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.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi elaine,
I tried out this wonderful recipe as i couldn’t stop thinking about them after looking at the pictures :-). my cake turned out to be pretty decent. I am from India and have no idea how sponge cakes are supposed to be. Mine were kind of a bit tight sponge and I figured i could have added a bit more sugar. Is that how these are supposed to taste?
Thanks a ton for the recipe i am going to try them out again for my family based on your inputs.
Hi Elaine,
Thanks for the great n easy recipe!
I love everything about the cake, except that the egg smell is quite strong Australian eggs are 700 gram each, is it too big?
What do you think if I add a bit of vanilla essence to get rid of the strong egg smell?
thanks in advance!
Hi Wita,
I use 60g smaller eggs. If the egg smell is too strong, you can add some lemon juice or vanilla essence to cover the smell.
Oh I remember when I visited Australia that the eggs were rather smelly and they also tasted different.
Just making some now before my family wake up! Many thanks for this recipe, look forward to trying one.
Did you use a standard muffin pan or mini muffin pan? I’m really confused about it based on the measurements that you’ve posted for the muffin cup.
Hi Lauren,
I am using mini muffin pan around 50mm in diameter and 15mm in depth.
why you didnt add some baking powder or yeast just asking
Hi Malou,
It is ok if you prefer to add some baking powder, as it is just our traditional way to make egg cake.
Hi Elaine,
Thanks for your detailed recipe,
But do you mind uploading a video showing the steps and tips?
Thanks again.Hope to hear from you.
Thanks for the suggestion. I just re-start my video recently since I get lots of other things in the previous months. This is my daughter’s favorite snack and I will schedule it soon.
Thanks for your time.
I have tried to bake this recently, it was fluffy when it is hot but it turned hard when it is cooled down to room temperature.
It there any steps that I missed?
Thank you.
Hi Elaine. I have a question regarding the whipping time. Is the 12-15 mins you mentioned above just on low speed or the total whipping time? Can you give me a breakdown roughly how long on med speed and how long on low speed? Many thanks…can’t wait to make this for my daughter.
Hi Catharina,
I am sorry that I cannot give a very exact time, as it depends on your speed and also the temperature of the mixture. I usually use middle speed for the first 8-10 minutes and slow down in the last stage. I will try to arrange a video with the hope of made myself understood clearly.
Hi
Thanks for the recipe
The cake turned out great
Thanks again
You are the most welcome, Anantha. Love your feedback.
Hehehe I’m in love with this, so I’m going to try to do it in a waffle iron, see how it works ahaha
I made a batch today for a family picnic tomorrow (Singapore’s national day) Followed the instructions and the cakes turned out really good. Brought back memories if my childhood. Thanks for the recipe. Wish i could upload photo of the cakes. Lovely texture. Will definitely bake this again.
Thanks Sylvia for the feedback. You must be a talented cook. I have received lots of failure about this recipe but I really cannot figure out why. There are lots of details might influence the final texture. Thank God! I still have readers like you.