Chinese Steamed Cupcakes – Faat Go/Prosperity Cakes
:Edit:
If you happen to live in New York City and you want to try this faat go recipe, I suggest that you take a visit to Chinatown and purchase a bag of homemade “wet” rice flour which is low-gluten. I can honestly tell you that I don’t know how to make this flour but I can tell you where to buy it. Having the right kind of flour is key to your prosperity cakes.
Fong Inn Too, Inc.
Fong Inn Too Menu
Now in Cantonese it is called, “Zhi mai fun.” Once you tell the clerk that you want this, he will give you a bag of rice flour which is shown below:
Hong Kong Rice Flour
Notice that this flour is clumpy and not dry like most flours. My mother tells me that this flour is essentially rice and flour that has been fermented for two days. Unfortunately I do not possess the know how, but I can tell you how it was made.
Good luck!
***
It all started with an obsession with Chinese cupcakes. AKA faat go (or huat kueh) as you say in Cantonese. My good friend Sally over at the tastyconfection and I wanted to learn how to make Chinese cupcakes because we have always eaten them. These special cupcakes are only available in Chinese bakeries during the time of Chinese New Year since they represent prosperity and success. There’s an old Chinese proverb which my mother always says that translates, “The more the cake blossoms, the more prosperous your year will be.” Something along the lines of this. Sally and I can care less about the superstitious properties that these cakes hold and wanted to eat them whenever we wanted to. The journey to find the most successful recipe was a frustrating one.
Complicated and non-traditional prosperity cupcake recipes disappointed me. I was amazed how I could not find a good old fashion Chinese recipe. There are many Malaysian and Singaporean recipes, but they’re not the ones that I am used to having. Sally tried learning the recipe from her grandmother, but unfortunately the cupcakes’ corners did not form which is why she is uncomfortable with sharing the recipe.
Now one day, my mother decided to make these cupcakes for my father’s birthday. She got the recipe from my aunt and then a couple of hours in the kitchen, she makes this:
Steamed Chinese Cupcakes aka Faat Go
