This Chinese steamed rice cake (or bai tang gau) has a sweet, slightly chewy addictive texture and an intriguing honeycomb pattern on the inside.
In honor of lunar new year coming up, I decided that I would share a recipe for Chinese steamed rice cake with you all because this is something that I haven’t seen very often in the blogging community. It is made of 5 ingredients (rice flour, sugar, water, yeast,oil) and it’s direct translation of “white sugar cake” is a perfect reflection of it’s simplicity.
Chinese steamed rice cake is nostalgic
I grew up eating this Chinese steamed rice cake for breakfast and for that reason, it’s such a nostalgic treat for me to have. I actually used to have to fight brother deer for it because mother deer would only buy one slice from the bakery and expect us to share it between the two of us.
It’s funny how she thought that we would actually share…when what actually happened was brother deer would take a big ol’ bite of the rice cake and being the germaphobe I was, I wouldn’t want to have it anymore. I guess he got the better end of that deal.
Creating the honeycomb pattern
I didn’t mind too much though because the main reason as to why I adored this treat so much was because of it’s intriguing, unique stringy “honeycomb” like pattern.
This pattern is created as a result of the rice flour and yeast. Yeast is more traditionally used in yeast breads where the dough becomes a cohesive lump, but the consistency of this is more batter like and is quite runny.
And unlike most of the rice cakes that surface around this type of year where the base is made out of glutinous/sweet rice flour, this rice cake uses regular rice flour instead.
Confusing the two could lead to a completely different end product so it’s important to be aware of this when you’re buying rice flours. Glutinous rice flour yields a chewier, mochi like texture in your bakes while rice flour lightens and fluffs your bakes up.
I hope you all found this recipe to be interesting and are able to add it to your baking books for trying out in the future!
Try these other recipes that use rice flour!
Gluten-free baked mochi rice cake
Chinese steamed rice cake recipe
- 2 cups rice flour (NOT glutinous)
- 2 cups water
- 5g yeast + 1 tablespoon warm water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon oil
- Combine the yeast and 1 tablespoon water in a measuring cup. Set aside to bloom for 5 minutes.
- In a saucepan, combine the sugar and 1 1/2 cup of water. Bring it to a simmer on low-medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
- In a large bowl, combine the rice flour and the remaining 1/2 cup of water. Stir to combine. Add in the hot sugar water, oil and yeast mixtures. Mix until incorporated.
- Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place for 2-3 hours to proof. At the end of the proofing process, there should be a layer of bubbles on the surface of the mixture
- When the batter is ready, prepare a shallow dish by greasing it with oil.
- Prepare your steamer for steaming by boiling the water. Pour your batter in to the shallow dish and place it inside the steamer.
- Cover and let steam for 15 minutes on high heat. Turn the heat off and allow it to continue cooking in the steamer for 10 minutes before removing.
- Remove the steamed cake from the dish by turning it out onto a plate. Let cool before slicing and serving. It is best enjoyed chilled.
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Can’t wait to try this, the one place in NYC chinatown that made this recently closed
How do you know when it’s finished?
That’s a good question. I knew mine was ready when I could poke the center with my finger and it wasn’t liquidy.
To Cynthia,
Missed your samples last time you were here. Grandma is very interested on this dish. Your Father’s mouth is watering.
Uncle Doug.
When isn’t he hungry? 😉
How do you make your cake “white” like the ones in the Chinese or Vietnamese bakery shops. Tried the many steamed rice cake recipes and mine is kind of “beige-ish” in color.
I just made sure to use white rice flour and white sugar. You can also buy golden brown ones at the bakery those are because brown sugar is used instead. I hope this helps
Hi Cynthia! Thank you so much for this recipe! I tried it, and it taste great, except that it wasn’t very soft (like the consistency I buy from Chinatown), it was firm to the touch. Can you suggest why this may be or what I did wrong?
Hi Luu, thank you for giving this a try! Sometimes bakeries MAY add in additives like emulsifiers to help with texture. It also depends on the climate it may impact the moisture in the dough. Sometimes you need to play around with it! Perhaps add less rice flour next time and see or it could be because of over-steaming. I hope this helps!
Thanks Cynthia! Will add in your suggestions!
Hope it works out!
It might be the yeast. It happened to me the first time I tried. Yeast need to ferment in water that is about 110 degrees F
Hello Cynthia, i am glad I found your recipe. I hope it turns out to be the same I buy in chinese restaurant like Hongkong Bakery in Carson. Los Angeles. I love its taste so I will make sure to try your recipe. Thank you for your kindness and beautiful heart of sharing,
Hello Cynthia! Is this recipe the product mostly sold in chinese bakery in Carson, Los Angeles. Thank you for your ipdate.
Yes you can find it at Chinese bakeries, I live in Vancouver so I’m not sure about it’s availability in LA but I hope you can find it!
Hi! Thank you for the recipe. Can’t wait to give it a try. Would you know if this keeps well for the following day one made.
It should still be okay 🙂 You can also just keep it in the fridge and steam to warm it back up!
This is a wonderful recipe, and I’ve made it many times now using sugar or honey. When it’s just for me, I halve the recipe, pour it into a mini silicone ice tray (which is divided into 12 cubes) and steam it…this way, I don’t have to cut it or grease my pan. One mystery is that sometimes, when I’m mixing the rice flour with water, my batter “seizes up” on me so that I can’t stir it anymore. Yet, I think I do the same thing each time, but this happens once in a while. Has this every happened to you? Any idea why?
It might be due to the moisture in the room at the time. I know rice flour tends to absorb moisture fast so if you’re in a dryer environment it might act strange. Have you tried adding in a little more water?
Hi! Thank you for sharing your recipe. I tried mankind it but after 2hrs, there was no bubbles. Do you know what could be causing this?
Is your yeast new? Usually if there are no bubbles it can mean the yeast is not active because it is dead or another reason is that the water is too hot/not hot enough. It should be hot enough to touch. I hope this helps;
hi i would like to try this recipe. how many teaspoon is in 5 grams of yeast? did you use instant yeast? thank you
Hi, it is about 1 teaspoon!