Homemade Ma Lai Go – 馬拉糕

Home Made Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake

I didn’t know what to make – besides knowing I wanted to make a cake. I’m no good at baking, so I opted for a steamed cake. The first one that came to my mind was the ma lai go which is a common cake that you’d get during dim sum. This is a simple recipe for a small batch, which was all I needed!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cake flour
1/2 cup of sugar
2 eggs beaten

First you cream the eggs and sugar together until it becomes “thick” and forms kind of “ribbons” from your whisk. This does take a long time, so use an electric beater or have lots of energy! Make sure you get your steamer ready as you need it right away! The steamer and everything has to be hot and ready – or the cake won’t rise and you’ll just get a block of cake.

Once the mixture is creamy, thick and frothy, then you’re ready to add in the flour. Mix the flour in gently until incorporated – do not over mix!

Then, just pour the batter into the container of choice. I used 2 small ramekins, which worked great for my purpose!

Steam for 30 minutes and you’ll know it’s ready when the cake starts pulling away from the sides. You can do the clean toothpick test too just to verify!

Serve hot/warm, and I just pulled my little cake out of the ramekin so you can see the great bubbles.