How to Make Hong Kong Egg Cakes (鷄蛋仔)

Name: Hong Kong Egg Cakes (Gai Daan Jai - 鷄蛋仔)
Prep time: 70 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 4 people
Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour ((4.24 oz or 120 g)); 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon tapioca starch ((or corn starch)); 1 tablespoon custard powder ((optional)); 2 eggs; 2/3 cup sugar ((150 mL)); 2 tablespoons evaporated milk; 5 oz water; 2 tablespoon vegetable oil; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ((or vanilla essence)); more vegetable oil for brushing/spraying on the egg waffle pan

Mon, May 1, 2017 | 76 Comments

posted in: Chinese recipes, Favorites, Recipes | tagged as: TOS

A popular street food in Hong Kong, I first came across these little egg cakes as a child growing up in New York City’s Chinatown. From a tiny red stall on Mosco Street, Cecilia Tam churned out pan after pan of these eggettes for over a decade but when she closed up shop, she left many die-hard followers forever craving her perfectly fluffy and heavenly egg cakes. This recipe is as satisfying for me as the Cecilia Tam original.

How to Make a Popular HK Street Snack - Hong Kong Egg Cakes (Gai Daan Jai)

Hong Kong Egg Cakes (Gai Daan Jai) – or Egg Waffles

I’ve been reminiscing about a part of my childhood in New York’s Chinatown where I attended Chinese school every weekend. After class, mom or dad would walk me over to Mosco Street, where in a tiny red corner stall labored Cecilia Tam (aka the Egg Cake Lady), to buy a bag or two of her legendary egg puffs (aka eggettes) or 鷄蛋仔 – “gai daan jai” in Catonese.

Her stall became so popular over the years that more often than not there were more tourists waiting in line, clutching their cameras and tour books, than regulars. On weekends, the line would snake around the corner and the wait could be 10-20 minutes or longer.

If only iPhones and YouTube existed back then because all I have left of my memories are scattered images of Cecilia’s little stall that barely fit one person but somehow she managed to fit in a helper on busy weekends.

I recall the large jugs of pale golden batter that she kept at her feet. I remember her brushing oil on each mold before each pour of batter. I can see her flipping the molds but I can’t remember how many times or for how long.

I remember her easing the cakes out of the mold with a fork onto a scratched up stainless steel pan and how she would jab at the eggettes with tongs to separate them and place the required amount into wax-paper bags. She had everything down to timing and order.

Weekends she was always slammed. Weekdays the wait would be nil or only 1-2 people. But on those slow days, she would have a few waxy bags of eggettes already filled. They are best eaten hot off the stove so I always asked, and patiently waited, for fresh ones and she always obliged.

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With her increase in popularity, and inflation, the price of her egg cakes kept going up throughout the years. So we enjoyed them in less quantities, but we still enjoyed them as often.

At first they were $1 for 20 egg puffs, then $1 for 18, then $1 for 15. Even when imitators popped up around Chinatown selling them at $1 for 20 when Cecilia had further reduced her offerings to $1 for 12, the imposters were not worth the extra portions.

Egg Waffle Pan from Nordic Ware

Once, pressed for time, we bought some egg cakes off a street vendor on Canal Street. They were so bland, so disappointing, I vowed I would never buy them from anyone again but from Cecilia, the one and only Egg Cake Lady.

Nordic Ware 01890 Egg Waffle Pan

List Price: $39.89

Price: $35.95

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Closing my eyes as I type this, I could almost imagine and taste those little airy puffs of heaven in my mouth. These were one of the very few sweets I enjoyed as a kid and I had a special way of eating them. I would first bite off the crunchy perimeter of each puff and then pop the soft rounds into my mouth. They were perfect in every way – not too sweet, so light, so fluffy, and so worth every penny. Cecilia could have asked for my first-born back then and I would have obliged.

She closed up shop probably a decade ago but I have never stopped thinking about her egg cakes. Especially when I walk down Mott where it meets Mosco Street. They bring back so many memories of my childhood in New York City.

For the last few years, I have considered sourcing one of those egg cake molds to attempt a recipe at home. Then, as if my prayers were answered, Williams-Sonoma (my second favorite kitchenware store only after Crate and Barrel) started selling an Egg Waffle Pan and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one.

Williams-Sonoma no longer stocks the pan but you can find a similar one on Amazon here.

Egg Waffle Pan from Williams Sonoma by Nordic Ware

Egg Waffle Pan from Nordic Ware

How to Make Hong Kong Egg Cakes

Soon after buying the Nordic Ware egg waffle pan, I started experimenting with the batter. Initially, I made a batch of eggettes using fresh custard (made from milk and eggs). But the taste and consistency wasn’t right.

Now I use custard powder and just throw everything into my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, turn it on and voila! Batter done. No need to heat up milk nor temper eggs to make custard, etc., etc.

I’m sure time erodes taste memories, but I really do feel that this recipe resembles what I remember from my childhood days.

The texture is perfect – crunchy around the edges and I love nibbling all the crispy bits that surround each puff before moving on to the soft middle – and with each bite, I am transported back in time, smiling at nostalgic memories.

How to Make Your Egg Cakes Even Better!

