Baked Sticky Rice Cake with Red Bean Paste
(Hong Dou Kao Nian Gao | 红豆烤年糕)

Best Baking Recipes: Baked Nian Gao Sticky Rice Cake with Red Bean Paste (红豆烤年糕)

This home made cake recipe for baked sticky rice cake with red bean paste (红豆烤年糕 or hóngdòu kǎo niángāo) is a traditional treat eaten in celebration of Chinese New Year. Niángāo literally means "year cake", but nián is a homonym for sticky, which is why the cake uses sticky rice, and gāo is a homonym for high, so niángāo sounds like "year high" and is supposed to bring luck by symbolising achieving new heights in the coming year.

There are many different ways to prepare niángāo, and it can be either sweet or savoury, depending on which region you're from. I can't resist the sweet baked sticky rice cake with red bean paste, which is super quick and easy to make (and even quicker and easier to eat!). Although, I do also love stir fried savoury niángāo...

For this recipe, I made my own sweetened Red Bean Paste (Hong Dou Sha | 红豆沙). If you're short on time, pre-made tinned versions can usually be found in East Asian food markets, along with glutinous rice flour. Make sure you use glutinous rice flour and not normal rice flour, or you will not achieve the sticky texture. Glutinous here simply means sticky - this recipe is, in fact, gluten free.

This traditional treat is a sweet way to celebrate Chinese New Year. I hope you'll enjoy it, and 恭喜发财 (gōngxǐ fācái) - Congratulations and Happy New Year!

Here's what you'll need to make this baked sticky rice cake:
(Click here to jump straight to the recipe)

Ingredients:
450g glutinous rice flour
540ml milk
3 large eggs
215ml light vegetable oil
120g demerara sugar
425g sweetened red bean paste
Butter for greasing

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180C / 160C Fan. Lightly grease a rectangular 9 x 13in (23 x 33cm) baking pan and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients together, except for the red bean paste.
Mix well until thoroughly incorporated.

Pour half of the mix into the greased baking pan.

Drop spoonfuls of red bean paste evenly all over. I like to first flatten the red bean paste with my fingers before layering it onto the mixture, which makes it easier to cover fully.

Pour the remaining mixture over the red bean paste, and smooth it evenly across.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes until golden brown on top.

Remove, and cool sufficiently before cutting into pieces and serving.