Hmm.... I forgot to take pictures after I cut it into cubes... Sad.
This was a cake by the Hakka: Nine layered cake. 九層糕
This cake symbolise the royalty of the Chinese emperor, 九五之尊. If not mistaken....
It was made with two different colours
The white batter
3 cups of rice flour
1 cup of tapioca flour ( recipe actually called for sweet potato flour)
6 cups of water (3 out of 6 were hot water)
1/3 of the batter has to cook into paste. Once it has become as a paste, put it away from the heat. Mix it with the remaining batter until smooth. The purpose of doing this is to avoid sediment of the flour while steaming.
The brown batter
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar (more sugar can be added as the sweetness of the cake was weak)
4 tbsp of tapioca flour
1/4 cup of boiling water
Melt the brown sugar with the boiling water. Later mix in the flour.
Transfer 2/5 of the white batter into the brown batter. Approximately 3 cups of the white one.
Add 1/2 tsp of salt in the remaining white batter.
Batter in high sugar content requires longer steaming time, hence there will be 5 layers of brown and 4 layers of white. It takes approximately 3 minutes each layer.
Place a baking or parchment paper at the bottom of the baking tin and oil the side of the tin.
When steaming the last layer, continue to steam for another 10 minutes to fully cook all layers.
Let the cake completely cool before cutting it. Oil the knife before cutting as it will stick on the knife.
