Welcome to The Storied Recipe, a podcast about food, culture, and love.
My podcast guest, Emily Ho shared this authentic Nian Gao (Glutinous Rice Cake) recipe with us. As you make it, I invite you to listen to this episode all about Lunar New Year traditions.
I made this Sticky Rice Cake recipe before treats like Bubble Tea and Mochi Ice Cream became popular in the US. So at first, I wasn't sure about the milky flavor and chewy texture, but then, I couldn't stop eating it!
Just like Emily, who shared this recipe with us, my favorite is the edges, where the flavor is concentrated and the texture is extra chewy.
Emily's recipe came from her Taiwanese aunt. It is a very basic, classic Nian Gao recipe, and the perfect base for any variations.
Jump to:
- What To Expect (Flavor & Texture)
- Substitution Options
- Nian Gao and Chinese New Year
- All About Glutinous (Sticky, Sweet) Rice Flour
- Steaming vs. Baking
- Equipment Options
- Storage
- Another Storied Recipe Using Sweet Rice Flour
- Recipe Contributor: Emily Ho
- Listen to Emily's Episode on The Storied Recipe Podcast:
- Follow The Storied Recipe in Your Favorite Player
- Recipe
What To Expect (Flavor & Texture)
- If you've never eaten anything containing glutinous rice flour, one comparison is to a flan or crème brûlée. The textures are silky and smooth. However, this cake is much firmer than a custard. As you can see, it holds its shape.
- Emily Ho, who shared this recipe with us, describes the cake as "chewy, with a milky flavor and easy to swallow”.
Substitution Options
To Make Vegan
It's easy to make this recipe vegan simply by substituting the evaporated or whole milk with coconut milk. Whichever brand you choose, make sure you use full fat coconut milk.
To Avoid Vegetable Oil
This recipe calls for vegetable oil, but any neutral oil will work just fine.
If you don't have Glutinous Rice Flour/Sweet Rice Flour/Sticky Rice Flour
(These three are essentially the same - see below for minor variations between brands.)
- If you must substitute the glutinous rice flour in this recipe, the best substitution will be cornstarch, tapioca starch, or potato starch.
- Do not substitute any type of wheat or grain flour.
- Also, do not substitute with rice flour - neither brown rice nor white rice flour.
Nian Gao and Chinese New Year
Sometimes referred to as "Chinese New Year cake", this is a popular dessert for Lunar New Year celebrations in many Asian countries, bringing good luck for the coming year. Here are some of the ways Nian Gao relates to the Lunar New Year Celebration.
- The name itself is actually a pun using the Chinese character “糕”. This character means cake, but the pronunciation of the character sounds very similar to “高”, which means "tall" or "high", or in other words: better and more prosperous. So when you put that character together with “年”, which means “year”, you have the double meaning of [New] Year's Cake AND Better Year. Pretty clever, right?
- In addition to this pun, there's a Chinese legend surrounding Nian Gao and the New Year. According to this legend, every kitchen has a kitchen god. In some versions of the legend, this kitchen god reports to a higher god. The Nian Gao sticks the kitchen god's mouth together and prevents them from saying anything bad about the household in which they reside. In other versions of the legend, the kitchen god is so pleased with the sweet cake, they refrain from causing mischief throughout the new year.
- Finally, Nian Gao is a popular gift to bring to neighbors when visiting during the week around the New Year celebrations. In fact, these cakes are so prolific, that there are many popular recipes for Fried Nian Gao to use up leftovers.
All About Glutinous (Sticky, Sweet) Rice Flour
Regular Rice Flour (white or brown) vs. Glutinous Rice Flour
- These are NOT the same and can not be treated as the same. The process for producing each flour is the same - both are made by milling rice.
- However, rice (white or brown) has different properties than glutinous/sticky/sweet rice. Therefore, the flours made by milling each rice will be different. Glutinous rice will be stretchy, starchy, and sticky. Flour made from those kinds of rice will have the same properties.
- There are well over 6000 varieties of glutinous/sticky/sweet rices in the world!
- "Sticky rice" often refers to a specific variety of rice named Japonica. While Japonica is not technically a glutinous rice, it takes on the same properties when cooked. So "sticky rice" is still used interchangeably with "glutinous rice" or "sweet rice".
- For more inspiration on utilizing glutinous rice flour, I've gathered a collection of 52 recipes featuring this ingredient, along with answers to the seven most commonly asked questions.
