While Minoo’s Salmon and Potato Chowder is in the making, Heidi showed us how to make a Taiwanese Crispy Red Bean Cake. We had to have both the demonstrations going at the same time as it takes time for both to be ready in the 2 hours of the community kitchen. Sometimes, I could miss a picture here and there but I always try my best to capture all the critical steps.
This Crispy Red Bean Cake is crispy on the outside and yet creamy and lightly chewy inside. The trick to have a crispy crust is to bake it at higher temperature first and then turn the temperature down later so that the crust will not burn.
Ingredients
- 400g glutinous rice flour
- 4 tablespoons rice flour
- 4 tablespoons wheat starch
- 2 tablespoons custard powder
- 100g instant coconut powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 200g red bean paste
p/s: the brown sugar was missing in the photo.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F (180C)
 Sift all the dry ingredients together, i.e. glutinous rice flour, rice flour, wheat starch, custard powder, instant coconut powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. |
 In another bowl, whisk or beat egg with sugar, one egg at at time, until the mixture is smooth and creamy. |
 Add in the oil, water, milk and vanilla extract. Mix well. |
 Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk into a smooth batter.
Scrap the side of the bowl to ensure that mixture blends well. |
 Add melted butter to the batter and mix well. |
 This recipe yields two 8×8 inches square pans or 9 inch round cake pans. Grease and dust two cake pan. Measure one quarter of the batter into each of the pan. Bake the cake at a 350F preheated oven for 15 minutes. |
 While the cake is baking, divide the red bean paste into two. Place the red bean paste on a plastic wrap and cover with the plastic wrap. Shape the red bean paste into the shape of the baking pan. |
 Remove the cake pan after 15 minutes. Top the cake with the red bean psste. Use a fork to lightly press the red bean paste to the edge of the cake. |
 Pour another quarter of the batter oger the red bean paste, tilting the pan to cover the red bean paste completely. |
 Return the cake pan into the oven and bake for another 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 300F and bake for another 15 minutes.Remove cake pan from oven and let rest for 20 minutes.
Turn the cake out onto a plate. Slice and serve. Heidi, thank you for sharing and excellent dessert. I certainly enjoy this Crispy Red Bean Cake. |
Hi Suanne,
The cake looked yummy, I saw a packet of the Thai rice flour but is not in the ingredients, should it be in the ingredients? And how much do I need to put in?
Thks,
Mel
Hi Mel, thank you for pointing that out. I left out one line in the ingredients section. I had updated the post.
Thanks Suanne, my daughter always ordered Red Bean Cake when we went out for dim-sum. I will try to bake this one for her when I get all the ingredients together.
That looks good! I like using red bean paste in desserts.
in my country it didnt sell 2% milk……can i use a low fat milk ???
Hi lingling, I think it’s ok to use low fat milk in this recipe. I would love to know the outcome.
Crispy red bean cake – yuuummmmmy!
Do you know a store in Montreal that has the red bean paste? I’m craving for the Japanese sweets yokan, mochi etc. made with azuki beans.
Hi Suanne,
Due to the Chinese new year coming up, I’d like to introduce this dessert at my blog, language is in Chinese. I am asking to borrow your first picture, because my oven was broken, can’t take the pictures to show my friends. I will put your link on my page. thank you for sharing.
Hi joypeacehope, thanks for asking. Yes, you may use the photo as long you link back.
I want to make this, but got a couple of questions:
1. What can I substitute for wheat starch? Don’t want to buy a whole packet only to use 4 tablespoons.
2. Are the measuring cups and spoon American? In Australia, 1 cup = 250ml, whereas in the US, it is 235ml. I don’t have US measuring utensils.
Hi AusBaker, I’m not sure what is the right substitute for wheat starch but I would try tapioca starch or corn starch. As for the measuring cup; 1 cup = 250ml.
Thanks Suanne. One last question. What does the wheat starch do for the cake? I know sometimes tapioca starch is used in some kuihs to make it more chewy, but not sure about the role of wheat starch in the cake.
Hi AusBaker, my initial thought is like what you said, the wheat starch makes the cake chewier. After some research, I found this page which explains the function of wheat starch: http://www.adm.com/en-US/products/Documents/ADM-Wheat-and-Starch-Gluten-Sheet.pdf
Thanks again. When I get around to making this cake (I’ve got a long list of recipes to try, but hopefully not too long to go), I will try the tapioca starch and let you know how I go.
I’ve made the cake and my family loves it. Not having made this before, not sure how using tapioca starch instead of wheat starch affected the texture, but it was definitely chewy! Reminds me a bit of the Malaysian kueh.