Fa Gao Chinese Steamed Cake

At Chinese New Year, and other times of festival, for auspiciousness, eating this cake is very traditional.

It is really important that when it cooks, it pops open at the top as it is said that the cake is "smiling" on a good and prosperous year.

Fa Gao means "cake that has expanded". Fa means expand whilst gao is the word for "cake" in Mandarin. Fa also means prospering or becoming rich, in another context; therefore the Chinese cup cake is highly popular and is seen as a fortune cake.



Ingredients:
- 1 cup self raising flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (the good quality thick stuff)
- water

Method:
1. Sieve flour and brown sugar together, this helps remove sugar clumps and gives the cake an nice fluffy texture.
2. Mix in coconut milk.
3. Add enough water to make batter ribbon-like in consistency.
4. Pour into prepared muffin tin and steam on high for 13 minutes. (NOTE: Do not open the lid of the steamer for the first 10 minutes... this helps ensure that the cake "smiles" nicely)
5. Allow to cool in pan and then remove... eat fresh, with a mixture of brown sugar and dessicated coconut. Enjoy!

Recipe Yields: 6 servings

(This is not my own recipe but a good one that I have tried and it works perfectly well)