GENUS 倫教糕 • Lúnjiào gāo • Leon4 gaau3 gou1

IDENTIFICATION These thin, pie-shaped wedges or diamonds of a spongy white cake possess the wonderful aroma and taste of fermented rice. Plain white rice is soaked and then ground to a fine slurry before sugar water and levain (a starter that contains wild yeast) are added; much like in traditional breadmaking, the levain is simply a bit of the previous fermented batch and is used here instead of wine or bread yeast, as it provides the leavening and the mature winey aromas that make this sweet so distinctive. The batter is then allowed to slowly rise and ferment a bit (but not so long that it turns sour), and then it is poured into cake pans and steamed. The result is a pure white, very bouncy cake with a shiny surface and long vertical bubbles inside.

These are best chilled, which dampens the stickiness a bit and emphasizes the lovely aromas of rice wine. Exterior is tacky and very smooth; interior is gently sweet and very aromatic, as well as ribboned with long vertical bubbles that dance on the tongue. Often referred to as 白糖糕 • báitáng gāo • baak6 tong4 gou1 (“white sugar cake”) in Cantonese.

NESTING HABITS

In teahouses, these may appear as a single wedge or a cluster of three or four diamonds on a plate, while in Chinese bakeries these are almost always served as wedges.

ORIGINS

A sweets maker in the Pearl River Delta is credited with this creation, and it is named after his village near the city of Shunde: Lunjiao. Legend has it that this occurred back during the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644), when that cook named Liang made what he thought was a bad batch of layered rice cake, but it actually turned out to be even tastier than the original.

SPECIES

GENUS 馬拉糕 • Mălā gāo • Maa5 laai1 gou1

IDENTIFICATION A light steamed sponge cake cut into large squares or wedges and served in steamer baskets. Generally a pale golden brown, Malay cake gets its unique color and subtly savory edge from soy sauce that is added to the eggy batter. A staple of teahouse dessert carts, this ideally is a plain, unfrosted cake filled with millions of tiny bubbles, with the occasional large bubbles near the top. Those made in the traditional way with a slow levain-induced rising will have three distinct layers, while cakes made with baking powder will have a more uniform sponge.

Teahouses generally have a single large cake in the kitchen that is sliced into serving sizes, and each piece gets its own small basket, which allows it to be heated through on the carts. Exterior is tacky and shiny; interior is very spongy, mildly sweet, and light.

NESTING HABITS

One to six pieces are presented in a steamer basket lined with paper; often available in Chinese bakeries.

ORIGINS

This is a Hong Kong sweet that might have been developed from a Singapore recipe, which in turn seems to be a riff on an English sponge cake. All of this makes sense once you realize that both Singapore and Hong Kong were once British colonies, and many of the United Kingdom’s ways with food evolved as they were absorbed into the local cuisines.

SPECIES

GENUS 蛋撻 • dàntà • daan2 taat3

IDENTIFICATION Tartlets of Chinese puff or short pastry hold puddles of sweet, quivery custard. Terrific when freshly made and still a bit hot, these tarts can also be enjoyed warm or cool, and each one usually serves a single diner, although you can ask that they be cut in half. The top surface ought to be as shiny as a mirror, and the custard should be a deep lemon yellow with the faint aroma of vanilla. Exterior is crisp and flaky; interior is soft, gently sweet, and eggy.

BASIC FILLING

Eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla.

NESTING HABITS

Three hovering together in small foil cups on a plate; often available in Chinese bakeries.

ORIGINS

Custard tarts are, in all likelihood, a Guangzhou interpretation of the English custard pie as small, open-faced tartlets. Others insist that these are interpretations of pastéis de nata, but as Guangzhou and Hong Kong have traditionally served unbrowned custard pies, and since these have been part of British cuisine for at least seven hundred years, custard tarts most probably are direct descendants of the same sweets once enjoyed by Henry the Eighth. They became popular in Guangzhou during the 1920s, when department stores hired chefs to cook special treats like these to lure in customers from their competitors.

SPECIES