sugar is needed for the yeast to feed on. otherwise, there won‘t be this honeycomb effect.

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  5. Hi, I was wondering where do you leave the mixture to rest for 6 hours? Also, is it okay to put less sugar? Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Hi! Sorry for late reply! I leave it in a corner of my preparation table, covered with wet cloth. I have not tried with lesser sugar but i suppose it may affect the taste and texture of the cake as the yeast would feed on the sugar so as to produce the honeycomb effect.

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    2. Add on:- I live in tropical area so room temperature is enough to make the yeast ferment. Otherwise put the mixture to rest in a place of temperature or around 32 -38C.

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  6. This looks delicious! I have been looking everywhere for this recipe. Is it regular rice flour or glutinous rice flour? I'm never sure!

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  7. Thanks for a great recipe. What size pan did you use? Do you use warm water? Do you pour the mixture through a sieve before and/or after letting it rest? Do I stir it before steaming? I noticed that the is a build up at the bottom of the pan when I poured it into another pan to steam. Mine wasn't as fluffy as yours so just wanted to make sure to follow your recipe to after T. Thanks!!!

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    Replies
    1. I used 6 inch pan.
      For step 2, I did not used warm water as Singapore has an temperature almost the same as the optimum temperature range for yeast to grow and reproduce at dough fermentation stage. It is 27° C–32° C. I did use a sieve to filter.
      After filter, let the mixture rest and do not stir or pour into another pan. That would destroy some of the bubbles which are necessary for the honeycomb effect.

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  8. what is castor sugar? here in the U.S. we use white granulated sugar cane.... is there a difference?

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    Replies
    1. Hi there!
      Castor sugar is very fine sugar. It is finer than granulated sugar cane. In US, it should be superfine sugar. Refer to http://www.ochef.com/580.htm
      However, not to worry, I read that you can make them from granulated sugar.
      Refer :http://frugalliving.about.com/od/makeyourowningredients/r/Castor_Sugar.htm

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    2. how much is 150 grams of rice flour? and 125 ml water? and we talking about mochiko , right

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    3. You can convert the measurement unit using the metric converter calculator. http://southernfood.about.com/library/info/blconv.htm
      I have not use mochiko flour. If I am not wrong Mochiko is glutinous rice flour. I am using the non-glutinous rice flour. The package is labelled it as rice flour.

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  9. Hello, Sweetday. Is Vinegar necessary for Steamed Rice cake? If yes, which type of Vinegar? can I use Apple Vinegar

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    Replies
    1. I used normal rice vinegar for the steam rice cake. I am using baking soda as an leavening agent. It would not work if I have not add another acidic substance into it. You can try experimenting by substituting rice vinegar with apple vinegar. It should work the same way but the flavour probably change a little. Did you notice when I use orange juice which is also acidic, the cakes puff up even more to the extent it cracks?

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  10. Hi Sweetday, thanks for the reply. When you use orange juice, do you still put vinegar? If yes, how much vinegar did you use? and how much orange juice? Have you tried to make steamed rice cake with banana? My daughter loves to eat banana. I am thinking to substitute baking soda with baking powder and put some banana. Will try out this weekend and share with you the result

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    Replies
    1. Actually. if you are using orange juice you do not need vinegar. 3 tsp would be enough unless you want rice cake that taste like orange. I do not know how it would affect the raising of the cake though. What I did was add 3 tsp of orange juice, then top up the volume using water to 110ml. If you are using baking powder, you would have to double or triple the amount. ie. 1 tsp baking soda = 2-3 tsp of baking powder. I have not tried banana steam rice cake, let me know the result! Thanks!

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  11. Hi can I check with you, how long can you keep the bai tang gao? Also, how do you usually store them, in the fridge or outside?

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    Replies
    1. This portion I made can be consumed within a day. It is enough for 3-4 person. If you are intending to make more, you can store in fridge and consume within 3 days.

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  12. I did it! Very happy for once MIL actually agree that's the right taste but the downside is I assume it'll be big put in a plate too big and end up kinda flat:)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for letting me know your MIL's opinion! Next time you can adjust the amount accordingly using ratio. :) The portion I made is quite small for 4 person. :)

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  13. Hi, for the bai tang gao, I left it for more than 6 hours and it did'nt seemed to be cooked after steaming. Will the mixture turn bad if left for too long?

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    Replies
    1. So is your mixture still liquid after 30 minutes of steaming?

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    2. Its like harden form. But it didnt "fa". Flat. N just very gluey kind.

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    3. I am not really sure what went wrong for your case. Probably the mixture may have been left too long. But my guess is that your yeast may not be active any more. Have you tried proofing it? When you add a teaspoon of the yeast and a pinch of sugar in warm water, stir and let the solution sit for a few minutes. If there is bubbly foam, then the failure could be due to other reasons. If there is no bubbly foam, it means the yeast is not working any more.

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    4. Recently tried and kind of succeed with your recipe. So i guess the yeast should be fine. Thanks for replying.

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    5. Sorry to keep bothering you, is there any way to make the bai tang gao rise up even more? I have tried adding more yeast. But the result seems the same.

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  14. I have not tried rising it further. This is a liquid mixture, hence, I think it will follow the shape of the container you steam it in. You can try getting a higher container and increase proportion of the recipe.

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  15. I've been living overseas and have completely forgotten this delicious childhood delight. I made it today and it came out more Perfect than I expected! I used 1/3 cup sugar. Fermented the batter near my heater (it's winner now) Divided the batter into 3 portions and steamed in individual 4 inch glass bowls. Thanks so much for your easy to follow recipe. Bless you.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment! Glad you like it! So you are referring to the steamed rice cake?

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  16. Hi sweetday, I tried the steamed cake. The bottom turn out quite moist and sticky while the top looks nice and fluffy. Is the bottom supposed to be like this? Or isit because I didnt mix enough?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Vanessa, it is not supposed to be moist and sticky.

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    2. Mine taste like Fa Gao. How long did you stir the mixture?

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    3. The steamed rice cake does taste like Fa Gao.

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  17. After it fermented for 6 hours, must I stir the mixture again before steam them?

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    Replies
    1. No. Please don't stir! The fermenting process also allow the yeast create bubbles in the mixture. These bubbles will create the honeycomb effect.

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  18. There is a version of this that looks like it has a brown sugar mochi layer on the bottom, and a more traditional steamed rice cake on top. Got a recipie for thatVersion?

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