A Chinese take on coffee cake

It’s not that hard to turn a Western style cake into something that’s just a bit Chinese. All you need to do is sub in Asian ingredients, like ginger for cinnamon, black sugar for white, wolfberries for raisins, and so on. 

One other thing: you should lower the sweetness considerably in order to make it taste even more Chinese.

This is a classic case in point. It’s the sort of thing that I can confidently serve to my Chinese friends with the knowledge that they will go crazy for it. It’s just Chinese enough to feel and taste familiar, yet Western enough to still be good old coffee cake.

Coconut wolfberry coffee cake chez Huang

Sweet-sour wolfberries

Huaángjiā yēzĭ gŏuqĭ kāfēidàngāo  黃家椰子枸杞咖啡蛋糕

Makes one 10-inch | 25-cm Bundt cake, and serves 16 or more

Filling:

¾ cup | 75 g chopped walnuts

1¼ cups | 180 g dried wolfberries (aka goji or gouqi berries)

1 cup | 50 g flaked or shaved coconut

1 cup packed | 200 g black or dark brown sugar

¼ teaspoon sea salt

Cake:

1 cup | 225 g | 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed | 200 g black or dark brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon coconut extract or coconut rum

3 cups | 525 g cake flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups whole fat plain yogurt

Filling peeking out of the batter

Spray oil

1. Place a rack in the lower third of your oven and heat to 350°F | 175°C. Put the walnuts on a small baking tray and toast them until they are golden and smell great. Rinse the wolfberries, shake dry, and toss them in a work bowl with the toasted walnuts, coconut, sugar, and salt.

2. Spray a 10-inch | 25-cm Bundt pan (see Tips). Using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until they are light. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, and finally add the coconut extract or liqueur.

3. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a work bowl. Alternate adding these dry ingredients to the butter mixture with the yogurt in about six steps. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

 

Fresh out of the oven

4. Pour about a third of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the fruits and nuts over the batter, add another layer of batter, then another layer of fruits and nuts, and then top it off with the rest of the batter. Lightly bang the pan on your counter to settle the batter.

5. Set the pan on a baking sheet to catch any drips, and then place it in the oven. Bake the cake for about 30 minutes. If the top is browning too quickly, cover it lightly with foil. Continue baking for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the thickest area comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for at least 15 minutes before turning it over on a cake rack or plate.

Tip

If you are using a patterned Bundt pan, such as Nordicware, consider using spray oil that is mixed with flour, as this helps prevent the cake from sticking to the pan.

Always wash these cake pans by hand. I soak them just until the baked-on batter is soft, and then brush them gently before letting them air dry.

Delectable Chinese cupcakes that are not at all twee

Steamed cakes are popular treats throughout southern China, and variations abound. Dim sum carts will often include things like Malay Cake, with its moist crumb, or the winy Lunjiao cake that has long, tube-like holes perforating the stellar white batter.

Fāgāo come in different shapes, sizes, and flavors throughout the lands south of the Yangtze, but in Taiwan, though, this name refers to the little cupcakes that burst open with enthusiastic petals as they are steamed.

Lightly sweet and completely fat-free, these are delicate teatime snacks for adults, although I’ve never seen a kid turn one down. In fact, the taste and color of these little unfrosted cupcakes can be played with to suit the preferences of whomever you are serving.

Floral beauties

For example, this the first two photos here use black (aka dark brown) sugar, but white sugar will yield a plain palette that can then be adorned with hues from every stop on the rainbow. If you grind up green tea into a fine powder and add a bit of green food coloring, you will be rewarded with delicate cakes the color of ferns, and their gentle tea aroma will echo that of a hot cup of Longjing. Or, you can sprinkle in cocoa powder and top each cup of batter with some walnuts to please the child in everyone. Fruit juices can be substituted for the water, and the sugar then adjusted to compensate for the sweetness in the juice. The list is endless.

One thing to note is that your steamer should be tall enough to allow the cupcakes to rise without smacking into the cover. Fill the cups no more than ¾ full and make sure that there is at least 1 inch clearance above the cups.

Green tea, fruit juice & black sugar

Steamed cupcakes 
Fāgāo 發糕  
Southern Fujian, Taiwan

Makes 5 to 8 small cakes, depending upon the cups you use

Spray oil

½ cup white sugar

1¼ cups filtered water

6 tablespoons Indica rice flour (not glutinous or sticky rice flour)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

¾ cup cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon sea salt

Optional flavorings, such as maple extract, powdered tea, cocoa powder, etc.

Optional garnishes, such as sliced nuts, raisins, goji berries, cubed fruit, etc.

1. Set eight 6-ounce (or five to six 8-ounce) bowls in a steamer; straight-sided (or nearly straight-sided) bowls work best, as they help the cakes rise evenly. Spray the inside of the bowls lightly with the oil.

Batter sprinkled with goji berries

2. Place the sugar, water, rice flour, cornstarch, cake flour, and baking powder in a large measuring cup with a spout (or use a blender). Add the cooled sugar water and mix only until blended and smooth. Divide the batter evenly among the bowls.

3. Set the covered steamer basket with the bowls  over boiling water and steam them without peeking (around 20 minutes for the smaller cups and 30 minutes for the larger; if in doubt, err on the side of steaming them longer, as this won’t hurt them).

4. When you take a look at the end of this time, the cupcakes should have risen and they all should have formed petals on top. Use a bamboo skewer or a toothpick to check one; it should come out fairly clean. Remove the cupcakes from the steamer and serve warm. They can also be removed from their bowls once they are cool and then refrigerated. Steam them once more inside some clean bowls to refresh them before serving.

Tips

Light, fluffy & delish

Indica rice flour is simply ground plain rice, such as sushi rice. It lends little stickiness in the cooked product. You can find this in Chinese grocery stores with the name "Indica rice flour," "Chai Lai Flour," or "Zailai Rice Flour," but the best thing to do is match up the Chinese characters for  在來米粉 zàilái mĭfěn.

For the green tea cupcakes, grind 3 tablespoons dried green tea leaves in a blender with the dry ingredients before adding the water. Two drops of green food coloring will give the right hue, and I sprinkled the tops with Toasted Sesame Seeds.

For fruit-flavored cakes, use sweetened or unsweetened juice of any flavor instead of the water and decrease the sugar accordingly. (Taste the batter and add more sugar if necessary.) Fold in some small cubes of fruit, if you like. In the photo just above here, Sour Plum Infusion was used instead of water, the sugar was decreased, and goji berries were sprinkled on top.

Indica rice & cake flours

This recipe makes light, fluffy cakes, as shown in the green and tan cupcakes. If you prefer a denser, stickier texture and the shiny tops as shown in the brown cupcakes, use 10 tablespoons Indica rice flour, ½ cup cake flour, and 1 teaspoon baking powder; all of the other ingredients remain unchanged.

The kind of cake flour you use will  have a marked effect on the final cakes: superfine white flour like Softasilk gives you an exceptionally fluffy cake with a very high rise. Unbleached cake flour will be slightly heavier, but the taste will be nuttier. The green tea cupcakes here were made with unbleached cake flour and so are a bit flatter, but still very tasty.