Steamed Rice Cake – Song Gao

An easy Chinese steamed rice cake made with plain rice flour, glutinous rice flour and sugar. It is a traditional Chinese dessert that has a strong rice flour aroma. Adding purple sweet potatoes to rice flour turns them into a gorgeous looking dessert.

A little background

Songao is a traditional and specialty dessert originating from Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province in China. It is made with rice flour (glutinous rice flour) as the main ingredient, mixed with sugar and steamed to create a soft, sweet and delicious cake.

Steamed Rice Cake – Song Gao is known throughout China for its fluffy texture and sweet aroma.

Songgao is often given as a gift during engagements, weddings, and other festive occasions in Wenzhou. It represents the blessings of a beautiful marriage and life ahead. There is also a tradition of making songgaw on the 25th day of the Lunar New Year, wishing for prosperity and success in the coming year.

Making process

The process of making song gao begins by mixing rice flour with sugar and warm water to form a dough. The dough is then pressed using a strainer to become thin and light. The filtered flour is then transferred to the steamers and steamed until completely cooked.

Traditional songhao molds have floral patterns imprinted on the surface of the cakes. So, if you have this kind of tools by hand, try making some beautiful flowers on the surface.

What does it taste like?

You may be familiar with another steamed rice cake called Baitanggao which comes from Cantonese cuisine. The two tastes are completely different.

The steamed Song Jaw bun has a fluffy texture with a very strong rice aroma. When you bite into it, you can feel it being tender and almost melting in your mouth.

I make layered Songgao by adding sweet purple powder (or Ube powder). You can change the ways components are placed.

The classic match or dip for steamed rice cake is osmanthus flower syrup. If you plan to serve it with a sweet sauce, reduce the amount of sugar in the cake batter.

How to make steamed rice cake at home

1. Mix all dry ingredients, rice flour, glutinous rice flour, and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Then we take a third of the dry flour and a third of the water. The mixed flour can keep the shape easily.

Add sweet purple flour or Ube flour to the remaining mixture. Add water to mix well as well.

If you want to change the color, you can use red yeast powder, strawberry powder, or black sesame powder to get a black version.

Filter the two types of mixtures. You may need to press it down with a scraper or scoop.

Now we start assembling the cake. Place a damp cloth as a liner in the bamboo steamer. Place a mould, whether square or circular, now place one layer of white flour (about 1 cm high) followed by another layer of purple flour. You can change the arrangement to make it different in appearance.

Cook note

You can gently smooth it to get better shapes but don’t press it.

For a more delicate version, turn the flour over again.

If you have any leftover, reheat with steam.

Steamed rice cake, fluffy version

This is a Chinese steamed rice cake called song gao. Made from rice flour and sugar. It can be a great dessert.

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ingredients

• 1 cup Rice flour
• ½ cup Glutinous rice flour
• 3 Tablespoon. White sugar
• 3 small spoon. Sweet potato powder or Ube powder
• 95 Ml water

directions

• Mix the rice flour, glutinous rice flour, sugar, and water in a large bowl. The mixed flour can keep the shape easily.

• Take a third of the mixture, and add sweet potato powder or corn powder.

• Filter the two types of mixtures. You may need to press it down with a scraper.

• Prepare the steamer: Use a damp cloth as a liner and then, using a cake pan, add one layer of the white rice flour mixture and then top with another layer of the purple rice flour. Cut two or three lines on the surface and cover them with another wet cloth.

• Steam for 20 minutes.

• Remove the cake and cut it into bite-sized pieces.