A Traditional Chinese Sweet Snack: Steamed White Sugar Cake (Bak Tong Gou) 蒸白糖糕
Steamed White Sugar Cake is a classic in Chinese bakeries. It is a traditional Chinese snack that is white in colour, sweet and light as it is steamed. Freshly Steamed White Sugar Cake is deliciously soft and moist. The cake is not too sweet, slightly chewy and is wonderfully spongy from the honeycomb-like appearance on the inside of the cake. Making it is like renewing childhood memories as it is a favourite childhood cake for many people.
Deliciously Soft and Sweet Steamed Cake with A Honeycomb Texture
The recipe for Steamed White Sugar Cake is super easy. Making this cake is very straight forward with just a few ingredients namely rice flour, instant yeast, sugar and water. Start by dissolving instant yeast with warm water and leave to proof till foamy. Meanwhile, mix together rice flour and water. Use room temperature or cool water and a whisk to mix until there are no lumps in the batter. Next, add hot sugar syrup into the rice flour mixture and continue mixing till well combined.
Set aside to cool to lukewarm before adding the foamy instant yeast. Cover and leave in a warm enviroment until big bubbles appear on the surface of batter. When the yeast has fermented, the cake is ready to be steamed. Steam over high heat for 30 minutes and remove. And we are done! Using Pandan leaves adds an additional soft and sweet aroma to this simple steamed rice cake too.
A Favourite Kuih That Is So Easy To Make
What is so unique about Steamed White Sugar Cake is that it is such a simple cake but it is just so delicious. This cake is sweet but not overly sweet since the recipe requires fermentation with yeast. After steaming, it has very nice fluffy big bubbles inside the cake. Certainly a very pretty sight indeed.
As always, Enjoy!
Steamed White Sugar Cake (Bak Tong Gou) 蒸白糖糕
Steamed White Sugar Cake (Bak Tong Gou) 蒸白糖糕
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Ingredients
Ingredient A:
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tbsp water, lukewarm
Ingredient B:
- 300 grams rice flour, sifted
- 280 grams water, room temperature
Ingredient C:
- 200 grams sugar
- 340 grams water, room temperature
- 3 pieces pandan leaves, knotted
Ingredient:
- ½ tsp cooking oil
Start by dissolving 1 teaspoon instant yeast in 1 tbsp lukewarm water.
Set aside the mixture for 10 minutes or until the mixture turns foamy.
Have ready rice flour and water.
Place sifted rice flour into a medium size bowl and add in water. Whisk and combine till you get a thick and smooth batter. Then set aside.
Next, have ready sugar, water and knotted pandan leaves.
In a saucepan, heat up the sugar with water and pandan leaves until sugar dissolves.
Then slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the rice flour mixture, stirring it constantly to prevent lumps forming.
Leave aside the rice flour mixture to cool until warm. (about 30 C)
When cooled, add in the foamy instant yeast mixture and stir well to combine everything together.
Then cover with plastic wrap and leave to proof in a warm environment for 2 hours.
Or until large bubbles form on the surface.
When ready, add in 1/2 tsp of cooking oil. Stir the batter again, mixing well. And we are ready to steam the cake.
Prepare steamer by bringing the water in the steamer to a rapid boil.
Brush a 10 inch round cake pan with cooking oil.
Pour the ready batter into the oiled cake pan.
Rest 20 minutes until small bubbles appear.
Place in steamer and steam for 30 minutes on high heat.
Remove the cake pan from steamer and let cool on the counter before cutting the cake.
Once it is cool enough to handle, gently run a spatula along the edges to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Then remove the rice cake from pan.
Simply cut the white rice cake into slices and served as snacks.
57 comments
I failed twice before with a different recipe so I was excited when I cut it apart, I saw the honeycomb texture. I also half the recipe and steamed it in an 8 inch pan, left out the pandan leaves. I steamed it for 25 min instead and checked with a toothpick, had only very little pieces stuck to it. You have to let it cool completely to eat, we were impatient, so it tasted more floury and tart than others we tried. Once it was cooled after 2 hours, it was less tart. The top part was not floury but the bottom part was still a little bit. So I wonder if I didn’t steam long enough? Overall, I would go back and try again with this. I tested my yeast to make sure it’s alive, but it never foam up as much as the photo in this recipe. Also after I proofed it for 2 hours in my oven with the proof function, it also didn’t have big bubbles like this recipe, but had some small bubbles and I smelled the fermentation. I steamed it on medium high as well.
