There are many ways to call this other than the steamed sponge cake; some called it Kueh Neng Ko while others go with “Ji dan gao (鸡蛋糕)”.Anyway, they are commonly known amongst the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore as traditional cakes prepared usually for prayers alongside the “huat geh aka prosperity cake (recipe coming up soon) which I personally prefer. But here is the recipe I use to bake mine.
Ingredients:
240g Sugar
14 eggs
2 tablespoon ice cream soda
270 Pau flour (or all purpose flour)
Method
Put 240g sugar, 8 egg yolks and 6 eggs into mixer and mix it at low speed with till fluffy for approximately 25 minutes.
Tips: eliminate the thin albumin (the watery part of egg white) .
Add 2 tablespoon ice cream soda. Continue mixing for another 20 minutes.
Slowly include 270g of pau flour by stirring in gently. Stir and mixing too vigorously will result in the cake texture being gummy.
Also add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and keep stirring.
Pour into basket with baking paper in it and steam this at high heat for 10 minutes of stove. After 10 minutes, switch to low on stove for 30 minutes. After which I switched off heat on stove and left it untouched. Let the remaining heat inside steaming pot to continue baking the cake for another 25 minutes or so.
Let it cool, cut into serving size and serve with hot english tea. (Always cut when it is completely cooled because cutting it while hot will not look as pretty.
The texture is similar to cake but slightly less dense yet not like the sponge cake per say. Some will have crakes on top and usually achieved by lining sugar on top of the cake surface at where you want them to split and crack and it is believe that these cracks bring good luck and fortune. I am still adjusting the recipe for it to crack naturally. So until then, this one is still good so far. I personally love pairing it with Boh red tea but I don’t recommend having this on daily basis. I’d like to keep to no more than two egg yolk intake per day. The origin of this is not known to me. I tried asking some aunties of mine but none have any clue about it. If anyone has any clue about the origin of this, please share it. And don’t forget to try this one.
Looks good! And healthy too 😀
The only drawback is the presentation I guess. There is no way kids would want this sort of cake (looking so boring). Perhaps I should think of something to make this interesting.
Looks delicious.. do you need help finishing it?! 😛
Thanks. There’s still rooms to improve on the recipe, I don’t think this is perfect yet. But you should try making one.
My goodness that’s a lot of eggs!
Well yea…I’ve tried with lesser eggs but it doesn’t taste as good as when I use more eggs. But with lesser eggs, the cake is lighter and less dense in texture.
nice recipe! this is not a cake i eat very often, but now i want a bite! 😀
Thanks for the kind words. You’ll be getting lots if you are my neighbour. 🙂
Ahh, soda… that’s the secret!
that’s awesome for breakfast with coffee!
ooo, this is one of my grandmother’s favorites for tea time … nice recipe! 😀
Thanks ! You’ve tried it? Good to know you like this one. 🙂
It’s so yummmyyyyy!!!! ^_^
I, however, do agree with you about the presentation but hey, as long as it’s tasty, it should be fine. You should see the texture of my cakes; it is always laughing whenever it is brought out of the oven to be cooled. >.<"