Honeycomb Cake

Honeycomb Cake

　　Honeycomb Cake

　　Honeycomb Cake is a type of steamed cake or snack made from wheat flour or rice flour mixed with sugar, fruit ingredients, and other components. It is named Honeycomb Cake because, when cut open, the interior has many small honeycomb-like holes.

　　Red and White Honeycomb Cake is made by fermenting wheat flour into a thick batter. The fermented dough is then evenly mixed with alkali and kneaded smooth, and topped with fruit ingredients such as red dates, osmanthus, pine nuts, and raisins. The well-mixed dough is then steamed in a basket with the toppings facing up. A layer of oil is brushed on top, and a few air vents are poked into the surface with chopsticks during steaming to allow steam to escape. Once cooked, it's done. Red Honeycomb Cake is made with standard wheat flour and brown sugar, while White Honeycomb Cake uses high-gluten flour and white sugar. Both Red and White Honeycomb Cakes are sweet and fragrant, soft, fluffy, and pleasant to eat.

　　Bowl Honeycomb Cake is made by fermenting high-gluten flour, then mixing it with alkali and white sugar until even. Small bowls are cleaned and coated with oil inside. The fermented dough is placed in the bowls, topped with five red dates, and steamed over high heat until fully cooked. The resulting cake takes the shape of a bowl, blooms on top, and is soft, fluffy, and pleasant to eat.

　　Rice Flour Honeycomb Cake is actually also a type of bowl cake, but its main ingredient is not wheat flour—it’s made with glutinous rice flour. The process involves washing glutinous rice, soaking it in cold water for four to five hours, draining it completely, then grinding it into powder and sifting it through a fine sieve. In a basin, old starter dough is torn apart, poured into warm water to dilute, then mixed with the rice flour until uniform. The mixture is covered and left to ferment. Once fermentation is complete, it is kneaded with alkali while still warm and poured into a fermentation bowl. Sugar, osmanthus, and alkaline powder are added, then stirred vigorously into a paste (note: the amount of alkaline powder must be just right to achieve proper neutralization between acid and base). The alkali-adjusted rice paste is then spooned into small bowls that have been pre-coated with oil. After steaming over high heat, the cakes are removed and topped with green plums, melon seeds, and pieces of hawthorn candy, which can also be arranged into patterns. Rice Flour Honeycomb Cake is milky white, accented with red and green fruit ingredients for an attractive appearance. It is soft, fluffy, and sweet in flavor. Because it contains honeycomb-like holes, it is also called Rice Flour Honeycomb Cake.