Best Water Chestnut Cake 黃金馬蹄糕 is a famous Chinese Dessert Pudding served in Hong Kong dim sum restaurants. The unique taste of fresh water chestnuts is sweet with a crunchy texture. Its golden translucent appearance makes this sweet treat a popular auspicious Chinese New Year recipe to share with friends and family! Enjoy chilled or pan-fried.
> In This Post: Everything You'll Need For The Best Chinese Water Chestnut Cake 馬蹄糕
This refreshing, zero-fail, dairy-free vegan dessert requires just four ingredients. In fact, this homemade version will satisfy any sweet tooth and impress your vegan friends!
Water Chestnut Cake or Water Chestnut Pudding (馬蹄糕, Mǎtí gāo) is a steamed dessert made with chopped water chestnuts, water chestnut flour, brown sugar slabs, and rock sugar. The cake is light and refreshing in taste, bouncy with crunchy water chestnut bites.
This water chestnut is not quite a cake but more of a jelly-like pudding. Its texture is more dense than jello.
Water Chestnut Cake is one of the three traditional cakes of the Lunar New Year. Just before the celebrations of this special occasion, many Cantonese households would be busy making the family’s most favourable Chinese cake! Other famous cakes made during this time are Radish Cake (蘿蔔糕, Luóbo gāo) and Sweet Rice Cake (年糕, Niángāo).
Water Chestnuts (Eleocharis dulcis), despite being called chestnuts, are not nuts. They are aquatic vegetables that grow in marshes and mud in Asia and Oceania regions. Water chestnuts' peak seasons are in the Spring and Winter seasons.
They are harvested when the bulb turns to a dark brown color. Water chestnuts have a crispy, white flesh which can be eaten raw or cooked.
Health Benefits of Water Chestnuts
Nutritious yet low in calories. Every 100-gram serving of raw water chestnuts contains just 97 calories with 3g of fiber and 2g of Protein. Rich in potassium, manganese, copper and Vitamin B6.
High in Antioxidants
It helps lower blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular heart diseases.
Keeps you satiated and fuller for longer.
Reduces Oxidative Stress and fights cancer growth.
Water Chestnuts are cold in nature and sweet in taste. It enters the lung and stomach meridian. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, water chestnuts can calm the mind, purging heat while nourishing the lungs and colling the liver, improving digestion and reducing phlegm.
Ingredients and Substitutes
Making an easy, bouncy cake with bits of water chestnuts is effortless, whips up quickly, and is customizable!
Fresh Water Chestnuts (馬蹄, Mǎtí) - crunchy water chestnuts are irresistible when fresh. Fresh chestnuts are sold at your local Asian Supermarkets or Chinese grocers. Canned water chestnuts can be used as a substitute, butthe taste and texture are incomparable. Fresh water chestnuts are rock hard. If you find ones that are soft and mouldy, discard them.
Water Chestnut Flour (馬蹄粉, Mǎtí fěn) - Hong Kong style water chestnut cake is made with water chestnut powder. Water chestnuts are ground into powder. Since water chestnuts are starchy and often used as a thickening agent. We only trust and use pure water chestnut flour from Pan Tang Brand from Guang Zhou since they contain 100% water chestnut and nothing else.
What is a substitute for water chestnut starch?
There is no substitute for water chestnut flour. You may find some alternate brands or Indian versions called Singoda flour. Water chestnut flour can be found at your local Asian Supermarket and Chinese grocers.
Rock Sugar (冰糖, Bīngtáng) - Rock sugar is a type of sugar commonly used in Chinese desserts like Osmanthus Lotus Root Stuffed Glutinous Rice 桂花糯米藕. Rock sugar tastes milder than white granular sugar but has a more caramel-like flavour. Choose multicrystal type rock sugar (more significant crystal sugar with an irregular shape) instead of monocrystal (small square shape with a smooth surface). Rock sugar tastes are unique and challenging to replace with white sugar.
Chinese dark brown sugar slabs (冰片糖, Bīngpiàn táng) - Brown sugar slabs made of brown sugar particles. The sugar particles are packed together to form a sweet block typically used in desserts or medicines. This brown slab sugar also gives the Water Chestnut Cake its distinct golden hue. Adjust the Rock Sugar to Brown Sugar Slab ratio, if you prefer to have a darker color or a clearer Chinese Water Chestnut Cake.
You can purchase most dry goods ingredients, tools and supplies at your local Asian grocery stores or online at my Amazon Store. I have linked the products for your convenience!
Instructions
Although there are a few steps in the cooking process, I guarantee you will nail making the best water chestnut dessert ever if you follow our step-by-step instructions!
Wash and pat dry water chestnuts. Peel water chestnuts.
Soak in cold drinking water for a few minutes.
Rough dice a few water chestnuts. Slice a few water chestnuts to create varying textures and mouthfeel.
Pro Tip: If you are feeling fancy, use a mini star cookie cutter to make it super cute to impress your little ones.
Combine water chestnut flour with water. Mix well.
The water chestnut flour is gritty, not powdery.
Strain through a sieve to remove any lumps. Push the clumps through the sieve with the back of a spoon or your fingers.
Repeat the process a few times to ensure the water chestnut mixture is thoroughly dissolved and as smooth as possible. Remove any larger granules that will not dissolve. Set aside.
