Who does not love cakes? When asked about dessert, the one thing in mind that would pop in our heads would be ‘cake!’ This dessert becomes a symbol in every special occasion such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and you name it!
It is very easy to find cakes. Just go to any bakery, and they will provide you with varieties of cakes. Even several countries, they are known for their cakes. For instance, in Australia, the famous cake is Lamington. Meanwhile, in Australia, people would say Victoria sponge cake. Yummy!
What about Hong Kong? Surprisingly, Malay cake is famous there! Yup, you read that right. Malay!
According to the article that @paultantk shared on Twitter, Malay cake is one of the most popular cakes in Hong Kong. But how does this dessert get its name?
Overall, there are three different conclusions about the origin of the dessert. Firstly, this desert was brought to Malaya from Guangdong in China through the second Chinese immigration wave. The second conclusion is the dessert is developed from a British dessert during the British colonial in Malaya. Due to ovens and milk were not really common in Malaya during that time, they used coconut milk and steamed the cake. From that, Malay cake was introduced as a different version of English cake and brought to China. The last conclusion is the dessert was developed from Portuguese’ dessert and then brought to China.
Malay cakes are soft as they are steamed. The cakes are layered with custardy jam. However, not all of them have layers. @paultantk adds that the cakes are usually served together with a dim sum dish. Instead of using forks, people eat them with chopsticks.
Sources: @paultantk (Twitter), Wikipedia