Chinese New Year Cake
This easy Chinese New Year sweet rice cake (Niángāo) is made with glutinous rice flour, brown sugar, and fragrant mandarin zest. Steam this cake for one hour, then follow the recipe’s refrigeration step before unmoulding. The cake is glossy, slightly chewy, and naturally sweet. A meaningful, festive cake to share with family and friends during the New Year celebrations. Also try my Steamed Coffee Cupcakes, Fried Sesame Balls, or Traditional Chinese Snacks.
Chinese New Year Cake / 年糕 (Niángāo)
Mini Chinese New Year sweet rice cakes (Niángāo) made with glutinous rice flour, brown sugar and mandarin or orange zest. Steam for 1 hour, then refrigerate for 24 hours as directed before unmoulding.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup (300 g) brown sugar
- 2 cup (475 ml) water, room temperature
- 3 cups (400 g) Glutinous Rice Flour
- 2 tbsp (12 g) Mandarin / Orange Zest
- Red Dates (jujubes) for decorations.
Instructions
- Add sugar to a pan. Place pan over LOW HEAT and stir constantly until sugar has melted.
- Carefully, add water to pan. Please be careful as splashing may cause burns.
- Turn off heat and set aside to let it cool completely,
- To a bowl, add glutinous rice flour and mandarin zest. Stir until combined.Then add cooled reserved sugar syrup, stirring constantly. Mix until well combined,
- Scoop batter to mold.
- Add water to steamer. Place mold in steamer, cover mold with aluminum foil to prevent water from dripping into the cake during steaming.
- Cover and steam over Medium High Heat for 1 hour.Check the level of water in steamer every 15 minutes.
- Remove mold from steamer and refrigerate for 24 hours before removing cake from mold.
- Decorate with red dates.
Video
Notes
Video timing: Steam over medium-high heat for 1 hour, checking the water level every 15 minutes. Refrigeration is a separate stage; follow the recipe before unmoulding.
A complete total is left unset because the recipe includes additional resting, rising, cooling, chilling or finishing stages. The preparation value is the existing estimate.
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