C hinese steam ed sponge cake (jidan gao) |chinese grandm a

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chinese grandm a

C hinese steam ed sponge cake (ji dan gao)

8 February 2013
N obody goes to a C hinese restaurantfor dessert.D airy products such as cream and butter,so essential
to pastry,w ere uncom m on in C hina until recent years.E ven today,ovens are nottypically found in
C hinese kitchens.T raditional C hinese treats are m ade on the stovetop fried goodies such as sw eet,
chew y sesam e seed balls m ade w ith rice flour,or steam ed treats such as the sticky C hinese N ew Y ear
rice flour cake called nian gao.C loser to a W estern idea of dessert is this soft,springy sponge cake
m ade sim ply w ith eggs,sugar and flour.
In A m erica,steam ing as a cooking technique is pretty m uch lim ited to vegetables.B ut the C hinese
know how to m ake use of this versatile m ethod w ith succulent steam ed fish,m oist steam ed chicken,
and,m ostnotably,the vastarray of dum plings and other bite-sized savories stacked in tow ers of
bam boo steam ers atdim sum .

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D uring m y 20s in N ew Y ork C ity,no w eekeend dim sum excursion to C hinatow n w as com plete
w ithouta steam ed sponge cake to take hom e a couple of dollars for a square so giant that even after
pulling off sw eet,cushy bites all the w ay hom e I w ould still have plenty for a snack later that day and
perhaps even the next.
Steam ed sponge cake is the rare dim sum item that is easily m ade at hom e.It has the springiness of
angelfood cake but a fuller flavor,like a regular om elet com pared to an egg w hite one.Its
Italian/French sponge cake cousin,the genoise,can be dry,butsteam ing m akes the C hinese version
softer and m oister,even w ithout the added butter of m any genoise cakes.
T his is a cake for snacking.Itw orks for breakfast not health food,but itis very eggy or to grab a
slice on the run.Its spongy texture m akes itconvenient for eating out of hand,unlike a regular cake
w hich w ould be too crum bly,and its light vanilla sw eetness is appealing any tim e of day.
I
ve m ade this cake m any tim es over m any years,and it is never quite perfect.B utI don
t m ake this
cake for its looks; a steam ed cake w ill never have the nicely golden crustof a baked one.It
s a cake I
m ake justbecause I like to eatit.
Y ou don
tneed a bam boo steam er to m ake this cake.U sually I justm ake itin the steam er basket of
m y pasta potafter lining itw ith w ax paper.B ut m ore attractive is to use a regular 8-inch cake pan.
Find a w ide,covered pot that w ill fit the pan,and the only trick is finding a rack to fitin the bottom of
the potthatw ill hold the cake pan above the boiling w ater.A s G race Y oung suggests in her classic
W isdom of the C hinese K itchen,you can also prop the pan on em pty 2-inch cans w ith the ends cut
out.

T his is one recipe thatcalls for an electric m ixer.Y ou can m ix m anually w ith a w hisk,but an electric
m ixer w illincorporate m ore air and m ake a lighter cake.
I like the purity of the egg-sugar-flour approach w ithout additionalleavening.B ut it is hard for m e to
geta consistent result,and often I get spots in the cake that are denser than others.

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I tried the genoise approach of beating the eggs over a hot w ater bath to incorporate m ore air into the
egg-sugar m ixture.B ut that cake ended up driest of all.A nd it took a lot longer to beat the eggs
sufficiently high.

In this version I m ade a sm aller batch in a bam boo steam er.

T his one looked the best.

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M y fam ily liked the sim plest egg-sugar-flour version best,w ith no baking pow der and no w ater bath.
It
s denser than the ones you
d buy in C hinatow n,and I still had a few spots that fell a bit (see the
darker yellow bits).B ut the kids loved the soft denseness of it.

O ld schoolC hinese cooks m ade this cake w ith a bow l each of eggs,sugar and flour,w ithoutthe aid of
m easuring cups or electric m ixers.B ut in the end,I think a little baking pow der m akes for a m ore
forgiving recipe.M y lastbaking-pow der version w asn
t visually perfect (left foreground below )
probably because I
m too rushed to siftm y flour or m ake sure m y batter is even butit w orks and
tastes like itshould.

