With age comes wrinkles and gray hair, but also lots of great memories to share (hey, that rhymes!). Memories from my childhood pastimes are often triggered by food, since that is my parents’ love language. A perfect example is White Sugar Sponge Cake or Bak Tong Gou in Cantonese and Bai Tang Gao in Mandarin, a Chinese snack / street food that brings me back to the good ol’ days, when I was a youngster still residing with my parents and siblings in an average-sized tenement apartment. My immigrant parents worked extremely hard to put food on the table, but they always made time for us during the 1-2 days they had off from work, whether it be a family outing at Bronx Zoo or South Street Seaport, or simply bringing home snacks and goodies for their children. My dad used to bring home treats from a tofu shop in Chinatown that was known for their Bak Tong Gou, red bean pudding (boot jai go), soy bean milk, prunella vulgaris tea, and much more. Now that I’ve moved to the boondocks where treats from my childhood are no longer accessible, I’ve learned to make them at home, to share a piece of my childhood with my kids, while reminiscing the happy times I’ve shared with my family. Believe it or not, this snack is also vanishing from many Chinatowns, which is quite unfortunate. Let’s keep this recipe alive!

What is White Sugar Sponge Cake?

White Sugar Sponge Cake is often referred to as “honeycomb cake” due to cavities that form as a result of yeast fermentation and steaming. You’ll also find vertical lines upon cutting into the cake, which contribute to its interesting appearance. Contrary to what you may think, this cake is super simple to make and requires just a handful of ingredients: rice flour, yeast, water, sugar and oil. Proofing the cake batter with yeast for a couple hours also creates a subtle (almost unnoticeable) sourness that, surprisingly, pairs well with the texture and sweetness of the cake.

Ingredients:

Besides water and oil, which really need no explanation, you will need the following essential ingredients to achieve Bak Tong Gou:

Instant Dry Yeast: Yeast is absolutely critical in this recipe. There are no ifs, ands or buts. While you can substitute it with active dry yeast, the “honeycomb” appearance and pillowy, yet springy texture of this cake can not be achieved without fermentation through yeast.

Rice Flour: Do not mistaken this for glutinous rice flour, which results in sticky textures and commonly used in making mochi. Rice flour is fine flour made from grinding rice and the one from Flying Horse is what I typically use. I would advise using a kitchen scale to measure your flour more precisely.

White Sugar: Nothing special here. The recipe calls for regular white sugar. However, there IS a “brown sugar sponge cake” that utilizes well… brown sugar and it is equally delicious and appealing to the eye!

If you tried my recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment below and/or subscribe to my YouTube channel and tag me @rackoflam and #rackoflam on social media!