Yucheng Paizi Cake

Yucheng Paizi Cake

　　Yucheng Paizi Cake is a specialty food from Yucheng City, Dezhou, Shandong Province. It is made from rice flour (glutinous or yellow rice), maltose syrup, and raw oil. The cake is sweet, fragrant, and crispy—making it an excellent choice for entertaining guests or giving as a gift.

　　Yucheng’s “Paizi Cake” has a long history. Legend has it that in the late Qing Dynasty, its founder, Lu Xuexian from Dalu Village in Anren Town, Yucheng City, partnered with a royal merchant named Zhang to trade in glutinous rice. During this time, Lu Xuexian began making various small snacks from glutinous rice himself. Among them, one snack with a “puffed” shape was especially crispy and delicious, winning great popularity, and thus was named “Paizi Cake.”

　　Paizi Cake is made from rice flour (glutinous or yellow rice), maltose syrup, and raw oil. The production process begins with frying the cake. First, the rice is soaked in 30°C warm water until it can be crumbled by hand without sticking. It is then drained, dried, and ground into a dough. The dough is heated and stirred in a pot until it becomes a thick paste, which is then mixed with maltose syrup and poured into a dough mixer. Flour is added to form a dough, which is rolled out into a rectangle about 5 mm thick using a roller. The dough is sliced into multiple layers, then fried until golden apricot in color. The second step is layering the cake. This involves cooking a syrup with maltose, adding appropriate flavorings and osmanthus paste, then stirring the cake batter in the pot. The syrup mixture is poured in to blend evenly with the cooked dough. The well-mixed batter is spread onto a work surface, topped with a layer of white sugar coating, sprinkled with red and green candied fruit strips, covered with paper, pressed firmly, and then cut into pieces.

　　For years, Paizi Cake has been the go-to gift for locals in Yucheng when visiting relatives and friends, and it is also an indispensable dessert at wedding banquets. Among the many producers of “Paizi Cake” in Yucheng, “Old Lu Family” Paizi Cake is especially renowned.