If you are living in Singapore and around my age, you may have heard of Lana cake. I've never been to the shop before, but I was lucky to have tasted the legendary Lana cake at least twice :D Lana cake is as I remember, rectangular in shape. The texture of Lana cake is very soft and fluffy. The chocolate glaze is rich and heavenly.
I was browsing the Internet and saw many ladies who have made remarkable attempts to replicate the Lana cake. As usual, it took me months before I "dare" to attempt this cake. Steaming cake is new to me, and so I wasn't confident if I can make this. Finally, this morning, an unknown courage gathered inside me - I meant to bake cupcakes but went straight to the kitchen to gather ingredients for the Steamed Moist Chocolate cake after seeing the post by Everybody Eats Well in Flanders. She has kindly converted Aunty Yochana's recipe to fit a 7 inch square pan. As I only have a 7 inch round removable-bottom pan, this recipe is very useful to me. The recipe is really easy, as it only requires melting of butter with evaporated milk and sugar. I am impatient and often find waiting for butter to reach room temperature annoying :D I steamed the cake in the wok that my mom gave me, and placed my 8" square pan on top of the wire stand to prop the cake higher. The water was not supposed to touch the cake pan.
Honestly, I was skeptical about steamed cakes, as I thought they will taste like Huat Kueh (Chinese steamed cake). But this cake is moist and soft, although there were many air pockets on the surface of my cake, it looks kinda ugly. But do not judge a book (cake in this case) by its cover, it tastes soft and chocolaty :D
The recipe and method can be found here.
I did not do the chocolate glazing, partly because I was lazy, and partly because the recipe of the glaze includes 1 can of condensed milk! I think this cake is "sinful" enough so I shall save my family and myself from the extra calories :p
Just a note that remember to wait for the evaporated milk + sugar + butter mixture to cool down before adding the eggs! Else the eggs will get cooked :p
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| My cake fresh out from the steaming wok :) |
Have fun steaming!
Hi BakingScientist,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link back. :)
I have never eaten a LANA cake, just know that that cake is the favourite of LKY. :)
It's a nice and tall cake, did you take the same amount of time to steam? Bcos the volume of a 7 inch square pan is actually equals to a 8 inch round pan. Did you put steaming water underneath the square pan or inside the square pan?
cheers,
Miss B
Hello Miss B, thanks for stopping by! :)
DeleteBoth times someone else's bought me the LANA cake hehe :)
Oh I didn't know that a 7" round pan is the same as 8" round :p thanks for telling me. I put water under the square pan. Under the square pan is a steaming wire rack normally use for steaming in wok :)
And yes I steamed it for 45 mins :)
DeleteOh, if u do the maths, u will soon realise that a N+1 inch round pan nearly = N inch square pan for N=7, 8, 9, 10. For e.g., 3.14 x 4 x 4 is about same surface area as 7x7, I am talking about just surface area, if the height of the pans are different, then the volume will be different.
DeleteOh yah! I forgot my Math! :p
DeleteOf course, I know Lana cake. I grew up eating this!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to know that this steamed cake has a similar texture of Lana's.
Zoe
Hello Zoe, hehe, Lana cake is soft and the chocolate glazing is yummy :) I feel it tasted like steamed cake.. Btw, have you tried Jane's station? It is very delicious too! :)
DeleteHi Baking Scientist,
DeleteI have not tried the chocolate cake from Jane's station and didn't hear that before. Maybe Jane's station is becoming popular after I left Singapore.
Btw, to answer your query about the Milo cupcake: most 3-in-1 Milo contains less Milo including sugar and creamer and wouldn't recommend you using the 3-in-1 as I'm not sure at all what is the outcome of the substitution.
Didn't know that Singapore Milo has more Calcium... I like the Aussie one because it has more malty. The British seems to be richer and more chocolatey but it was more than 18 years that I have tried the British one and it might be different now.
Zoe
Thanks Zoe for the advice on your Milo cupcake :)
DeleteLANA cake is new and pretty interesting. I never made cake by steaming, this is impressive. I might have to give it a try sometime. Thanks for sharing the recipe. By the way, I'm happy to be your new follower.:)
ReplyDeleteHello Melgie, wow! U are my second follower hehe :) Thanks! I hope u find the recipes on my blog useful :) They are relatively easy to follow as I am a newbie in baking :) My first time steaming cake too! Next I would like to try the Japanese mushi pan... :)
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