Herman - Steamed Honeycomb Rice Cake 白糖糕

Added a small quantity of Herman Starter to my sweet rice batter and allowed the mixture to proof overnight. The Herman Starter not only helped to leavened the mixture, but also gave the cake a very nice and sweet aroma 🌸😋

The honeycomb structure of the cake was not very ideal 😌 I think probably this was due to the short steamer stand I used. I'll try to improve on this for my future cakes 😀

Yield: one 15cm round cake

Ingredients

70g rice flour
60g water

100g water
45g fine sugar
1 blade pandan leaf

30g active Herman Starter (8th day)

< 1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp water

Directions

1. Mix rice flour with 60g water into a smooth paste in a heat resistant bowl. Set aside.

Bring 100g of water, fine sugar and 1 blade of pandan leaf to a rolling boil.

2. Pour the boiling syrup immediately into the rice paste. Stir quickly.

If the mixture does not thicken, return it to the stove to heat up briefly. Stir constantly to prevent the mixture from forming lump.

This step is important in allowing the batter to trap air bubbles within during proofing, so the cake will have a honeycomb structure after steaming.

Let the mixture cool down to room temperature, or below 30°C.

3. Transfer the rice mixture to a glass container, and mix with 30g of active Herman Starter.

Seal with a sheet of cling wrap, and allow it to proof in room temperature for about 12 to 18 hours. 

13 hours later.

About 18 hours later.

As the batter was a little sour, so I added less than 1/8 tsp of baking soda mixed with 1/2 tsp of water to the batter.

4. Pour the batter into a 15 cm round pan coated with a thin layer of mild flavour vegetable oil.

5. Start to boil some water in a pot, and place a steamer stand in it.

Steam the batter at medium high heat for about 15 minutes.

End of steaming.

6. Let the steamed rice cake sits in the mould for about 30 minutes, or till the cake has cooled down. The cake is stickier when hot.

Transfer the cake to a cooling g rack to cool down further.

7. Cut and enjoy