A Journey Through Traditional Chinese Desserts

Chinese baking uses a wide range of techniques, flavors, and cooking traditions that have evolved over the years. At a Chinese restaurant, you’ll find desserts that, unlike those in the West, use a diverse range of ingredients, including rice flour and sweet bean paste, and a variety of cooking methods such as frying and steaming. However, some desserts mirror Western treats that we have come to know and love. Chinese desserts have something for every palate, from traditional pastries to delicious sweet snacks. To help you appreciate the true diversity of the Chinese dessert range, let’s take a journey through what’s on offer.

Egg Tart

Similar to the English custard tart, the Chinese egg tart is a dish that consists of an outer pastry crust and filled with an egg custard. These are often served at Dim Sum restaurants and Chinese buffets, and they are available at most Chinese bakeries. There are two main varieties of egg tart in China, Hong Kong egg tarts are smaller and served in twos and threes, with a custard filling flavoured with chocolate, green tea or bird’s nest and the outer shell is made of pastry. In contrast, the Macau-style egg tart features a caramelised browned top and is a variation of the Portuguese tart.

Black Sesame Soup

This popular Chinese desert is widely available throughout China and it is made from toasted black sesame seeds, rice and water, with granulated sugar added to make it sweeter. This soup is available in powder form and often comes with additional ingredients such as caviar, black rice, millet, corn, red/black/soy beans, yams or barley, as well as other whole grains.

Fa Gao

“Fa” is translated to “prosperity” or “expand” and “gao” means “cake”. Also called fat pan, this Chinese prosperity cake is a steamed cupcake-like pastry that splits on the top when it is cooked, leading to it often being referred to as a Chinese smiling steamed cake, or blooming flowers. These are commonly eaten on Chinese New Year, but are also consumed during other festivals such as weddings and funerals.

Almond Tofu

This soft jellied dessert is made from apricot kernel milk, agar, and sugar. It is an indulgent, delicious dessert that dates back centuries. The traditional recipe for this is dessert is vegan friendly, however, more recent recipes do include dairy products and sometimes substitute gelatine for agar.

Chinese Walnut Cookies

Known as hup toh soh, Chinese Walnut Cookies are symbolic and an important part of Chinese culture. These cookies are traditionally served to visitors during Chinese New Year because walnuts are symbolic, ensuring happiness in the coming year. These dry, sweet, crispy and crunchy cookies are believed to be good for lung function and circulation, due to the walnuts, however, they are also high in sugar and fat.

Dragon’s Beard Candy

Also known as Chinese cotton candy or Longxusu, Dragon’s Beard Candy is a traditional homemade art of China that is similar to Western cotton candy. Sugar pulled by hand into threads that are so fine they can fit through the eye of a needle, this dessert is sweet and chewy and they melt in your mouth.

Mooncakes

These popular sweet treats are consumed during the mid-autumn festival, to celebrate the harvest season. They are usually round or square and made from a sweet pastry crust with a rich filling, which includes lotus seed paste, bean paste, fruit, or salted egg yolks, which symbolise the full moon. Decorated with the Chinese characters for “harmony” or “longevity”, or flowers, vines, a rabbit or the image of the Chinese moon Goddess Chang’e.

Tapioca Pudding

This sweet pudding is made rom tapioca and either milk or cream, coconut milk is also used in some cases.

Sesame Balls

Sesame balls are made from a sticky rice flour dough that is filled with a sweet paste and rolled in sesame seeds, they are fried until they are crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. These traditional Chinese desserts are usually served during Lunar New Year and are filled with a sweet red bean paste.

Tangyuan

A traditional Chinese dessert that is made of glutinous rice shaped into balls, which are then served in a hot broth or a syrup. Served during the lantern festival, and at weddings and family reunions, the name of this dessert is a homophone for union, therefore they symbolise togetherness and completeness. These balls vary in sizes and are sometimes stuffed with a filling.

Red Bean Cake

Depending on where they are served in China, this dessert is either seen as a year-round snack, or a seasonal pastry consumed on specific Chinese holidays. This cake is made with a hardened red bean paste that is frozen, the cake is then sweetened and sprinkled with sesame seed and served in square blocks. It is a tough dessert to bite.

Nian Gao

This cake is made from a glutinous rice flour and is known as a New Year cake, traditionally it is eaten during Chinese New Year, however, some do know this cake as a ‘rice cake’ and eat it all year round. This sweet and sticky treat was believed to be an offering to the “kitchen God”, it was thought that the God’s mouth would stick shut and he would not be able to speak about the human family in front of the Jade Emperor.

Mango pomelo sago

A Hong Kong dessert that includes diced mango, pomelo, sago, coconut milk and milk. The name is translated to Willow Branch Manna and this dessert is served cold. This sweet and refreshing dessert is a mix between a smoothie and a pudding and it is incredibly popular during summer time.

As you can see, Chinese desserts are made from a range of different ingredients and using a wide range of methods, including ingredients we wouldn’t traditionally use (or even think of using) in the UK. Not only are Chinese desserts delicious and unique, but many of them are symbolic, they have more meaning in Chinese culture than other desserts from other countries.

Ready to experience authentic Chinese flavours for yourself? Explore our menu at Lulu Wild and discover the tastes that make Chinese cuisine truly special.