February 10, 2008 | Suanne | Comments 30
Steamed Rice Cake
For the Chinese New Year celebration, I also made a Steamed Rice Cake. This is slightly different from the Pak Thong Koh. Pak Tong Koh is leavened by yeast while this Steamed Rice Cake is leavened by double acting baking powder. It does not have the hint of sourness as the Pak Thong Koh.
This Steamed Rice Cake is lightly sweet. It is eaten during Chinese New Year because of the way the cake rises and blossoms. Rise in Cantonese is “fatt” and “fatt” in Cantonese also means prosperity or wealth.
Ingredients
Step 1:
- 200g rice flour
- 200ml coconut milk
- 160ml boiling water
- 1 teaspoon double acting baking powder
Step 2:
- 120g sugar
- 1 teaspoon double acting baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
Instructions
 Sift the rice flour and baking powder (1 teaspoon) into a bowl. |
 Combine rice flour mixture with coconut milk. |
 Mix well until you get a smooth batter. |
 Add boiling water, mix well and set aside to cool. |
 When cool, stir in the 2nd teaspoon of baking powder and set aside for 1 hour. |
 Add sugar to the batter after 1 hour. |
 Also add the vanilla essence. |
 Divide the batter into 2 portions. Add different food colouring to the batter. |
 Line aluminum cups (I used a 6 cups muffin tin) with paper cups. Pour batter into cups until 90% full and leave to rise for 30 minutes. Steam over rapidly boiling water for about 15 minutes. |
Categorized Under: Chinese New Year Food • Dessert
Hi Suanne,
These look really delicious and I’m looking forward to Ben’s upcoming lunch series!
Emily
I would love to try to make this! I am bookmarking this page. It’s a bit similar to our Bibingka in the Philippines, but minus the shredded coconut. YUM!
Hi Suanne,
Thanks for sharing this recipe. This is my hubby’s favorite kueh. I’m wondering is the double acting baking powder the same as the regular baking powder? Just double the amount?
Thanks.
Dawn
Hi Dawn,
Double acting baking powder is baking soda with 2 dry acids added to it. You’ll get two leavening actions from it, i.e. once when liquid is added to it and second when it’s heated. It’s different from regular baking powder and not just double the amount.
Hi Suanne,
I really want to try this recipe. I have made with succes other recipes like the steamed banana cake, pinapple chicken among other. But i have been looking for double acting baking powder here in Panama and have not been succesful yet. Do you think it can be substitute with something else? Thank you very much!!!!!
Hi Celia, I found this substitution from joy of cooking website:
1 teaspoon of double acting baking powder with 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar plus 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch. Let me know how it turns out.
[...] Suanne and Ben blogs about the restaurants they went, and the food Suanne cooked.ย I found the steamed rice cake recipe from their [...]
Hi Suanne,
I tried to make this for the second time today and I failed again (first time I used glutinous by accident) ! I used the same package of rice flour as you did, but I used the Rooster brand coconut milk Ideal For Baking line. Would it make a difference? I also used continuous action baking powder. I think it is the same as double action? or not?
Instead, it turned out to be exactly like this texture….
http://www.moe.gov.sg/edumall/tl/digital_resources/ml/images/puteri_salat.jpg
and not like yours!
Please help!
thanks!
Hi Christine, I’m not sure what went with yours. The continuous action baking powder should act like the double action baking powder. I dont think the brand of coconut milk makes any difference. The texture should not be as smooth as the ‘kuih’ in your photograph. The only reason I can think off is the baking powder you have is not fresh anymore, i.e. it’s not working as it should. Try using a new batch.
hi suanne,
i want to make the sweet rice cakes but are finding the measurements a little hard to
convert. if it’s not too much trouble can you post up the recipe with the u.s. measurements. i’ve found some sites for the measurements but it’s the grams that i am having trouble with. example. 120g=8.43 tblsp
can you help?? thanks
Hi Rachel, I found this cooking measurement page which I think will be useful to you.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001723.html
For eg. 120g = 4.2oz
I would also recommend you get a cooking scale where you can switch between metric and us measurement. I had the same problem before I bought a scale. It is very difficult to convert the measurement into spoon and cup.
as far as i know there r 2 types of bp.in Australia ie normal bp & double action bp.of course the 2nd type is stronger (& hardly to find in Australia)
[...] you like this Pak Thong Koh, I recommend you also check out this version of Steamed Rice Cake and Steamed Red Bean Rice Cake (Poot Jei [...]