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So restassured,as w ith all recipes featured here,perfection is notrequired.I have no doubtthe m ore
carefulam ong you w ill easily outdo m y efforts.B ut I think even an im perfect rendition w on
t
disappoint.

H appy C hinese N ew Y ear on Sunday! Y ear of the snake,or as the C hinese like to call it
euphem istically,
little dragon.W ishing double happiness to you all.
C hinese Steam ed Sponge C ake

O vens aren
tcom m only found in C hina,so bread products are often steam ed on the stovetop.This
light,eggy cake,sim ilar to a genoise sponge cake,is traditionally m ade from flour,sugar and w hole

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eggs.B uta touch ofbaking pow der m akes for a m ore reliable rise.A dapted from G race Young
s
classic W idsom ofthe C hinese K itchen.
Ingredients
5 large eggs,at room tem perature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking pow der (optional)
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
D irections
1. L ine an 8-inch cake pan w ith w ax paper or parchm ent paper.Identify a w ide pot or w ok that
can accom m odate the pan and a rack that can fit in the pot and hold the pan above w ater level
(you can also sit the pan on 2-inch high cans w ith ends cutout).A dd w ater to about 1/2-inch
below rack.C over pot and heat w ater w hile you m ix cake.
2. Sifttogether flour,baking pow der and salt.
3. A dd eggs to a large m ixing bow l.U sing an electric m ixer on high speed,beat eggs for one
m inute and add sugar slow ly.B eat for until m ixture thickens,aboutfive m inutes.
4. G radually w hisk flour m ixture into eggs.A dd vanilla extract.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan.Set pan on rack and cover pot.T urn heat to m edium and steam
untiltoothpick inserted into center com es out clean,about 20-25 m inutes.If you run out of
w ater during cooking (ie you stop seeing steam ),carefully add boiling w ater to pan.T ake care
w hen rem oving lid so that condensation from lid does not drip on cake.Serve cake w arm or
cooled.
N otes
If using different-sized eggs: total egg volum e should be about 1 cup.
C ake flour substitution: rem ove tw o tablespoons from 1 cup of all-purpose flour; replace w ith
tw o tablespoons cornstarch (aka corn flour).O r if you don
t have cornstarch,sim ply use the
sm aller am ount of all-purpose flour.
Y ou m ay also substitute alm ond extract for vanilla.
H ere
s the link to a printable version.
T his w ork,unless otherw ise expressly stated,is licensed under a C reative C om m ons
A ttribution-N onC om m ercial-ShareA like 3.0 U nported L icense.
{ 32 com m ents read them below oradd one }

bablu shahani24 M arch 2013 at 9:13 pm

H ow is ppossible chinese cuisine in cake in steam e proccer to m ake cake and other is possible
please send m ail inform m e other dish also thanks

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R eply

cg 26 M arch 2013 at 10:52 pm

hi bablu i am sorry,iam notsure w hatyou are asking? you can find a list of recipes
here if thathelps.thanks.
R eply

kikukat25 M arch 2013 at10:58 pm

T his looks so ono (if you are fam iliar enough w ith H aw aii to enjoy hurricane popcorn,I
m sure
you know this term ).I think this is the sam e thing som e of us here call gai dahn biang.T hank
you for sharing your technique,and thank you for sharing about your journey w ith your dad.I
found m yself tearing up as I read it and know that one day I w ill need to w alk in your shoes.I
hope I can show the sam e resilience and strength you did.A loha.
R eply

cg 26 M arch 2013 at 11:00 pm

hi kikukat m ahalo for your kind w ords and for taking the tim e to share here! aloha.
R eply

kirsten 6 A pril 2013 at 2:37 pm

I did the recipe like you said,but it didnt rise after even 25 m inutes.W hat am I doing w rong?
R eply

cg 15 A pril 2013 at 1:36 am

hi kirsten sorry for the late response,iw as unplugged for a w eek on holiday.as for your
stubbornly unrisen cakethis recipe is harder than m ost to troubleshoot because of the
finicky nature of eggs.did it taste ok,just flat? did you use the baking pow der? i like the
pure eggs-flour-sugar recipe,but the addition of baking pow der does help the cake to rise.
even in seem ingly identical conditions,the cake is never exactly the sam e for m e
perhaps due to volum e differences in eggs,differences in flours,w eather conditions (w ho
know s??).so the baking pow der is kind of an insurance policy of sorts.
R eply

