Traditional Water Chestnut Cake 馬蹄糕 Made Easy
Celebrate Chinese New Year with this traditional water chestnut cake (馬蹄糕), a soft, slightly sweet, and refreshingly light Chinese dessert. This easy water chestnut cake recipe is perfect for sharing with family and friends.
Equipment
- 1 Steamer or Wok with lid
Ingredients
- 7-8 Pieces Fresh water chestnut
- 125 g Rock sugar
- 70 g Chinese brown sugar slab
- 390 ml Water Combine with sugar in a pot
- 115 g Water chestnut flour
- 345 ml Water For mixing with water chestnut flour
Instructions
- Wash and peel the skin off the water chestnuts and then divide the water chestnuts in half.
- Mash and dice half of the water chestnuts, and slice the rest and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, add in your water chestnut flour + water
- Mix everything well together and then sieve the mixture into another bowl. Make sure to break up any lumps that you see as well.
- Now, in a pot, add in your Chinese brown sugar, rock sugar, and water.
- Turn on the stove and melt the sugar in the water on medium-low heat.
- Next, slowly pour in the water chestnut flour and water mixture in 3 stages into the sugar water that you just melted in the pot while keeping the heat on low to medium-low heat and constantly stirring the pot.
- Cook it until it becomes thick, making sure not to let it stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
- Once done, remove it from the stove and add the water chestnut to the batter. Mix everything well together.
- Now grease your container with a little cooking oil.
- Then pour the mixture into the greased container.
- Now, pick up the container and slam it back down onto your countertop a few times to even out the mixture in the container.
- Pop any air bubbles that you see with a toothpick on the surface.
- Now cover the top of the container with some aluminum foil or plastic wrap.
- Then place the container inside a steamer or wok with boiling water and steam it for about 45 minutes on high heat or until the water chestnut cake is fully cooked (it should look translucent). Make sure the water inside of the steamer is already boiling when you add the container. Note: steaming time will vary.
- Once the water chestnut cake is fully cooked, remove it from the steamer.
- Let it cool down at room temperature and then cover it and place it in the fridge overnight.
- After cooling down in the fridge overnight, the water chestnut cake can be easily removed from the container.
- Slice the water chestnut cake into pieces and pan-fry it with a little oil in a non-stick pan before eating, or just eat it as is, either cold or warming it up in the microwave.
Notes
Note: steaming time will vary depending on the type of container you use, as well as the thickness of the container. The water should be boiling already when you add the container to the steamer.