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Thursday, March 01, 2007

Smiling Steamed Cakes

I cannot make Fatt Koh smiles. Why????? Renee said that i make sad cakes because i was sad. Attempt after attempt, with all sorts of recipe, blaming on everything that i can think off, still not smiling. Now, finally, had success, it's smiling but it is not Fatt Koh. It is actually sponge cake. I like this better because it has eggs and of course more nutricious than plain Fatt Koh and Renee will eat them.
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Ingredients:

125 gm unbleached all purpose flour
25 gm corn flour/wheat starch
125 gm sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
100 ml carbonated soda(i use sprite)
1 tsp ovalette

Method:

Bring water in steamer to high boil.

Put in the egg tart moulds on the steamer to heat up the moulds(i put in 6 moulds in a 10 inch steamer)

Whisk all the ingredients at high speed until fluffy.

Add in flavoring and color and mix thoroughly.

When moulds are heated, place in papercups(use the new ones) and using a 1 1/2 oz ice cream scoop, scoop in the batter(it has to be 1 1/2 ozs) (if the mould size is different, make sure the batter is 90% full)

Close lid and steam for 15 minutes on high heat.(use a piece of cloth large enough to tie up the lid of steamer - to prevent condensation and drippings)

After 15 minutes, remove lid and you can't help but smile along with the 6 cakes smiling at you.

Enjoy


Serves

46 comments:

  1. Hi Lily,

    Can you tell me what is ovalette? Is there a substitution for that?
    Thanks!
    Val

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  2. val

    ovalette is a emulsifier allowing the fat in the eggs remain fluffy and stable.

    my friend used 1/4 tsp of baking soda and his cake turned out just as pretty.

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  3. Haha.. my fatt koh can never be smiling despite numerous tries.. wonder what went wrong..

    Happy CNY to you and your family.

    Regards
    Esther

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  4. Lily,
    Very nice and colorful smiling steam cake.

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  5. Florence

    thanks and are you going to have a big do for the 15th day of the new year?

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  6. esther

    me too until i tried this recipe. The taro and sweet potato fatt koh work too.

    Heed my suggestions otherwise they will not smile too. The last bit of batter which filled the cup only 1/2 way did not smile and once i experimented and added baking soda to the batter, that too did not smile, so i added in more flour to make the batter stiffer, that smiled but it is not as fluffy and not so tasty.

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  7. Yea...congrats on making your cake smiles! Look likes fatt koh too!

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  8. ching

    these are soft and fluffy even overnight and renee loves them, she said that the cakes were smiling because she did not cry that day - so cute, cos i blamed her when the cakes were sad, it was because she cried.

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  9. Very pretty and big smiles on your steamed sponge cake Lily!:)

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  10. Hi Lily
    I love your food blog; never fails to inspire me. I dun have an electric mixer; do you think this would work if I beat the eggs and sugar first, followed by folding in the flour and the sprite and the leavener? Also, is corn starch preferable to wheat starch for this recipe?
    Thank you so much in advance.

    Tatiana

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  11. Hi Lily
    Love your food blog; it's a great source of inspiration. I dun have an electric mixer; do you think this would work if I beat the eggs with the sugar first, followed by folding in the flours, sprite and the leavener? Also, is corn starch preferable to wheat starch for this recipe? I have both and would like to know which would work better. BTW, can we sift the flours and the baking soda together? Thank you so much in advance:-)

    Tatiana

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  12. tatiana

    there is no leavener in the recipe. ovallette is a stabiliser and it will allow the batter to remain stiff and does not collapse. there is no neccessity for me to beat with hand whisk, so i am not able to tell you if it works.

    both cornflour or wheat starch have no gluten and there is no preference.

    invest on a electric mixer, even the hand held ones are very useful.

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  13. tatiana
    '
    you had another comment that i wish to reply but i could not locate it as you did not mention the name of recipe and blogger did not behave and the comments do not come to my email.
    could you please post comment again but please mention the name of recipe
    thanks

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  14. hi lily
    thanks for your replies. I wanted to ask if we should whisk the soda together with the eggs/flour or mix in at the end. I have no ovalette and was thinking of replacing with baking soda. BTW, did you sift the flours together?
    Thanks a million again :-)

    tatiana

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  15. tatiana

    since you do not have ovallette, you can try my friend's recipe http://pwmf.blogspot.com/2006/07/bnh-thun-steamed-cup-cakes.html

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  16. lily
    thank you. I will try out tt's recipe. thanks again :-)

    tatiana

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  17. Hi Lily:
    I have been experimenting on my own for this type of recipe during CNY but still have not perfected it as yet. Glad to have found your site and recipe. However, I live in the Bay Area, CA and I am not sure I can find ovalette. What is a substitute for it? Please advice.
    BTW, I really love your recipes and finally found a way to communicate with you...Elizabeth

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  18. elizabeth

    my friend in seattle has no ovallette too but he managed to make them using baking soda.http://chetambiz.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_chetambiz_archive.html

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  19. I love yr Smiling Steamed Cakes but can I know what is unbleached all purpose flour.

    Thanks/cecilia

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  20. cecilia

    unbleached all purpose flour is just plain flour that has not been bleached.

    you could use 150 gm cake flour to sub the all purpose flour and cornstarch

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  21. would sugar plus the added carbonated soda (sprite) make it overly sweet? How much sugar to add if using plain club soda?

