Suncake (Taiwan)
- This article is not properly translated.
Sun cake (tai yang bing) is a famous snack food in Taiwan, originating from Taichung City. The typical fillings consist of condensed malt sugar, and they are usually sold in special gift boxes as souvenirs for visitors. Some famous suncake pastry shops always have long lines of people waiting to buy boxed suncakes.
The shape of suncakes are round, of varied sizes. They are characterized by crunchy crusts. Most people eat them with Chinese tea, and some people dissolve them in hot water to make a porridge-like dessert.
Origin of the suncake
The first suncakes were made by the Lin family in the She-Ko area of Taichung County. The Lin family used condensed malt sugar as a filling for cake pastries. Later on, pastry maker Wei Qing-hai modified the cakes to their current form.[1]
Though not originally called "suncakes," they were given the name by the owner of "Sun Booth"[2], one of the most famous pastry shops that sells them. The name was not patented, and other pastry shops used the same name for their own suncakes.