Soft and Sweet Brown Sugar Ma Lai Gao
Ma Lai Gao is a steamed Chinese cake dessert made with pantry-friendly ingredients, including sugar, yeast, flour, and tapioca starch. Get a sweet tooth fix with its fluffy goodness and sweet caramel taste. You don't need to bake it, just steam!
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 30 min
- Yield
- 5 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 50 g brown sugar
- 5 g white sugar
- 180 ml warm water
- 2 g yeast powder
- 100 g flour
- 100 g tapioca starch
- 8 g oil
Instructions
- 1
In a mixing bowl, mix brown sugar, white sugar, and warm water.
- 2
Stir well until the sugar melts.
- 3
Allow it to cool to around 40°C or 104°F. You can use a kitchen thermometer to measure the temperature.
- 4
Once it cools, add the yeast powder and mix well.
- 5
Then, add flour and tapioca starch.
- 6
Mix the batter until it becomes yogurt-like. It should be smooth and syrupy.
- 7
To help you know if it doubles, you can place a marker on the bowl before covering it with plastic wrap. The marker should be above the dough line, which is the expected height when the current dough's size doubles.
- 8
Next, cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- 9
Let it proof in a warm place until it doubles in size.
- 10
After doubling in size, add oil and mix thoroughly.
- 11
While mixing, make sure you release as much air as possible.
- 12
Afterward, get your cake molds and brush them with oil.
- 13
Place the molds in the steamer basket.
- 14
Then, pour the batter into the molds and let it rest for 10 minutes in the steamer.
- 15
After 10 minutes, boil cold water on medium heat for 25 minutes.
- 16
Turn off the heat and leave the cake to sit for 5 minutes in the heat.
- 17
Remove the cover while making sure no moisture drips onto the cake.
- 18
Lastly, enjoy a warm and fluffy homemade ma lai gao!