White sugar sponge cake

White sugar sponge cake

Alternative names	White sugar cake, white sugar pastry
Type	Cake
Place of origin	China
Main ingredients	Rice flour, sugar, water, leavening agent
Variations	Bánh bò
Media: White sugar sponge cake

White sugar sponge cake
Chinese	白糖糕
Hanyu Pinyin	bái táng gāo
Jyutping	baak6 tong4 gou1
Literal meaning	white sugar cake
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin bái táng gāo Gan Romanization pak7 tong2 gau1 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping baak6 tong4 gou1

White sugar sponge cake (also called white sugar cake and white sugar pastry) is a type of Chinese pastry. It is one of the most common pastries in Hong Kong. Overseas, however, it is much more rare in Chinatown bakery shops.

It is made from rice flour, white sugar, water, and a leavening agent.

While it is called a "cake", it is never served as a circular round cake. It is usually purchased as an individual triangular piece or a mini square. The cake is bright white in color. The consistency is spongy and soft. The taste is sweet, and sometimes has a slightly sour taste due to fermentation of the batter prior to cooking. Like most Chinese cakes, it is steamed, giving it a moist, soft, and fluffy texture, as opposed to a dry and firm one. If left exposed to the air, it hardens quickly. It is usually kept under some cover to preserve moistness. It is typically served hot, because when it is cold it is not as soft and moist. The batter is either poured over a bowl in a steamer, a Chinese steamer cloth or aluminum foil. If made from brown rice flour and brown sugar it is called a brown sugar sponge cake.

A Vietnamese version of the cake, called bánh bò, differs from the Chinese version in that it often uses coconut milk as an ingredient, and does not have the sourness that often typifies the Chinese version.

Names

The cake has a variety of regional names, including:

• Bak Tong Gou (Cantonese)
• Bai Tang Gao (Mandarin)
• Pak Thong Koh (Malay)

See also

• Bánh bò
• Idli
• Jiuniang