Freshly Made Niangao

I have been asked by a foodie friend where to buy niangao (年糕 aka Chinese Rice Cake). I usually tell her to find them at Asian grocery stores. But there is a difference between locally made and mass produced cakes at grocery stores. Because they have to be shelf stable, those at grocery stores contain preservatives. Nowadays, I become more health conscious and I really wanted to seek out freshly made CNY rice cakes. So, search is on.

Imported Niangao vs Locally Made

This year, the Chinese New Year's Day is on January 29. Most bakeries are not selling them until a week before the day. For me, I crave for this rice cake months before the new year. It's either I cook myself or buy it when it's time. In order to produce a video about how to cook CNY cake, I started searching at DiHo Square on January 14.

I found a locally made Brown Sugar Cake ($7.99) at the deli section. Unfortunately, there was no source. Not sure where it was from nor when it was made. I took a chance by buying one. It was pretty fresh. I quickly learned which recipe works best for that.

Six Ping Bakery's Japanese-Style Rice Cake with Red Beans

Few days later, I found other freshly made cakes at Hong Kong's Cafe 香港茶餐廳 (DiHo Square). They offer Turnip Cake 腊味蘿蔔糕, Taro Cake 芋頭糕, Water Chestnut Cake 馬蹄糕 and Brown Sugar Cake 鴻運年糕. But not all are available at the time. They are at $13.50 each. I bought Water Chestnut cake and ate it cold without frying.

Yen Huong Bakery's Rice Cakes are next to their Moon Cakes

Next stop was at Alan's Deli 港味道烧腊 at Dun Huang Plaza. I found Turnip Cake 蘿蔔糕 ($9.99), Brown Sugar Cake 年糕 ($8.99) and Hakka sponge cake 發糕 ($8.99). I bought the turnip cake and was able to eat it pan fried method, without batter.

While I was searching for brown sugar cake, I found other types of cakes. 

• Six Ping Bakery (Metropole Center) offers Japanese Style Baked Cake ($12). 
• IBUN Bakery 大芳 (Dynasty Plaza), it's $22 each. 
• Merryland Bakery (Lion Square) takes reservation and will carry few cakes right before CNY day.
• Mee Ho Bakery (Hong Kong City Mall) for $7.99.
• Yen Huong Bakery 燕香餅家 located in EaDo. You can find their products like Bánh Tổ.at Đức Phương Thạch Chè and local Vietnamese Grocery Stores.

Mee Ho Bakery at Hong Kong City Mall

Want to know to cook them? Recipe video here.