Add 750ml of cold drinking water, rock sugar, and brown sugar slabs to a medium pot over medium heat. Cook until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.
Raw/Cooked Mixture 生熟漿
The purpose of a raw/cooked mixture is to help suspend the water chestnuts throughout the cake instead of settling to the bottom.
Add ⅓ water chestnut mixture into the dissolved sugar mixture. Mix well. Stirring frequently for 1 minute.
Add the above sugar and water chestnut mixture to the remaining ⅔ water chestnut mixture. Mix well.
Stirring frequently. Let the residual heat cook and combine the mixture.
Add in sliced and diced water chestnut bits.
Reheat on the stove over medium heat until it turns into a white paste.
We do not want the paste to be cooked entirely. The batter should still be liquid but thick enough so the water chestnuts suspend.
Transfer the batter to a prepared pan. Smooth the surface evenly.
In a separate Wok boil enough water on high heat.
Method One: The traditional way, Chinese people steam this water chestnut cake by placing a trivet rackin the wok to raise the steaming tray and bring water to a boil on high heat for 25 mins.
Method Two: Alternatively, for convenience, I prefer to steam in my FOTILE Convection Steam Oven for 25 minutes at Super Steam 400F.
Once the water chestnut cake is thoroughly cooked, the pudding changes color from a white batter to a translucent golden hue. The cake should be jiggly and firm to the touch.
Let rest at room temperature.
Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving. Overnight if possible.
Unmold the cake from the pan.
Cut to thick slices.
Enjoy chilled or pan-fried with vegetable cooking oil until a golden crust develops.
How To Store Water Chestnut Cake?
How long does Water Chestnut Cake last? For good measure, I recommend making a big batch of easy pudding to store in the refrigerator in an airtight storage container. The Water Chestnut Cake will last up to five to seven days chilled.
Other Delicious Chinese Desserts
Asian cakes and desserts are a great way to end a meal. Finding authentic recipes for Chinese desserts with just a few simple ingredients and natural sweetness is a delicious way to nail your family dinner gathering or afternoon tea party!
Best Water Chestnut Cake 黃金馬蹄糕 is a famous Chinese Dessert Pudding served in Hong Kong dim sum restaurants. The unique taste of fresh water chestnuts is sweet with a crunchy texture. Its golden translucent appearance makes this sweet treat a popular auspicious Chinese New Year recipe to share with friends and family! Enjoy chilled or pan-fried.
Wash and pat dry water chestnuts. Peel water chestnuts.
Soak in cold drinking water for a few minutes.
Rough dice a few water chestnuts. Slice a few water chestnuts to create varying textures and mouthfeel.
Pro Tip: If you are feeling fancy, use a mini star cookie cutter to make it super cute to impress your little ones.
Combine water chestnut flour with water. Mix well.
The water chestnut flour is gritty, not powdery.
Strain through a sieve to remove any lumps. Push the clumps through the sieve with the back of a spoon or your fingers.
Repeat the process a few times to ensure the water chestnut mixture is thoroughly dissolved and as smooth as possible. Remove any larger granules that will not dissolve. Set aside.
Add 750ml of cold drinking water, rock sugar, and brown sugar slabs to a medium pot over medium heat. Cook until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.
Raw/Cooked Mixture 生熟漿
The purpose of a raw/cooked mixture is to help suspend the water chestnuts throughout the cake instead of settling to the bottom.
Add ⅓ water chestnut mixture into the dissolved sugar mixture. Mix well. Stirring frequently for 1 minute.
Add the above sugar and water chestnut mixture to the remaining ⅔ water chestnut mixture. Mix well.
Stirring frequently. Let the residual heat cook and combine the mixture.
Add in sliced and diced water chestnut bits.
Reheat on the stove over medium heat until it turns into a white paste.
We do not want the paste to be cooked entirely. The batter should still be liquid but thick enough so the water chestnuts suspend.
Transfer the batter to a prepared pan. Smooth the surface evenly.
In a separate Wok boil enough water on high heat.
Method One: The traditional way, Chinese people steam this water chestnut cake by placing a trivet rackin the wok to raise the steaming tray and bring water to a boil on high heat for 25 mins.
Method Two: Alternatively, for convenience, I prefer to steam in my FOTILE Convection Steam Oven for 25 minutes at Super Steam 400F.
Once the water chestnut cake is thoroughly cooked, the pudding changes color from a white batter to a translucent golden hue. The cake should be jiggly and firm to the touch.
Let rest at room temperature.
Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving. Overnight if possible.
Unmold the cake from the pan.
Cut to thick slices.
Enjoy chilled or pan-fried with vegetable cooking oil until a golden crust develops.
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What an exciting dessert. I love chestnuts; they have this soft, delicate taste to them! I'm definitely going to try this out! Even if it's not Chinese New year.
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Jazzmin says
This water chestnut cake was amazing and so easy to make! I loved the pieces of chestnuts throughout this light pudding dessert!
Asha says
This chilled chestnut cake was refreshingly flavourful. I can see myself making this again to enjoy on a warm summer evening.
Marie-Pierre Breton says
What an exciting dessert. I love chestnuts; they have this soft, delicate taste to them! I'm definitely going to try this out! Even if it's not Chinese New year.
Vanessa says
This looks good! I love water chestnuts in stir fry dishes but have never had them in a sweet dish before. Can't wait to try!