Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake

Steamed sponge cake is the rare dim sum item that is easily made at home. It has the springiness of angel food cake but a fuller flavor, like a regular omelet compared to an egg white one. Its Italian/French sponge cake cousin, the genoise, can be dry, but steaming makes the Chinese version softer and moister, even without the added butter of many genoise cakes.

This is a cake for snacking. It works for breakfast – not health food, but it is very eggy – or to grab a slice on the run. Its spongy texture makes it convenient for eating out of hand, unlike a regular cake which would be too crumbly, and its light vanilla sweetness is appealing any time of day.

I’ve made this cake many times over many years, and it is never quite perfect. But I don’t make this cake for its looks; a steamed cake will never have the nicely golden crust of a baked one. It’s a cake I make just because I like to eat it.

You don’t need a bamboo steamer to make this cake. Usually I just make it in the steamer basket of my pasta pot after lining it with wax paper. But more attractive is to use a regular 8-inch cake pan. Find a wide, covered pot that will fit the pan, and the only trick is finding a rack to fit in the bottom of the pot that will hold the cake pan above the boiling water.