Prosperity Cake (Fao Gao) for Chinese New Year

Prosperity cake in bloom

The Chinese New Year of the Tiger is here. With it, the attributes of being bold, adventurous, unpredictable, resourceful are speaking to me. Who knows I have to lean on these tiger-like elements in making the prosperity cake? These cakes, commonly presented for ceremonial and celebratory events, are seen everywhere during the New Year season. I found a prosperity cake recipe on the internet, using rice, yeast, sugar, all-purpose flour and baking powder as the key ingredients. How hard can that be?

Well, it’s more than what I’ve bargained for. The biggest issue is the finished cakes don’t bloom — opening up like a budding flower or a smiley gesture on top. A blooming cake is the desirable feature that exemplifies “fa” as in the popular New Year greeting “gong xi fa cai.” At least, that’s my initial intention in making these, meanwhile wishing you happiness and prosperity.

The troubles in making the prosperity cakes are multifold.

First, let’s examine the major ingredient: rice. Soaking sushi rice (200g) overnight, then straining and blending the rice in the Vitamix is step 1. Step 2 is to combine the rice paste with yeast, sugar and flour (35g) to make the batter. This is a whole new approach to me. More important, there are so much variations in sushi rice out there, contributing to the unpredictability of the final cakes. Should I rinse the rice a few times to get rid of the starch so the cakes become less gluey? There are more questions than answers!
As a side-note: I try using whole-grain brown rice, and I like the texture better than the white sushi rice. I’m not so sure that 100% all-purpose flour or pastry flour is not a better way to go. After all, it’s a more reliable, predictable and simple ingredient to use.
Second, let’s take a look at the steamer set-up. A lot of the traditional Chinese sweets are steamed rather than baked. I wish I have access to a conviction steam oven in which I have successfully steam fish and buns. But I don’t at my current location. In order for the prosperity cakes to bloom, high and persistent initial temperature is critical. This is the same oven-spring concept in applying searing temperature to help form the crust of, say, bread or pizza. Using a gerry-rigged steam apparatus for the job proves to be unsatisfactory.
Third, the steaming vessels make the difference between bloom and no-bloom. I use Pyrex, silicon and ceramic pots as steaming vessels for the prosperity cakes. Guess what, the only success I have is with the ceramic cup, the only one I manage to find around the kitchen. Traditionally, ceramic pots are used for the prosperity cakes. So stick with them for best results. My preference for ceramic cups for steaming is purely anecdotal, and not based on research.

Until I have better alignment among the ingredients, the steaming apparatus and the ceramic pots, I won’t be rushing to make the prosperity cakes anytime soon.