Mochiko Brand Sweet Rice Flour vs. Erawan Glutinous Rice Flour
- For this recipe, Emily recommended the Erawan brand of Glutinous Rice flour. This is super easy to find in Asian Grocery stores (or on Amazon). It's in a transparent bag with green lettering and is clearly marked.
- Erawan brand is a Thai style of glutinous rice flour.
- For Esther's Water Radish Kimchi, I've also used Mochiko Sweet Rice flour. Although this is milled from a different variety of glutinous rice, it can also be used in this recipe.
- Again, I refer you to this excellent post from Runaway Rice that details the differences between brands.
Does Glutinous Rice Contain Gluten?
Actually, no! Like all other rice, glutinous rice is naturally gluten-free. The name comes from the fact that varieties of glutinous/sweet/sticky kinds of rice have a chewy texture when cooked, much like gluten provides in baked goods produced from wheat flour.
Are All Glutinous Rice the Same?
Nope, there are lots and lots of different sticky/sweet rice. Long grain, short grain, purple, and white - in fact, as I mentioned above there are over 6530 different types of glutinous kinds of rice across the world! Read more in this post in Wikipedia.
Steaming vs. Baking
- The traditional way to cook this cake is steaming in a bamboo steamer, which could take a very long time.
- Although this recipe calls for baking the cake in the oven, the pan is first tightly covered with aluminum foil. So in a sense, this recipe steams the cake as well.
- Thanks to the oven, this is a very quick recipe - mixed, cooked, cool enough to eat in under 90 minutes.
Equipment Options
- This is one of the simplest recipes you'll ever make! You just need a medium mixing bowl, a cake pan, and an oven!
- Emily's family always made this in a Pyrex 7x11 pan. Personally, I thought a round cake was more photogenic, so I used this 9" metal cake pan.
- You could use something like these tart pans to make small glutinous rice cakes
Storage
- Keep at room temperature covered with plastic wrap for 3 days.
- Refrigerated, this is still edible for several months.
- Try Egg Fried Nian Gao from What to Cook Today with leftovers.
Another Storied Recipe Using Sweet Rice Flour
Try Esther JuLee's super simple Water Radish Kimchi.
This is a very restorative, healing recipe for all that New Year's bloat 😉
Recipe Contributor: Emily Ho
Emily Ho's family immigrated from Taiwan to the US. Enjoying Nian Gao at their Lunar New Year Celebrations is one way they retained a connection to their culture and family history.
Emily's Memories of Nian Gao
My mum first tried making this Taiwanese dessert when we were in middle school.
I grew to love everything about it- the texture, the mild sweetness, and the milky smell from the evaporated milk.
Listen to Emily's Episode on The Storied Recipe Podcast:
Follow The Storied Recipe in Your Favorite Player
Recipe
Baked Nian Gao (Glutinous Rice Cake)
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
Description
This traditional Chinese cake is steamed in the oven for a silky, chewy texture and a mildly sweet milky flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 pound glutinous rice flour
- 1/4 cup rice flour
- 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk OR 1.5 cups whole milk OR coconut milk
- 1 cup water
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 eggs (whole)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup red beans, raisins, or chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
Cue Up The Episode!
- Make sure to listen to Emily on The Storied Recipe Podcast, Sticky Rice Cake Recipe for Chinese New Year while you make her Rice Cake recipe!
Make The Recipe
- Mix all the ingredients and put in a greased/floured 9x13 baking pan OR two cake pans.
- Bake at 350°F / 175°C for 50 minutes, covered with aluminum foil.
- After 50 minutes, take off the foil and let it bake for another 5 minutes.
- Let cool at room temperature.
Notes
- Make sure to listen to Emily on The Storied Recipe Podcast, Sticky Rice Cake Recipe for Chinese New Year while you make her Rice Cake recipe!
- Total time includes the time for cooling.
- Easily make Vegan/Vegetarian by substituting Coconut Milk for Evaporated Milk/Whole Milk.
- Many people like to enjoy the leftovers fried.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Baking, Dessert
- Cuisine: Chinese, East Asian, Taiwanese
Nutrition
- Calories: 270
- Sugar: 22
- Sodium: 81
- Fat: 8
- Saturated Fat: 1
- Carbohydrates: 47
- Fiber: 1
- Protein: 3
- Cholesterol: 31
Jean says
Yummy recipe! Tastes great with evaporated milk or coconut milk (or cream).
