Traditional 'Ma Lai Gao' @ Malay Cake

You know, I've been searching for this traditional recipe high and low for more than a year. But no one seems willing to share and some of them don't even know what is this! Luckily, I found it from a friend recently. I am very thankful to her for sharing this with me. Thank you so much, Apple Ong! Nowadays, it is so difficult to find this kind of traditional cake but will see them once in a while at the night market. 'Ma Lai Gao' in chinese is meaning Malay Cake. This recipe is actually came from the combination cuisine of the Chinese Steamed Cake and Malay Honey Comb Cake. As you know, Malaysia is a multi-racial country which directly or indirectly had influenced and produced the entirely new cuisine of their own. So, this is one of those wonderful cuisines of Malaysia. And I do admit that Malaysian enjoy eating very much!

Ingredients for Starter Dough :

1-1/2 tbsp sugar
70ml warm water
1 tspn yeast
150gm flour

- dissolve yeast and sugar into warm water for 10mins.
- then add in flour to form a dough and let proof for 12 hours.


Main Dough Ingredients :

starter dough
40gm high protein flour
1 tbsp milk powder
1-1/2tbsp custard powder
230gm brown sugar
5 large eggs
150ml oil
1-1/2 tspn baking powder
3/4 tspn baking soda
1 tspn dark soy sauce


Method :

- combine starter dough, flour, milk powder, custard powder, baking powder, baking soda & sugar together, mix well.




- beat in eggs, oil and 1 tspn dark soy sauce under low speed untill combined.
( encourage to hand mix)
- then leave to proof for 2-3hours.



- place thebatter to a 8" tray and leave to rest for an hour.
- finally, steam for 40 mins under high heat.

I am so so so...happy! Finally, have a chance to eat this kind of cake again. Even my kids had never take this before! I mean they do serve 'Ma Lai Gao' in some restaurants but those are not the one I'm looking for. They normally served Hong Kong Style 'Ma Lai Gao' and not this!

These cakes are so good looking, right! Sometimes, nice food take times! Remember, no short cut..he he!