Chinese Traditional Steamed Sponge Cake 古早蒸蛋糕

According to the Chinese Lunar calender, we're now celebrating the festival of hungry ghost (yu lan jie or zhong yuan jie). Most Chinese will take this opportunities to give away food to offer to the hungry ghost. Click here to read more culture explainer.  Well, I'll have to say it is always very interesting for being a Chinese and I love my culture.  And this year I made this lovely steamed cake to offer on this special occasion.  Please read on for more.

The cross sign preparation need to be quick, make sure the sugar didn't sink before sending into the steamer. Otherwise, you won't be able to get the nice bloom after steaming.

Ingredients :
5 large eggs
250gm  castor sugar
250gm  all purpose flour
20gm    corn flour
1 tspn   baking powder
a pinch of salt
170ml  soft drinks (highly recommeded 7up)
* extra coarse sugar for sprinkle the cross sign

Method :
(1)  combine all purpose flour, corn flour & baking powder till well mixed.
(2)  whisk eggs and sugar till light & fluffy.
(3)  fold in flour mixture alternately with soft drinks, till everything is well cooperated.
(4)  next, add in salt & corn oil and stir till well combined.
(5)  pour batter to a 8" tray lined with parchment paper.
(6)  now,  sprinkle sugar over the top of the batter to make a cross sign. (as shown in the above picture). This has to be done quickly, otherwise the sugar might disappeared in no time.
(7)  finally, steam at preheated steamer for 30 minutes or till tester came out clean.

I'm pretty much happy with the result. The steamed cake looks fantastic and the best thing is it's easy to prepare. Hope you guys will love it too. Have fun !