Just wanted to pass along a tip for baking that makes the texture so lovely... Try setting the baking pan into a slightly larger pan filled with half an inch of water, then place foil over both for the first 50 minutes of baking. This will allow the batter to steam in the oven. Then, remove the foil and increase the final cooking time from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. This makes the texture more light and cake like and less dense.
admin says
Hi Jean!!! Thanks for leaving this tip. A bain marie is a great idea if cooks aren't achieving the desired texture! Have a wonderful day.
Quinn says
Will flax egg work as a substitute if I'm trying to make this vegan?
admin says
Hi Quinn! Unfortunately, I don't have enough experience with flax eggs to give you an informed answer to that question. Please let me know what you find!
Melissa says
Do you change your baking time if using small tart pans or muffin tins?
admin says
Great question! I would definitely adjust. I haven't tried it - and of course, our ovens will be different anyhow - so I can't give you a specific number. But I'd start with 2/3 of the baking time (which would about 35 minutes, as opposed to 50) and see how it goes. Please keep me posted! Would love to hear how it goes!! Such a fun idea!!!
Kerry says
Yes, I made these today in small tart tins. Baked for 30mins with foil then removed the foil and baked for another 5 mins. They turned out lovely.
admin says
Oh wonderful!!!! Thank you so much for letting me know! It was such a good idea - Wish I could have photographed them 😉
RaeLynn says
Hi! I want to make this recipe as Chinese New Year is coming up this weekend! I was wondering though, for the flour, how much is 1 pound in cups? and what is 1 12 oz (the evaporated milk) in cups?
admin says
Hi Raelynn!! 1lb is *almost* 2 cups - of course, volume is less accurate than weight, because the flour can settle or clump. But if you measure 2 cups, you'll be safe 😉 As for the evaporated milk, 12 oz is one standard sized can, which is also 1.5 cups. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Molly says
Hi, just wondering what happens if you bake without covering with aluminum foil?
admin says
Hi Molly! Covering with aluminum foil mimics the steamer that Nian Gao is traditionally made in. I've never tried it without covering, so I can't stay for sure, but baking instead of steaming is likely to produce a more rubbery end result, as more of the moisture will evaporate.
Sophia Wong says
I followed the recipe, but used coconut milk & half & half combined to make 1-1/2 cups. The recipe has a lot of liquid. I poured into 7-1/2” round metal pan, covered with foil & put in 350° oven. It was still very wet when I took off the foil in 5” minutes. Could you review your measurements? I put back in the oven without foil & baked for another 2 hours to make sure it was done? It was about 3” high. It tasted good & texture was chewy. Please advise.
admin says
Sophia - You are absolutely correct and I appreciate you pointing this out. Emily's recipe calls for a 9x13 pan. I baked in TWO cake pans simply bc it's more photogenic that way. You'd have no idea of that from either my images or - most importantly - the recipe. I must have left off the 9x13 part when I recently updated the recipe. I am so sorry for the trouble! Good job troubleshooting and creating a good outcome despite my incomplete instructions!! -Becky
MG says
Hi, I would like to know if I could use oat milk instead of milk or coconut milk? Also, could I use ghee instead of vegetable oil, as cannot use seed or vegetable oil. I can use olive oil but I think its flavour would be too strong; cannot use coconut oil either. Thank you
admin says
Hi MG! I'm sorry, I haven't tried any of those, so I cannot confidently offer advice on either. Please let me know how it works for you!
MG says
Hi, well I made your recipe today with some changes due to allergies; I used oat milk instead of regular milk, I used melted ghee instead of oil and I cooked it three different ways;
1. Used a bunt tin, put it in a waterbath and covered with foil. I cooked this as per the instructions of the person in the comments section.
2. I also used two doughnut trays (they have doughnut shaped holes in them) and I cooked them for 30 min. The first tray I covered with foil and the second tray I left uncovered.
The bunt turned out like a baked custard bouncy trampoline and was delicious. The covered doughnut tray was light in colour and lovely and chewy. But, I think my favourite was the uncovered doughnut tray, as the outside was cruchy and a bit flakey with a chewy gooey center. I made a thick rhubarb sauce (left it on the tangy side) and put it on them with a dollop of double cream. We now have a new dessert in our home.
admin says
This is amazing - thank you SO much for sharing all of these tips!!! I'm going to have to try some of these myself!!!! Thank you so so much.