White sugar sponge cake
By admin on 2015-01-19

White sugar sponge cake (also called white sugar cake and white sugar pastry) is a type of Chinese pastry. It is one of the most standard pastries in Hong Kong. Though overseas, it is much more rare in Chinatown bakery shops.

It is made from rice flour, white sugar, water, yeast, and baking powder.

While it is called a "cake," it is never served as a circular round cake. It is usually purchased as an individual triangular piece or a mini square. The cake is spongy and soft, and sometimes has a slightly sour taste due to the fermentation of the batter before cooking. Like most Chinese cakes it is steamed, giving it a moist, soft, fluffy texture, as opposed to dry and firm. If left exposed to the air, it hardens quickly. It is usually kept under some cover to be kept moist. It is always served hot, because when it is cold it is not as soft and moist. The batter is either poured over a bowl in a steamer, a chinese steamer cloth or aluminum foil. If made from brown rice flower and brown sugar it is called a brown sugar sponge cake.

A Vietnamese version of the cake, called bánh bò, differs from the Chinese version in that it often uses coconut milk as an ingredient, and does not have the sourness that often typifies the Chinese version.