Make sure the yeast used are fresh so you get big bubbles. Thanks for your feedback.
Hi Angie. I made half of this recipe, it was a success! Lots of honeycomb & chewy too. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
You are most welcome. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi Angie. I tried making this twice, both failed. The bottom half of the cake didn’t rise at all, it was sticky & dense. The top half was ok, it had holes & fluffy. Why was the bottom half dense & sticky? Thanks for your feedback.
Hi Angie
Can I half your recipe for a one person portion? Thanks
Should not be a problem. You will need to use a smaller plate to steam.
Hi, I only have confectioners sugar. Will 200g of that be alright to use for this recipe? Thanks!
I personally have not used icing sugar for this. Don’t think you can as it will affect the success of the recipe as castor sugar and icing sugar are not the same.
Hi Angie, how to store the cake and how long does it lasts?
Thank you
Hi, this cake is best taken fresh. If it is just for up to 2 days, you can store in an airtight container at room temperature. For longer period it is better to put the container in the fridge or freeze them. Re-steam the cake until soft again before consume. Can be kept maybe up to a week in the fridge/freezer.
What kind of rice flour – glutinous or regular?
This is rice flour. Not glutinous rice flour or plain flour.
Hi Angie,
My first trial using brown sugar was indeed perfect. My rice mixture had big bubbles when I left it to proof.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Hi Angie
Can I use dark brown sugar instead of white?
Thanks a lot,
Yes, you can. The cake will however will not be white in colour. Thanks
My rice cake was looking really good it rose like it was supposed to and it looked great while steaming and then it fell flat after 30 minutes! What did I do wrong???
Hi, the rice cake may fall while cooling if it is not thoroughly steamed. Check for doneness before removing from steamer by inserting a toothpick in the centre of cake and it should come out clean if cooked.
Hi Angie,
I tried your recipe with the same measurements but when I steamed the cake it didn’t have the honeycomb texture. It was like a fudge consistency “steamed white fudged cake” lol, I’m trying to figure out what went wrong still. Any suggestions?
Did you make sure the instant yeast is active? Bubbles should appear when you proof the yeast if it is still good.
What brand of yeast do you use? I’m so jealous of your proofing! My batter turned out very runny with small bubbles, it felt like the rice flour just sunk to the bottom of the pan. Even after steaming for close to an hour the whole thing was still rather gooey and undercooked (I measured by weight). Does adding the boiling sugar syrup cook the batter possibly? I waited a few seconds so the syrup wasn’t quite boiling when I added it to the batter
Hi, you can use any type of instant yeast. The important thing is to make sure that the yeast is still active. That’s why you need to proof the yeast. You must make sure the yeast mixture turns foamy which means the yeast is good and active. Otherwise you may need to get some fresh ones instead. Also make sure your rice flour mixture is cooled down to lukewarm before adding the foamy yeast mixture. If the liquid is too hot, the yeast may be “killed”.
MING
November 7, 2020 – 10:22 am
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Hi Angie, I would like to try your recipe today 😉 May I confirm if the measurement for water should be in ml or gram? Thanks a lot!
Halo…..I would like to check with you, can I make it tonight and leave it till the next day night?
Yes, you can cover and store the cake at room temperature for up to 24 hours. After that you can refrigerate for up to 3 to 4 days. To reheat, warm in the microwave or by light steaming.
Thanks so much for your sharing. I’ve tried it out last Friday. But too bad, it failed.
While steaming, the stand that holds the 8”pan, turns to one side. So ended up it looks like a hill with a slope down! 😬😭
And the thick side (mountain), didn’t have any texture but just flat and thick. The thin side (slope) has the comb texture. I’m so sad with it after hours of preparing it.
