Bak Tong Gou or White Sugar Cake is a popular Cantonese steamed cake which is commonly served as breakfast or afternoon snack.
It is a soft, chewy and spongy cake with a lovely honeycomb-like appearance on the inside of the cake and it's made with just a few simple ingredients - rice flour, yeast and sugar.
Recipe from Huang Kitchen.
Ingredient A: 1 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp water, lukewarm
Ingredient B: 300 grams rice flour, sifted
280 grams water, room temperature
Ingredient C:
200 grams sugar
340 grams water, room temperature
3 pieces pandan leaves, knotted
Ingredient D:
½ tsp cooking oil
Dissolve Ingredient A together. Set aside the mixture for 10 minutes or till mixture is foamy.
Place Ingredient B in a medium-sized heat-proof bowl. Whisk and combine till thick and smooth. Set aside.
Place Ingredient B in a saucepan, heat on low until sugar dissolves.
Slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the rice flour mixture B, stirring it constantly to prevent lumps forming. Leave to cool until warm. (about 30 C)
When cooled, add in the yeast mixture A and stir to combine well. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to proof in a warm place for 2 hours or till large bubbles form on the surface.
When ready, add in 1/2 tsp of cooking oil. Stir and mix well. Brush a 10 inch round cake pan with cooking oil. Pour batter into the oiled cake pan.
Bring water in the steamer to a rapid boil. Place cake in steamer and steam on high heat for 30 minutes.
Remove the cake pan from steamer and place on a wire rack to cool.
Once it is cool enough to handle, gently run a spatula along the edges to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Remove the rice cake from pan. Cut and serve.
Love the honeycomb centres!