    How many cupcake sizes do these make? :)

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  22. anonymous

    the sweetness of 100 ml of sprite will not make much difference. just sub with club soda.

    i think i could make 9 cakes (should have noted. will edit post when i make them again)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi Lily,

    Thanks your recipe given. I try your recipe but doesnt work. The flour i used is the normal plain flour. Is it incorrect? Its hard and taste horrible. and I used baking soda instead of ovalette. Please advise.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  24. anonymous

    i am sorry that you failed. i too have thrown many failures.

    For this cake, the ovalette is there to emulsify the fat in the eggs so that the batter remains fluffy and without it, perhaps you would have to whisk/beat the eggs and sugar (like the sponge cake) until ribbon stage, then fold in the flour and other ingredients gently without deflating the egg and sugar mixture.

    For baking soda to react, it will need some acidic ingredients like buttermilk or brown sugar.

    try the fatt koh recipe which does not use ovalette http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2007/04/fatt-kohhuat-kuih.html

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  25. Hi Lily,

    Your smiling steam cakes are very nice , thanks for sharing recipe.

    Lily can you tell me that can i make this steam cake without carbonated soda ?


    Quinnie

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  26. quinnie

    i suppose you could sub with 1/2 tsp baking powder

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  27. Lily,

    Thank you very much for your answer.

    Have a nice weekend to you & your family.


    Quinnie

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  28. Lily,

    Thanks for your answer.
    i made smiling steam cake today , They are soft and smile very nice, thank you so much for sharing great recipe.

    Quinnie

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  29. can I use this receipe for the traditional chinese steam cake for chinese new year and praying festival?

    How much ingredients to make a bigger sixe?

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  30. ester ong

    if you want to make bigger cakes just use a bigger container but you will have to steam them longer as they are bigger and takes longer to cook.

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  31. Dear Lily,

    it's me again...how r u??I'd tried ur Spicy Crabs..and my whole family loves it...thank you so much. Today I tried to make the Smiling Cakes with baking soda...but it didn't turn out smiling...I wanna ask is ovalette same as cream of tartar...can I subtitute with that and how long should i beat the ingrediants??? Please help....Thanks alot!!

    Sally

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  32. sally

    perhaps you would like to try the fatt koh/huat kuih which do not need ovalette http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2007/04/fatt-kohhuat-kuih.html

    ovalette is an emulsifier and it is not the same as cream of tartar

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  33. Thanks lily for sharing this smiley cake recipe with us.

    Will try it out one day. :}

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  34. Lily,

    Hi, what's the purpose of adding SODA Water? What if we add coconut milk? Will that work?

    Thanks.

    LovetoBake

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  35. lovetobake

    the carbonated water will act like a leavening agent and give the cake a lift.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hi aunty,
    I've actually made this recipe twice. 1st time, some smiled, some don't. 2nd time, all no smiles, all botak heads! I mixed everything together as stated in your recipe. don't know what happened! Please help!!

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  37. delia

    did you see rice fatt koh and rice fatt koh II? although the steamer is hot enough, the cups play an important factor for smiling cakes. porcelain cups take longer to heat up and need very very very high heat. if the steamer heat is high enough, you don't have to steam the cups. Filling the batter to the correct level too has a factor to determine good smile.

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  38. Hi lily,

    please can you tell me how looks like the steamer what you use?
    Thanks
    Elke

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  39. elke

    the picture of the steamer which is a sunbeam http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2008/04/rice-fatt-koh-ii.html. This steamer is on an instant one and only one layer.there are more pictures here http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2008/04/rice-fatt-koh.html.

    i have another steamer which is instant, meaning steam is there as soon as it is turned on - the brand is Oster and this has 2 layers for steaming.

    btw, you can use the rice cooker - http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2008/06/rice-cooker-fatt-koh.html.

    and i have used the spaghetti pot which is very good. A Wok with a lid will do too.

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  40. Hi Lily,
    Just want to tell im very very happy, 1st time making the smilling steam cakes, its really smile at me!

    ReplyDelete
  41. Hi Lily,
    the smiling steam cakes really smile at me, Ha ha! i'm very happy. u are amazing! i want to send the photo to show every blogger to view coz i know some not susscess making it,but if follow ur rules i believe everybody can susscess. But how i'm going to upload the photos?

    Best Regards
    Susan,Malaysia

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  42. susan

    i don't know how you can upload photos but perhaps you could email the picture to me and see if i could add your picture to my post.

    i am so glad to hear that this recipe worked for you

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  43. Hi lily,
    i already email u the photos yesterday:) hope u received it and give me some comment, thanks!

    best regards,
    Susan, Malaysia

    ReplyDelete
  44. susan

    yes i did receive your email and saw your pictures. you did a very good job. I have replied your email, please check.

    keep up the good work

    ReplyDelete
  45. Hi Lily
    Does baking soda turn the cake brown? I used the 'orange sugar' for this recipe.But when I added the baking soda to replace the ovalette for half the batter, my cakes became brown instead of orange.They didn't smile but we love the taste and texture.Thanks.
    Audrey

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  46. audrey

    yes baking soda does brown and access will even give a soap like taste. Baking soda will not make the cake smile, it is the heat in the steaming.

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