A few weeks back, I whipped up a couple batches to experiment with altering the ingredients and found that using either tapioca starch, potato starch, corn starch or custard powder worked just fine. However, using custard powder did give the eggettes a richer vanilla taste since custard powder is essentially vanilla-flavored corn starch.

For those experiments that didn’t use custard powder, I doubled the amount of vanilla extract (or essence) from one teaspoon to two teaspoons.

I think the most essential ingredient for the batter to taste right is evaporated milk. I had never used evaporated milk before and I was curious to try the different brands. I decided to try a few of them…just for fun. And was glad that I did.

The best tasting batch I found was made using Rainbow “Gold.” I think it gave the eggettes a richer, fuller flavor. Even the label reads: “Richer and Creamier.”

I tried omitting vegetable oil from the batter but that wasn’t a huge success as the final product came out a bit dry.

I also made batches pitting vanilla extract versus vanilla essence. Perhaps it was all in my mind or I’m just biased in thinking that anything with alcohol tastes better because I thought the batch with vanilla extract tasted better than the one with vanilla essence.

However, vanilla extract is not available in the UAE as it contains alcohol. I have a precious stash of two bottles that I hope will last me until the next out-of-town visitor arrives to replenish it.

Just before I pour the batter into the Nordic Ware egg waffle pan, I apply a thin layer of vegetable oil with a pastry brush. If you own one of these pans, be sure to wash it when it’s submerged under water so that you don’t end up a soaking mess like I did and a soft-bristle brush like this Oxo one works great for getting out all the dried-up batter from the crevices.

Using the pan, it took some practice to get consistently crispy edges and for my electric stovetop, here’s what worked: pre-heating the pans for 5 minutes using heat level 4 (my stovetop has heat settings 0 to 6), then reducing it to heat level 3 just as I poured in the batter. Two minutes on one side – Flip – two minutes on the other.

So it would seem that for my oven, heating it at a higher temperature helped create the crispy crunchy edges that I love and then reducing the temperature down a notch prevented burning. You’ll have to experiment with your gas or electric oven to find the equivalent settings.

I hope you found this post useful and that the future brings you lot of yummy little morsels of Hong Kong Egg Cakes!

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Finally, I’d like to share with you my secret for successful food photography.

And that would be a napping baby ;).

Halfway through taking photos for this post, Wee Scotch woke up (early, I might add) from his nap and since he was crying, I didn’t want to leave him alone in his crib.

Although I firmly told him not to touch any of “Mama’s” camera equipment nor food, the little rounds of eggettes were just too tempting for a two-year old. Especially since he knew exactly what they were, having been my special taste tester for all the experimental batches.

After he devoured half my set-up, I turned my attention to photographing the inside of an egg puff. Wee Scotch had a whole bag of eggettes in his hand but somehow he just couldn’t resist snatching the one that was in my fingers.

It happened so fast that I didn’t even know it was happening. Wee tyke.

Thanks for the Egg Puffs, Mama. See Ya!

* * * * *

Hong Kong Egg Cakes (Gai Daan Jai - 鷄蛋仔)

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Chinese

Prep Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings: 4 people

Author: Ginger and Scotch

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour (4.24 oz or 120 g)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon tapioca starch (or corn starch)
1 tablespoon custard powder (optional)
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar (150 mL)
2 tablespoons evaporated milk
5 oz water
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or vanilla essence)
more vegetable oil for brushing/spraying on the egg waffle pan

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, tapioca or corn starch, and optional custard powder with a spoon or fork. You can also sieve these dry ingredients but I didn't bother.
Add the eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract/essence. Give it a whirl with an electric mixer (start at low speed so the flour doesn't erupt out of the bowl and increase to medium speed) or spatula.
Pour in the evaporated milk and water. Mix thoroughly.
It may be slightly lumpy and this point and I found that letting it stand for an hour (whether in room temperature or fridge) helped dissolve the lumps.
Set a wire rack on a baking sheet or large plate.
Pre-heat each half of the Nordic Ware Egg Waffle Pan on separate burners over medium-high heat until hot. I pre-heated mine for 5 minutes.
Lightly brush or spritz each pan with vegetable oil. Lower heat to medium.
Pour ¾ cup of the batter into the middle of the egg waffle pan (if you pour too much, it will either leak out the side or prevent the waffle pan from closing tightly) and give the pan a quick swirl to distribute some of the batter to the outer holes.
Immediately place the other side of the pan on top, flip the pan over and cook for 2 to 2.5 minutes.
Flip again and cook for a further 2 to 2.5 minutes. Exact timing will depend on your stove and heat output.
Open the pan and invert the eggettes onto the wire rack and let cool for a minute or so. I used a plastic fork to help loosen the egg cakes from the mold.
Repeat with the remaining batter. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

-Egg Waffle Pan can be purchased here.
-Makes 2 cups of batter and 3 batches of eggettes.

This post was originally published on January 22, 2012.

Recipe for Hong Kong egg cakes - a street snack popular on the streets of New York's Chinatown

About Sandy

I’m Sandy (aka “Ginger”), married to “Scotch” (not his real name).

I believe that it’s not just noodles we are creating, but memories, traditions, and a sense of pride.

I believe in slowing down, relishing time spent with our children and loved ones, and bonding through shared noodle-making experiences. Read more...

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