Recipe: How to make Chinese snowflake cake

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What is Chinese snowflake cake?

Chinese snowflake cake (xuě huā gāo) is named because of its appearance - it's white (bái sè de) and fluffy like snow (xuě).

It is traditional dessert (tián diǎn) in the Jiangnan (Jiāng Nán) region of China. Nán means south, and Jiāng is the Mandarin word for the Yangtze River.

How do you make Chinese snowflake cake?

Ingredients:

  • 450ml milk (nǎi)
  • 60g sugar (táng)
  • 100ml double cream
  • 60g cornflour
  • 3 tbsp desiccated coconut (yē zi)

Instructions:

  1. Mix (bàn) the milk, sugar, double cream and cornflour in a bowl (wǎn).

  2. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and get an adult to bring the mixture to the boil (zhǔ), stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.

  3. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, add the mixture and leave it in the fridge to set.

  4. Cut (qiē) the snowflake cake into small pieces.

  5. Cover with desiccated coconut and serve.

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide1 of 6, Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl., Step 1

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Key Mandarin words

MandarinPinyinEnglish
bànmix
qiēcut
nǎimilk
tángsugar
tián diǎndessert
xuě huā gāosnowflake cake
yē zicoconut
zhǔboil