Steamed sponge cakes live or die on the batter, and pumpkin makes that batter hard to read: its water content swings from one squash to the next, so the flour is added by feel, not by scale. You are after a thick paste that still stirs smoothly with no dry patches. Once it proofs to double, honeycombed with bubbles, it goes into oiled bowls and steams for twenty minutes.
Chinese · Breakfast
Fluffy Steamed Pumpkin Sponge Cake With Red Dates
A stir-together pumpkin batter proofs in its oiled bowls, gets crowned with date dice and black sesame, then steams into a springy sponge that never sees an oven.
- Prep20 min
- Cook25 min
- Serves4
- LevelEasy
Ingredients
| 110 g | steamed pumpkin |
| 1 | egg |
| 1.5 g | instant yeast |
| 5 g | sugar |
| 120 g | all-purpose flour, plus more as needed |
| as needed | red dates, pitted and diced |
| as needed | black sesame |
Method
- Mash the steamed pumpkin and let it cool; a hot puree will slow the yeast.
- Stir the egg into the cooled puree, then add the yeast and sugar and mix well.
- Work in most of the flour, then add more by the spoonful until the batter is thick, stirrable and free of dry flour.
- Cover and proof until doubled, with a clear honeycomb structure when stirred; in a cool kitchen, proof it in the steamer or a warm spot.
- Brush small heatproof bowls or ramekins with oil.
- Fill each bowl to about 70 percent, then scatter date dice and black sesame over the top.
- Put the bowls in the steamer, cover, and let them rise another 10 minutes.
- Start from cold or warm water, turn on the heat, and steam for 20 minutes from the moment it boils.
- Turn off the heat and wait 2 minutes before opening the lid so the cakes do not collapse.
Notes
- Flour is a guide, not a promise; judge the batter by how it moves, not by the scale.
- Wait the full 2 minutes after steaming; an early lid lift flattens the top.
Ratios and technique checked against 宝宝辅食达人原创 on Douguo (【宝宝辅食】南瓜发糕). The method here is written by Stellaok; the photograph is the source kitchen's, credited on the image above and linked back to the page it came from. No recipe text is reproduced.