Chinese New Years Cakes

Elise poked at it with her fork. Annika tried scraping it with her knife. We were all waiting for somebody else to go first. It was cake, how dangerous could it be?

One of my students -Erica- had given me a traditional Chinese New Year cake just before we started our one-week break. It came in a beautiful six-sided box. It was heavy, dense, and dark. It looked and felt like a big, round brick of caramel. Julie wasn’t even convinced that it was a cake. She thought that it was supposed be heated, melted, and poured over something. I told her I was pretty sure Erica had said it was a cake.

The girls were anxious to get started on the dinner dishes, so if we was going to do this, it had better be now.

I cut off a chunk.

I ate it.

I was okay.

It took some cajoling, but Julie, Annika, and Elise each had a piece. The girls were less than impressed. I was trying to be a good sport, so just for show, I had another big chunk. Yum.

We finished dinner and the girls started doing the dishes. I decided to check my email. The following email from Erica was waiting for me in my inbox:

hi Mr. VanNoord:

just in case you don't know how to cook the cake.

slice the cake into thin slices and panfry on both sides with a little butter or oil. It’s your choice, but if you want to you can also dip the pieces into a little whipped egg before panfrying to add a different texture and taste. It’s a chinese traditional thing.

well, i hope you enjoy it.

Erica

Oops. That explains a lot, actually.

We panfried some up the next night.

Yup, traditon Chinese New Year cake is definitely much better cooked.

-Jack