Spiced Pumpkin Mochi Cake (nian gao)
The recipe for this deliciously chewy slightly sticky one-bowl cake is from Hetty Lui McKinnon’s latest cookbook Linger. She explains that traditional Chinese nian gao is sweetened with rock sugar and then steamed and that eating it during the Lunar New Year is said to bring luck.
“My nian gao is baked and veers toward the sweet side, amplified with earthy pumpkin puree and warming spices,” she says.
A terrific alternative to the traditional pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.
.
Inroduction
About this Recipe
By Sheridan Rogers
Hetty uses canned pumpkin puree in her recipe whereas I steamed and mashed a few slices of peeled pumpkin. You could also use sweet potato. Make sure to use glutinous rice flour not regular rice flour. I dusted the top with icing sugar sifted with edible orange oil soluble powder.
Ingredients
2 large organic or free range eggs
1 x 400 ml tin coconut milk
30g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
75g (1/3 cup) pumpkin puree (canned is fine)
200g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
220g glutinous rice flour (such as
Erawan or Mochiko)
Preheat oven to 180C (160C Fan). Grease and line a 20cm diameter round cake tin, about 5cm-6cm deep.
Place the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk very well. Add the coconut milk, melted butter and pumpkin puree and whisk until smooth. Add the sugar, spices and salt and whisk again. Now add the glutinous rice flour and whisk for about 2 minutes, until the batter is completely smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 55-60 minutes until the top looks slightly crackly and springs back when gently pressed.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely, about 1 hour. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it, then cut into squares or slices – which is easy when the cake is still in the tin. Lightly oil the knife to help you cut through, or dust it with cornflour, The longer it cools, the easier it will be to cut.
Note: the cake will keep well in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or for 5 days in the fridge. It also freezes well if you cut it into squares or slices, then wrap in baking paper and seal in a freezer bag. Reheat in the oven or microwave.