Sinan Flower Sweet Cake

Sinan Flower Sweet Cake

　　Among the many delicacies in Sinan, the colorful, fragrant, and delicious Flower Sweet Cake stands out as the most unique. Its uniformly patterned floral designs often amaze visitors from other regions, and after tasting, they praise its soft, glutinous, and smooth texture. Many are left puzzled—how exactly are those exquisitely crafted, embedded floral patterns made?

　　The ingredients for Flower Sweet Cake are glutinous rice and non-glutinous rice (regular rice). To make it, the glutinous and non-glutinous rice are first rinsed and drained, then mixed together and pounded or ground into a powdery rice flour using a stone mortar or millstone. Pounding the rice or grinding it is rhythmic and even aesthetically pleasing, but it’s also strenuous manual labor. During festivals and holidays, the sound of pounding can be heard echoing along both banks of the Wu River.

　　Once the rice flour is ready, one-third of it is scooped out, mixed with water, and stirred continuously in a pot until fully cooked, turning it into “rice slurry.” This process is called “making the slurry.” Next, the slurry is placed on a work surface and repeatedly kneaded together with the remaining raw rice flour—an intricate and demanding process. After several rounds of kneading, a cohesive dough is formed, marking the crucial stage of Flower Sweet Cake making—imprinting the floral design. Through a clever technique (the process of which is temporarily a secret), the cake takes its basic shape before being placed in a steamer to be cooked over a wood fire. At this point, the Flower Sweet Cake is technically done, but it still can’t be eaten immediately—it must cool down fully before serving. The entire process takes over 40 hours.

　　The outward appearance of the Flower Sweet Cake is rather plain, not much different from New Year cakes found elsewhere. But if you slice the cylindrical cake horizontally, you’ll be amazed to find that every slice features identical patterns of red flowers, green leaves, birds, animals, insects, and fish—as if cloned—truly astonishing. There may be peonies, roses, pine branches, delicate orchids, or even pairs of fluttering butterflies. The designs can also form Chinese characters such as “Fu” (fortune), “Lu” (prosperity), “Shou” (longevity), and “Xi” (joy), showcasing the craftsman’s creative versatility.

　　Due to the kneading and steaming processes, these floral patterns, like the glaze colors on ceramics during firing, develop subtle variations and slight distortions, adding a touch of nature’s spontaneity. With divine intervention, the patterns of the Flower Sweet Cake hover between realism and impressionism, creating an elusive charm that’s difficult to describe.

　　There’s a beautiful legend about the Flower Sweet Cake. In ancient times, a scholar from Sinan bid farewell to his beloved and left for the capital. Years later, after striving hard and finally achieving success, he remained too busy with official duties to return home. The heartbroken maiden, desperate to reach him, decided to make a sweet cake from her sweetheart’s favorite glutinous rice. She painted the landscapes, flowers, and plants of their hometown onto the cake and sent it to him via someone traveling to the capital. The plan worked—the scholar, seeing the familiar objects, understood her deep love and longing. Filled with homesickness, he immediately journeyed back over the mountains, requested leave, and returned to marry her. Since then, making sweet cakes in Sinan has never been simple—the complex floral patterns became an essential part of the tradition.

　　There are many ways to enjoy Flower Sweet Cake. Sliced into pieces, it can be boiled, steamed, grilled, or even paired with sweet glutinous rice wine to create “Sweet Rice Wine Flower Sweet Cake,” served to honored guests (“dangjin ke”).

　　Glutinous rice is one of the distinctive foods beloved by various ethnic groups in Sinan. It has a soft, glutinous, and sticky texture, and is rich in B vitamins, protein, fat, sugar, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and starch. It helps replenish energy, nourish blood, strengthen the spleen and warm the stomach, relieve sweating, and more. It warms the spleen and stomach, invigorates qi, and offers therapeutic benefits for those with a cold spleen and stomach, poor appetite, bloating, or diarrhea. It also has an astringent effect, helping with frequent urination and spontaneous sweating. Modern medicine regards it as a gentle tonic.

　　Non-glutinous rice, also known as regular rice, is a staple food for the people of Sinan year-round. It can be used to cook steamed rice or porridge. Non-glutinous rice porridge has a fragrant aroma and is beneficial for health. Lu You of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in his poem “Eating Porridge”: “Everyone strives to live long, unaware that longevity is right before them. I’ve found Wanqiu’s simple method—just eat porridge and become immortal.”

　　Non-glutinous rice is rich in starch, protein, fat, fiber, B vitamins, and trace elements. It helps strengthen the spleen and stomach, invigorate qi, fortify bones, and relieve cold-induced diarrhea. A folk proverb says, “Humans are iron, rice is steel; go a meal without it and you’ll feel famished.” Here, “rice” usually refers to steamed rice. Combining glutinous and non-glutinous rice into a sweet cake reflects the wisdom and aesthetic sensibilities of life in Sinan.

　　Flower Sweet Cake is soft, glutinous, subtly sweet, and complete with color, aroma, and taste—a true artful delicacy. Some first-time visitors to Sinan often can’t bear to take the first bite, enchanted by the beautiful floral patterns. But once a slice melts in their mouth, the aroma lingers. The lovely petals leave a lasting impression.

　　The sweet and tasty “Flower Sweet Cake”—a folk specialty made from glutinous rice. As children, we’d prepare it every Lunar New Year. It could be grilled and dipped in white sugar, pan-fried, or boiled. The intricate floral patterns within demonstrate the craftsman’s skill—all created by pressing with bamboo strips. More complex designs include butterflies, peonies, and pine trees, while simpler ones are even more varied.

　　Main ingredients: 8 kg glutinous rice, 2 kg regular rice

　　Secondary ingredient: appropriate amount of amaranth juice

　　Preparation: Rinse and clean the glutinous and regular rice, filter out moisture, mix and pound into rice flour. Take one-third of the flour, stir into the pot with water until it becomes cooked slurry. Then mix in the rest of the rice flour and knead into a semi-cooked dough. Shape into strips, flatten by hand, and roll into strips 3–4 cm wide. Depending on the complexity of the floral design, roll into three, five, or seven layers. Apply amaranth juice to each layer, stack all layers, and roll into a cylinder. Determine the number of pressing rounds based on petal count, then horizontally (not vertically) toss, knead, and press the cake roll. Steam it in a basket over high heat until cooked. Alternatively, use wooden molds to shape the Flower Sweet Cake into characters like “Fu,” “Lu,” “Shou,” and “Xi.” When serving, slice and boil, steam, or grill it. It can also be cooked with sweet rice wine and white sugar.

　　Flavor: slightly sweet

　　Characteristics: soft, glutinous, pleasant taste, with beautiful floral shapes