[...] Another Steamed Rice Cake [...]
[...] Another Steamed Rice Cake [...]
wow thanks! this recipe is kind of like “banh bo hap” that i was searching forever for and finally found a video of it on youtube except that guys granny didn’t use water…i’ve included a link if you’re interested….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HocS5hOIX1o
[...] Since i have 2 packets on hand to play with, i started to hunt and for recipes, and spotted this on <Chow Times> [...]
Hello Suanne,
I was wondering if you had any steamed recipes for cookies?
Hi Eager to Try New Recipes, I’m afraid I do not have any recipe for steamed cookies.
Could you translate in cups measurement
How to make double acting baking powder?
I bought a similar cake at Vietnamese bakery and I think they were baked because it has a brown crust on the bottom. The cake is more chewy, darker color and heavier. Do you think it has the same recipe ? or what is the differences ?
Hi Haley, I’m afraid I have not come across the Vietnamese version as described, therefore I cant make a comparison.
Hi Suanne. I came across your steam recipe two days ago. Im so glad I did! I tried your recipe today and quite pleased with the result. Thank you so much for this recipe especially your step-by-step guide. I’ve added your recipe in my blog (with your link) :)
http://anovicebaker.blogspot.com/2009/02/steamed-rice-cake.html
(Sorry. if this comment appeared for how many times in your website *lol* Everytime I submit my comment there’s an IE error *sighs*).
hi Suanne,
Which kind of double acting baking powder did u use for this recipe? The baking powder that i found in the stores is “Magic baking powder”, and the one that i have at home is a little bag called “Dr. Oetker baking powder”, so i want to know if u have any idea whether i can use either one of these two baking powder since i have no idea if they are single or double acting baking powder. Thanks a lot!
Hi Joan, the double action baking powder that I use is of the brand Blue Ribbon, a product from USA. The container is red colour. On the label, it states “Blue Ribbon is a Double-Action baking powder which reacts in two stages instead of one. The initial rising action is triggered when the liquid is mixed with the dry ingredients. This is followed by the second rising, which is caused by the heat from the oven during baking. Blue Ribbon double action feature allows baking to be delayed a few minutes or several hours if the batter or dough is refrigerated.”
I know the Magic baking powder is the regular (single action) baking powder. I have not use Dr. Oetker baking powder before.
Hi Suanne,
Thanks a lot for your answer. When you said “Steam over rapidly boiling water for 15 minutes”, does it mean that we put water in a big cooking pot and when the water is boiling, we put the 6 cups muffin tin on the pot uncovered (since the diameter of the pot is smaller than the muffin tin, the tin won’t fall down into the pot) to let it boil? Or did u use a pot made especially for boiling that asian stores sell? Thanks once again!
Hi Joan, you have to steam the cake covered. If you dont have a pot that is big enough to accomodate the muffin tin, you can steam the cake using paper cup lined small alumninium pie plate on a rack like what we did with the Ma Lai Ko cupcake (http://chowtimes.com/2008/10/24/ma-lai-ko-cup-cakes/).
Hi Suanne,
I’ve been looking for a recipe to make for a friend’s birthday – she is allergic to wheat, soy and dairy so this would be perfect. I was wondering if you’ve ever made it as a larger cake and also if you have ever added anything else to the batter? Like chopped dried cranberries, or chocolate chips?
Hi Ilene, I have not try making this steamed rice cake in a larger size pan and have never added anything to it. Cooking is an adventure and you can always try adding new stuff to a recipe as long as the basic requirement is there. If you intend to make it in a larger pan, you might need to steam it longer like 30 minutes of so.
Hi, I’ve made this sometime back but it was a flop. The texture is not fluffy at all but very kueh-like. I suspect it’s due to my baking powder which is near expiry. I’m definitely going to try this again as we love this cake and this recipe doesn’t require wine biscuit.