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K irsten 23 A pril 2013 at 3:00 pm

N o,it didn
t rise atall,I m ean,it w as just D O U G H .I actually did use baking
pow der.I also used a 8-8 inchround m etal pan w ith parchem entpaper.T hen I took
a w ire rack thatcovered the top of a w ok,and put the pan w ith the batter in it over
thatw hen itstarted to steam .M e and m y friend used this recipe before-it w as
fabulous.
R eply

cg 25 A pril 2013 at 12:57 am

hi kirsten sounds like you did everything right,so i
m outof ideas on w hat
w ent w rong.=( i
m sorry,that is such a bum m er w hen you spend tim e
m aking som ething and getfrustration instead of rew ard.buti
m glad that
you
ve used the recipe successfully before.
R eply

Ice 11 July 2013 at 1:15 am

just a com m ent and a thoughtthatare w ay late after A pr13
irrelevantto you

m ay be

I heard m y m other m entioned before,w hen baking/stream ing anything

over the stove (ie notoven) on chinese pastry,old granny saying is

donttalk/laughor w hatever w hen its cooking.Som e supersitious

saying,thatis,the food w ill becom e petty and w ill notraise as it
should be even thou one had follow receipe and all.T hat
s w hat I
m
been told w hen she
s stream ing
Fa G aofor C N Y .:
)
that did happen in our kitchen
Since this dish require abit of raising,m aybe,thatis the cause? W ho
know s!!

C assie 28 July 2013 at 5:17 pm

H i! C an I ask w hat you use as liner in a basket? I
ve never steam ed in a basket before.It looks
delicious!
R eply

cg 28 July 2013 at 7:54 pm

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hi cassie w ax paper or parchm ent paper w illw ork.good luck!

R eply

jew els 28 July 2013 at 5:45 pm

itried this today w ith half the portions of everything and it w ork out really w ell.very yum m y.
thanks.
R eply

cg 28 July 2013 at 8:04 pm

hi jew els good to know a half-size w orks too! thanks so m uch for sharing back.
R eply

SC 11 D ecem ber 2013 at 7:01 pm

H ello C G ,
I am preparing to m ake this delicious looking spongy cake.W ould you recom m end a hand
electric m ixer or sit-on-table m ixer?
T hanks
R eply

hew 15 A pril 2014 at 5:30 am

H i..m ay I know can I used the m ental greased m ould instaed w ax paper w ith bam boo basket.?
R eply

cg 15 A pril 2014 at 11:49 pm

hi hew good question.yes,the m etal pan is ok too.you m ay w ant to grease w ith
shortening sponge cakes are tricky,and you w ant to m ake sure the cake can clim b up
the sides of the pan.this postatm om m ie cooks has a great explanation of the science
behind sponge cakes.good luck!
R eply

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hew 16 A pril 2014 at 7:25 am

T hanks! O ne m ore question m ay I know w hat kind of cup u r using? A s I m afraid
using the dii size of cup m ay not b anle to get the sam e result
R eply

hew 16 A pril 2014 at 7:26 am

T hanks! O ne m ore question m ay I know w hat kind of cup u r using? A s I m afraid using the dii
size of cup m ay notb anle to get the sam e result
R eply

cg 16 A pril 2014 at 3:20 pm

hi hew one cup is 8 ounces.hope that helps!
R eply

Jessica 3 O ctober 2014 at 9:24 am

H ello! I have m ade this cake so m any tim es and I love it.
H ow ever,I am m aking one at the m inute and itit not steam ing properly,I am using a bam boo
steam er but it is not fully cooked as itis still gooey in the m iddle.A partfrom keep steam ing it
for longer,is there anything else I can do to get this cake cooked?
M any T hanks,
Jessica
R eply

cg 3 O ctober 2014 at 9:41 am

hi jessica m ore steam ing is all in can think of.if you have all the ingredients correct,it
should cook through eventually.eggs can be tricky fingers crossed itw orks out!!
R eply

