Steamed Chinese White Sugar Sponge Cake
Soft, spongy, fragrant, and sweet, these steamed Chinese white sugar sponge cakes make a great snack when you’re craving something light and soft with a hint of sweetness.
Equipment
- 1 Steamer
- 1 Small saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon Instant Yeast 5g
- 2 Tablespoons Warm water For activating yeast (30ml)
- 255 g Rice flour
- 250 ml Distilled water
- 1 teaspoon Cooking oil Neutral oil
- 140 g White granulated sugar
- 350 ml Water For dissolving sugar
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, add your sugar and 350ml of water. Heat up the saucepan until all of the sugar is melted, and then remove the pot from the stove. You don’t need to bring the sugar water to a boil.
- Now, in a large bowl, add in your rice flour and cooking oil and mix everything well together.
- Next, add 250ml of water to the bowl. Mix everything well together until there are no more clumps of rice flour and the mixture is smooth.
- Now add the sugar water into the mixture while stirring the bowl. After mixing everything well together, set the bowl aside and allow it to cool off.
- Now in a small bowl or dish, add in your instant yeast and 2 tablespoons of warm water. Mix everything well together and set it aside.
- After about 10 minutes or so, once the yeast has been activated and your rice flour mixture liquid has cooled down, add in your yeast mixture to the large mixing bowl as well. Mix everything well together.
- Cover the bowl and let it proof in a warm environment such as your oven. You can add a bowl of hot water to the oven to increase the oven temperature.
- Let the rice flour mixture proof for about an hour until you see a lot of bubbles and a fizzing sound developing in the mixture.
- While your rice flour mixture is proofing, grab a large mold or container and brush some oil onto the mold. This will help prevent the steamed rice flour sponge cake from sticking to the pan after you’re done steaming it. I’m using a large round mold (25cm in diameter), but you can use whatever you want.
- After your rice flour mixture is done proofing, stir the mixture well, making sure not to let the rice flour settle at the bottom. Now pour the mixture into the greased mold.
- Next, get your steamer or wok ready by bringing some water in the steamer or wok to a boil.
- Once the water comes to a boil, give the mold a quick stir to prevent the rice flour from pooling at the bottom and then place the mold or container into the steamer or wok, cover it with a lid, and steam it on medium-high heat for about 27-28 minutes or until the steamed rice flour sponge cake is fully cooked.
- You can check for doneness by sticking a toothpick into the white sugar rice flour sponge cake and seeing if the toothpick comes out clean or not. If it’s fully cooked, it should come out clean.
- After you’re done steaming the white sugar sponge cake, turn off the stove, open the lid slightly on the edge, and leave the sponge cake in the steamer for an additional 4-5 minutes. Do not open the lid!
- After 4-5 minutes, remove the white sugar sponge cake from the steamer and let it cool down while covering it with a cloth to prevent the top of the cake from drying out.
- Let it cool down for about 30 minutes to an hour or until it’s no longer hot. This helps to get rid of the sour yeast smell from the white sugar sponge cake and makes it easier to come off the mold once it has cooled down.
- Now, remove the white sugar sponge cake from the mold. Be careful as it is still fragile and can tear apart if you’re too rough with it.
- Cut the Chinese sponge cake into pieces and serve.
Notes
I used a 25cm diameter round metal pan.