Do I need to leave a hole or something on the cover when steaming it?
Hi, so sorry to hear of what happened. There is no need to leave any opening when steaming the cake. Just use high heat will do. All the best if you are making it again. Do let me know how it turns out. Enjoy!
[…] Steamed White Sugar Cake (Bak Tong Gou) 蒸白糖糕 […]
I tried this but the smell of yeast turned out too strong. What does 10minutes mean? Do I prepare the mixture 10minutes before pouring it to B mixture? I’m thinking I might have it too early cause it was waiting for almost 30minutes.
The 10 minutes wait is to make sure the yeast you are using is active (not expired). So, as long as it turns foamy, you can pour into mixture B. Thanks.
Hi, After pour the ready batter into the pan, should I leave it to rest for 20 mins before steaming?
Thanks
Best to do that. Even if you don’t it should be fine as long as you leave to proof until big bubbles formed earlier. Thanks
Hi, After pour the ready batter into the pan, should I leave it to rest for 20 mins before steaming?
Thanks
Rita
Yes, you can
Also, can you change the grams into cups for me? I don’t have a scale.
What if you don’t have pandan leaves?
Just leave out the pandan leaves. It will taste just as great.
I only have 9″ round pan. Should I make any adjustments?
It should be fine. There is no need to make any adjustment.The cake will just be thicker/ higher. Thanks
Aloha from Maui, Hawaii and thank you so much for this. After 2 failed attempts using another recipe (with oven proofing), your recipe came up perfect even though my instant yeast (different brands, multiple packets) wouldn’t bubble as much as yours. I didn’t have the leaves either, so I am thrilled.
So glad you like it. Thanks for the feedback. Enjoy!
Hi Angie, I would like to try your recipe today 😉 May I confirm if the measurement for water should be in ml or gram? Thanks a lot!
Actually ml and gram is the same for water. So you can use either. Let me know how it turns out. Enjoy
Hi Angie, thanks a lot for your reply. My cake turned out dense and a tad dry with the top layer cracked. Does this mean it’s over steamed? I’ve a confession ~ i actually forgot about it during the fermentation and only steamed 6 hours later😬 Did this impact how the cake was supposed to turn out? I didn’t get the large bubbles like you, just a lot of tiny bubbles. Thank you!
I think you have over proof. You can follow the steps in my website for more details. Thanks
Dear, I managed to do it and it’s yummy!
I reduced the sugar to 180gm, cos I want to take care of my weight 😬🤣
The bubble wasn’t so much like yours during the process of fermentation.
The top part is a bit sticky when I cut it. I will try to do it again. But the taste turns out yummy!!!
Thanks so much for the recipe dear.
Thanks for the feedback. Did not steam enough? Do update on your next attempt.
Will it taste different if I leave out the pandan leaves? I am not sure I can find it in the stores where I live.
Yes, it will taste as great without the pandan leaves. It’s fine to leave it out. Thanks
Can i just leave the flour mix to proof in normal room temperature?
Yes, just leave to proof at room temperature.
Hi Angie! Love your site…….just wondering if you can make the recipe for steamed white sugar cake without the pandan leaves. I don’t have easy access to that, and I don’t remember my mom using that when she made this for us as kids! Will it taste completely different???? Thanks!
Hi Julie, you certainly can leave out the Pandan Leaves if it’s not available. It’s just to add extra fragrance to the cake. Taste just as nice without. No worries. So happy to know you like our site!
Can i check if I can just leave the mix to proof at room temperature as i do not have an oven hence no warm environment for proofing it? Will i need to allocate more time if i just leave it covered at room temperature?
Just leave to proof at room temperature will do. There is no need to put in an oven. Just proof till you see bubbles formed. Thanks
Thanks. Cos earlier i had tried another recipe online and i left the mix to proof at rm temperature for 2 hours. I saw only some small bubbles on top. When i went to steam it for 40 mins, it remained wet and soggy. Was wondering if it is because the proofing was done at rm temp
When there is little bubbles, just leave for a little while longer. Sometimes the temperature varies a bit depending on where you leave it. Thanks