K athy 4 O ctober 2014 at 8:36 pm

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I don
tknow how I m anaged to m iss this recipe after perusing your site so often.T hanks so
m uch for sharing your fam ily
s traditional recipes.W e adopted our younger (now alm ost 11
years old) daughter from C hina,and I w as w ondering if you
ve ever had a sm all C hinese pastry
filled w ith pum pkin? W hen w e w ere in Jiangxi Province,in N anchang,w e had this delicious
dessert sort of a crescent shaped,very sm all pie that w e w ere told w as
the C hinese version of
pum pkin pieand that pum pkin w as a big part of the local people
s diet in this particular area
during the C C R .I
ve searched the internet but haven
tfound the recipe.
R eply

cg 23 O ctober 2014 at 10:27 am

hi kathy sorry i
m super late on responding to com m ents! ihaven
t had a chinese pastry
w ith pum pkin,butit sounds delicious.buti did recently see a post by m y friend m arcella
forbrow n butter pum pkin steam ed buns thatsound phenom enal.m aybe thatw ould do? in
any case,they look am azing i
m hoping to try them too this fall.=)
R eply

C hristine 1 D ecem ber 2014 at 5:00 pm

C ould i use alm ond flour instead of cake flour? w ould it be 1 to 1?
T hanks!
R eply

cg 1 D ecem ber 2014 at 5:39 pm

hi christine substituting flours is very tricky.flours differ in so m any w ays (w eight,
absorption,stickiness/gluten) that w ill affect the finalproduct.m y feeling is that alm ond
flour w ill be too heavy for the egg to hold up the cake.you could try separating your
eggs,as in this sponge cake recipe the stiff w hites m ay help hold the cake.i don
t know
if it w ould w ork your best bet is to startw ith a recipe designed for alm ond flour but
you could give it a shot.good luck!
R eply

JuneB ug 4 January 2015 at3:06 pm

H I! I just m ade this.I used alm ond extract(1 tsp) butfound the egginess w as overpow ering
though I loved the texture.I
m def.going to try again w /the vanilla and m aybe a hintm ore I
used the full scale m etal steam er they have in restaurants b/c m y dad has an extra one he left at
m y place,and a springform pan w /o any liningno sticking at all! T hank you!

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R eply

cg 28 July 2013 at 8:00 pm

hiice oops,inever replied to your com m ent! i love your m om
s saying sim ilar to the idea
of notm aking loud noises w hen you have a souffle in the oven.though alas,there is no silence
in m y house! m aybe that is m y problem w ith the uneven steam ed cakes =P thanks so m uch
for sharing!
R eply

cg 11 D ecem ber 2013 at 7:17 pm

either one!
R eply

Sissy C hen 13 D ecem ber 2013 at 10:15 pm

H ello C G ,
I m ade it.It cam e out sooooo good.I didn
tuse baking soda.
C an ifind any other C hinese dessert like red bean cake in your m agic cook book?
T hanks
Sissy
R eply

cg 13 D ecem ber 2013 at 11:52 pm

hisissy so glad the cake turned out w ell for you! you are right m y chinese recipes are far
from com plete.i
m no expert,but ido try to docum entthe dishes i grew up w ith.red bean cake
isn
tsom ething m y m om m akes,unfortunately,so i have no idea how to m ake it! let m e know
if you find a good one m aybe i should give it a try.=)
R eply

SC 22 D ecem ber 2013 at 11:20 pm

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I found this.W anna give it a try?

http://yireservation.com /recipes/v-day-treats-steam ed-red-bean-cake/
R eply

cg 7 January 2014 at 2:47 pm

hiSC looks yum m y,thanks so m uch for sharing! =)
R eply
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chinese grandm a is a philosophy about food,fam ily,health and practicality inspired by oldschoolgrandm as everyw here.It's about cooking good food,living a good life,and sharing
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