Old style Chinese egg cake calls everybody’s childhood memory. This is also referred as mini Chinese sponge cake.
I am always wondering where those yummy little cakes are originated. But I am familiar with them when I was just a little girl. At that time, cakes were quite treasure because we cannot make them at home. However they are always available at larger stores. You can even smell the aroma from miles away.
Growing up, I love to recall the food in my childhood from time to time. At the very beginning, this Chinese egg cake is steamed other than baked. Then at sometime, baked version was on almost every store. Compared with steamed version, I prefer baked version because I can still taste the raw egg taste even after adding lemon zest in the batter.After made this successfully around two weeks ago, I make this little egg cake at least twice every weekend for a quick breakfast.
There are many easy and quite yummy cakes during my childhood. This one is made with egg and flour and we have another one made with yeast and rice flour, check that recipe here-Chinese steamed rice cake(sometimes is also known as sugar cake)
The muffin tin I am using is around 50*15mm for each cupcake.
The most important step of this recipe is to whip the egg until really light(white and no large bubbles anymore). I would suggest using warm water to speed up the process in cold winter days.
I got lots of requests concerning about measuring the ingredients in volume like cups, tablespoons and teaspoons.For traditional Chinese stir fries or soups, I used to skip any measurement process and made adjustment based on personal experience. But I started measure in volume especially for seasonings once I realize that reliable personal experience need years of practice. I use my kitchen scale for almost all of my baking and dessert recipes, as the precise ingredient amounts are so important of a successful baking. So Elaine still highly recommend buying yourself a kitchen scale. Technology changes cooking skill only if you use it.
However, I understand that many of you come across with a desperately needed recipe but there is no kitchen scale on hand. So I update this recipe with volume measurement. I am using US volume measurement. So 1 cup=240ml, 1 tablespoon=15 ml and 1 teaspoon=5ml.
Chinese Egg Cake
Ingredients
- 2 middle size eggs ,room temperature eggs
- 60 g cake flour ,1/2 US cup
- 40 g castor sugar ,around 3 tablespoons+1 teaspoon
- 5 g oil ,olive oil or other vegetable oil around 3/4 teaspoon
- warm water ,for speeding up the whipping process, not required in summer days.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C around 350F.
- Prepare a larger container and add half full warm water, then place your mixing bowl on the warm water. Add eggs and castor sugar. Whip at medium speed until light and fluffy. And then use low speed to remove some large bubbles. This step is the key of success and may take 12- 15 minutes until the mixture reach the ribbon stage.
- Shift flour in. Then use a spatula to combine well. And lastly add oil and well combined too.
- Prepare a mini 12 paper lined muffin tin mold and pour the batter in.
- Bake at the middle rack for 15 to 20 minutes until the surface is well colored.
Hey, I was wondering if self raising flour would be alright. I am doing this for a school project. Hopefully you still reply
I did use self raising flour for steamed cake but not for this one. I suggest not using self raising flour.
Ok, thanks!!! 🙂 So should I just use normal flour?
Or do you think spelt flour would be ok?
Normal (all-purpose) flour won’t work. It has too much protein/ gluten. Spelt flour won’t work either. The cake won’t rise and become fluffy.
I like your recipe because it’s simple and uses only few ingredients, however mine didn’t brown on top and had cracks on it, I don’t know where I went wrong. Btw, I whisked the egg and castor sugar by hand and made sure it reached ribbon stage, as soon as I added the cake flour, it formed small clumps of cake flour with bubbles. It turned out more like rice cake.
Denise,
The most possible reason I guess is that the egg is slightly over whisked, so it becomes quite hard to mix the batter as smooth. Or you need to use larger eggs.
Oh okay, I wish I could show you a picture of how it turned out but there’s no option to post it in here. Thank you for your reply. Will definitely give this recipe another try!
Denise,
You can post a picture on facebook or ins if possible.
Okay, found it! will message you the picture right away, thanks!
I’m not sure if I didn’t whip the eggs enough but my batch came out very small (only filled about 6 cupcakes). Any ideas on how I could try to fix this?
Continue whip the eggs. The cake is not well supported by air so the volume is not enough
I’m not sure how much water to use. The ingredients did not give exact measurements and I was hoping you would reply.
Vienna,
No water should be add in the batter. We only use it in order to speed up the whipping process. So it is very much depended on your container.
How much do you fill up each muffin tin? Would you recommend 3/4 (of each tin)?
Yes, almost 3/4 full. The cake rises a lot after baking.
Hello! I followed this recipe and beat the sugar and eggs past ribbon stage. I beat till soft peaks stage. Then when I added in the flour, it seems like the flour can’t be folded in well. When eating, there are small tiny clumps in the cupcake. Any idea what is the reason? The top of the cake is also quite sticky after cooling down. Wonder why. Overall is a simple recipe and we quite like the taste. Thanks!
Maddie,
Clumps in the cake is because the flour is not well mixed. And the sticky problem is because the baking time is not enough or the temperature of the oven is too low. If you love the flavors, continue practicing and you will get better result. I made this for 3-4 times before a successful result.
Hi Elaine, sorry I didn’t get which flour is best this recipe. It looks good , I want to try it. Thanks.
Cake flour is the best option.
Hello, thanks for yr recipe. My cake ended up being dry, tho it is light and fluffy… any idea why? Thnx lots 🙂
Isabel,
The bubbles are killed during the process of adding flour in. You need to be more gentle and quick next time.
Are these the size of mini cupcakes?
Yes, mini cakes. One cake two bites.
What might the problem be if it didn’t rise much and is not fluffy?
Wrong mixing technique caused the lost of air bubble inside the batter.
Hello there,
Is it essential to add the oil in the last step? I felt that I messed up on the cake as usually you split the egg yolk and egg white in a separate bowl to whisk? Please can you also tell me if this is US measurement for the ingredients or UK?
Thank you.
Adding oil can add moisture to the cake. It is US measurement!