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Chinese New Year Baked Sweet Rice Cake 年糕 Vegan-Friendly
Chinese Sweet Rice Cake (Nian Gao 年糕) is a must-eat for Chinese (Lunar) New Year. This baked nian gao 年糕 recipe is easy and chewy!
Servings: 12
Calories: 360kcal
Equipment
- 13 x 9 baking dish
- Large bowl and whisk or blender
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 16 oz glutinous rice flour or mochiko do not substitute with regular rice flour, it won't yield the same result!
- 125 g granulated sugar (about 1/2 c)
- 7 g baking powder (about 2 tsp)
- 4 eggs for a vegan version, omit the egg and add 200 ml more of coconut milk
- 400 ml coconut milk (or any other plant-based or dairy milk) (about 2 and 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil, butter or coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract optional
- chopped nuts (like pecans) or coconut flakes optional toppings
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F
- Prepare a 13 x 9 baking dish by either lining it with parchment paper or spread with oil to prevent the sweet rice cake (年糕) from sticking when baking.
- Combine glutinous rice flour and baking powder together. Mix well and sift once.
- Recommended: Combine all other ingredients (sugar, coconut milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract) in a blender and mix until well incorporated. Add the glutinous rice flour and baking powder to the blender a bit at a time until well incorporated.
- If you don't have a blender, first combine the glutinous rice flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix well! Next, add in your wet ingredients (coconut milk, oil, eggs and vanilla extract) into the glutinous rice flour mixture a bit at a time. Mixing and whisking constantly until everything is incorporated. The mixture should be smooth and there should be no lumps.
- Pour well-mixed mixture into the prepared baking dish, moving the dish around side to side to ensure even spreading.
- Optional step: add any optional toppings (such as chopped nuts or coconut flakes) to the top of the mixture right before putting it in the oven.
- Bake the mixture for 45 minutes or until golden brown at the top. You can stick a toothpick or chopstick in to test for doneness. If there are bits of mixture stuck to the toothpick or chopstick, bake for an additional 5 minutes. Repeat until it comes out clean.
- Once done, take the sweet rice cake (年糕) out of the oven and let cool at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before cutting into it, although I recommend waiting until it's fully cooled to room temperature, about 2 - 3 hours.