Chinese Prosperity Cakes (Fa Gao/Fat Goh 發糕)

This recipe for Chinese Prosperity Cakes (Fa Gao/Fat Goh 發糕) is made from scratch and yields a light and fluffy cake with beautiful cracks on top.

What is fa gao?

Fa gao 發糕 (fat goh in Cantonese) is Chinese prosperity cake.

It is a small, steamed, sweet cake often colored red and served at Chinese New Year.

The name of the cake means to "grow higher," with hopes that this new year will be better than the last year. 

There are many names for this cake, including Cantonese sponge cake, Chinese smiling steamed cake, fortune cake or blooming flowers.

Traditionally, the cake is made with rice flour, yeast, and sugar and steamed on high heat until the top surface cracks or splits into segments, similar to making steamed char siu bao.

These steamed cupcakes (or steamed muffins) are also traditionally offered for ancestral worship.

Why you'll love this recipe

This recipe for Chinese fortune cakes is:

Made from scratch: doesn't use cake box mixes or pancake mix, which can contain artificial ingredients and flavors.

All-natural: the colors for the steamed cakes are natural, without any artificial colors.

Oil-free: this delicious steamed cake doesn't contain any oil or fats (aside from greasing the molds).

Delicious: using cake flour yields a light and fluffy cake, that is slightly sweetened.

Ingredients you'll need

• granulated sugar (砂糖): for sweetness
• hot water (熱水): for dissolving the sugar
• baking powder (發酵粉): a leavening agent to help the cakes puff up and crack
• baking ammonia/baker's ammonia (碳酸銨): also known as ammonium bicarbonate; another leavening agent, a white, granular powder also used in char siu bao (叉燒包) to create the big cracks in the cakes; note that it does have a strong smell; you can find baking ammonia online or in specialty baking stores; see below
• vanilla extract (香草精): for flavor
• apple cider vinegar (蘋果醋): or white vinegar
• cake flour (糕粉): has a lower protein content and yields a light texture; don't use all-purpose flour or bread flour

For coloring: (optional)

• red yeast rice powder (紅曲粉): you can find this online or in specialty Chinese stores
• matcha powder (抹茶粉): use a high-quality green tea powder for the best flavor and color
• cocoa powder (可可粉)

You can find these ingredients at grocery stores. If you prefer, you can use food coloring instead, or omit altogether.

How to make it

Make the batter:

Lightly grease 7 small brioche tins (Step 1 below).

In a heat-proof medium bowl, combine sugar and hot water (Step 2 below).

Mix well to dissolve the sugar. Let cool.

Remove 2 tablespoon of cooled sugar syrup and place into a small bowl.

Add baking powder and baking ammonia to the small bowl of sugar syrup and stir well (Step 3 below).

To the medium bowl of sugar syrup, stir in vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar.

Sift cake flour into the medium bowl of sugar syrup (Step 4 below).

Pour the baking powder and baking ammonia mixture into the cake flour mixture. 

Use a spatula to combine all the ingredients very well (Step 5 below).

Color the batter:

Prepare 3 separate bowls, each with 1 teaspoon of matcha powder, 1 teaspoon of red yeast rice powder, and 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder.

Divide the batter into 3 equal parts, about 115g for each color and pour it into each bowl (Step 6 below).

Note 1: the consistency of the batter should be thick and not runny. If it appears runny, adjust and add in additional 5g of cake flour to the batter.

Note 2: this recipe yields 7 cakes; you will have 1 extra portion -- mix in an additional 5 g cake flour to this particular plain/white portion.

Fill the batter into greased brioche molds, to about 100% full.

Steam the cakes:

Place the cakes into a steamer with hot water over high heat.

Draw a cross on the surface of the batter using a toothpick/skewer (Step 7 below).

Cover and steam on high heat for 20-25 minutes, until puffy and the surface has cracked (Step 8 below).

How to serve & reheat

Serve fa gao with other Chinese New Year offerings such as nian gao glutinous rice cakes (年糕), firecrackers (鞭炮), keropok shrimp crackers (蝦餅), bak kwa pork jerky. 

I personally love to spread a little peanut butter on the sweet, fluffy cakes and serve with soy milk (豆漿), or black sesame oat milk (黑芝麻燕麥奶).

To reheat, steam the fat goh cakes for 5 minutes, until heated through. Be sure not to over-steam.

Alternatively, you can lightly mist each steamed cake with water, cover it and microwave for 25 seconds.

How to store

Store the Chinese prosperity cakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Expert tips 

The sugar syrup for baking powder/baking ammonia must be cool as it will lose its activation power if the syrup is hot.  

If the steamed cakes have a strong baking ammonia smell, re-steam them for another 5 minutes to dissipate. 

The batter for the cake needs to be thick enough, but not too thick; it should not appear runny.

When marking the "cross" on the surface of the batter, it should hold and not flood into itself. 

If you don't have brioche tins, you can use a muffin tin instead. You may need to adjust the amount of batter in each muffin tin. 

Use a high-grade matcha powder for the best color and flavor.

Variations

Adding palm sugar or gula melaka will color the cakes light brown.

You can also use gel food coloring to color the cakes, or omit. 

Other Chinese New Year recipes you may like

Be sure to check out these recipes:

Chinese Almond Cookies (杏仁餅)

Peanut Tang Yuan (花生湯圓) (Glutinous Rice Balls)

Chinese Fried Sesame Balls (煎堆) (Jian Dui)

Chinese Red Date Candy (紅棗糖)

Let me know if you try out this recipe -- tag me on Instagram @siftandsimmer or leave me a comment/rating below!