Ma Lai Go Chinese Steamed Cake is a fluffy brown sugar sponge cake typically found on dim sum carts in Southern China and Hong Kong—the few places where you’ll find it done right, and where it’s quite popular.
What is Ma Lai Go?
But whether you call it ma lai go (Cantonese) or ma la gao (马拉糕, or sometimes 马来糕, Mandarin) the ma lai refers to “Malay,” as in Malaysia. The word Gao means cake so “Malaysia cake” is what we’re talking about here, even though it’s been adopted by Cantonese cooking. As the story goes, Ma Lai Go originated in Malaysia via British influence and made its way to Hong Kong where the recipe was modified into what it is today.
The real chefs in Hong Kong use a starter dough or levain to make Ma Lai Go. Making the fermented starter dough is a labor of love and quite the process, so most recipes—including this one—omit the starter dough and increase the baking powder and/or baking soda to get a similar leavening effect without the extra time for fermentation.
Ma Lai Go made with a starter dough has a streaky pattern of air pockets that’s caused by fermentation, so you can immediately tell if your cake was made with or without a fermented starter. The last time I was in Hong Kong, we enjoyed Ma Lai Go a few times at dim sum. All of the cakes were tasty and fluffy *but* without those air pockets. It would seem that it’s a reasonable tradeoff to forego the extra work for a tasty, easy-to-make version (albeit at the expense of a technically “authentic” Ma Lai Go, but what does authentic even mean these days, anyway?).
Maybe one of these days I will have the patience to make my own Ma Lai Go starter dough, but for now, a shortcut! And with the number of times I made this cake, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.
For this Ma Lai Go recipe, use an electric mixer to get as much air into the cake as possible. Then let the leavening agents like the baking powder do the work to get a spongy and fluffy cake. Resting time for the batter is minimal, unlike recipes that use the levain starter dough—bonus!
What do I need to make Ma Lai Go steamed cake?
One other note is on flavoring agents. I’ve tried making this recipe with only vanilla, which works fine, but adding vanilla pudding mix—we used Bird’s Custard Powder—definitely makes for a tastier cake! If you can find it, it really adds that extra layer of flavor you get in restaurants and Chinese Bakeries.
Hope you enjoy this easy-to-make Ma Lai Go recipe!
Ma Lai Go Recipe Instructions
Add 3 large eggs, ¼ cup vegetable oil, and ¾ cup lightly packed dark brown sugar to a mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer, and beat on high for 5 minutes until well-combined and fluffy.
Scrape the bottom of the bowl and add 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract, ⅓ cup evaporated milk, and 1½ tablespoons custard powder.
Beat for 1 minute.
Sift 1 cup cake flour, ⅛ teaspoon salt, and 3½ teaspoons baking powder.
Fold into the batter gently until incorporated. Try to break up any large lumps, but don’t overwork the batter––some smaller lumps are okay!
Let the batter sit for 30 minutes. The dry ingredients absorb, and the baking powder has a chance to do its thing.
How to Steam Ma Lai Go cake
While the batter is resting, line a bamboo steamer basket (9 inch) with parchment paper. For more information on bamboo steamers, wee our post on How to Use a Bamboo Steamer.
You can also use a 9 inch cake pan greased with vegetable shortening or butter and lightly coated with all-purpose flour. Lightly buttering and flouring the metal cake pan is important step, even if it is non-stick!
Gently stir the batter again in a folding motion—just enough to ensure the batter is mixed uniformly, but not too much since air pockets have already started to form in the batter. You will also see that the batter has thickened and most lumps have disappeared.
Pour the batter into a bamboo steamer basket lined with parchment paper…
Or your prepared cake pan.
Let the batter sit and settle for another 10 minutes while you heat up your steamer.
Place the Ma Lai Go into your steamer setup of choice, and steam on medium high heat—for 30 minutes if using a bamboo steamer…
And 35 minutes if using a metal cake pan.
See our post on how to set up a steamer if you’re not familiar with steaming foods in Chinese cooking.
To find out if the cake is done, insert a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it come out clean, then it’s done. Transfer to a baking rack and slice once cooled slightly.
Ma Lai Go is delicious when it’s warm and fresh from the steamer, but I think I may like it even better after it has completely cooled. The texture seems to be a little spongier the next day, which I like!
Ma Lai Go Chinese Steamed Cake
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (60 ml)
- ¾ cup lightly packed dark brown sugar (120 g)
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract (8 ml)
- ⅓ cup evaporated milk (80 ml, at room temp)
- 1½ tablespoons vanilla pudding mix / custard powder (18 g - we used Bird’s Custard Powder)
- 1 cup cake flour (120 g)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt (1 g)
- 3½ teaspoons baking powder (14 g)
- 1 teaspoon softened butter or vegetable shortening for greasing cake pan, if using (5 g)
- A dusting of all purpose flour for cake pan if using
Instructions
- Add 3 large eggs, ¼ cup vegetable oil, and ¾ cup lightly packed dark brown sugar to a mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer, and beat on high for 5 minutes until well-combined and fluffy.
- Scrape the bottom of the bowl and add 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract, ⅓ cup evaporated milk, and 1½ tablespoons custard powder. Beat for 1 minute.
- Sift 1 cup cake flour, ⅛ teaspoon salt, and 3½ teaspoons baking powder. Fold into the batter gently until incorporated. Try to break up any large lumps, but don’t overwork the batter––some smaller lumps are okay!
- Let the batter sit for 30 minutes. The dry ingredients absorb, and the baking powder has a chance to do its thing. While the batter is resting, line a 9 inch bamboo steamer basket with parchment paper. You can also use a 9 inch cake pan greased with vegetable shortening or butter and lightly coated with all-purpose flour. Lightly buttering and flouring the metal cake pan is important step, even if it is non-stick!
- Gently stir the batter again in a folding motion—just enough to ensure the batter is mixed uniformly, but not too much since air pockets have already started to form in the batter. You will also see that the batter has thickened and most lumps have disappeared.
- Pour the batter into the bamboo steamer basket lined with parchment paper or your prepared cake pan. Let the batter sit and settle for another 10 minutes while you heat up your steamer.
- Place the Ma Lai Go into your steamer setup of choice, and steam on medium high heat—for 30 minutes if using a bamboo steamer, and 35 minutes if using a metal cake pan. To find out if the cake is done, insert a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it come out clean, then it’s done. Transfer to a baking rack and slice once cooled slightly.
Nutrition
Aaron says
This recipe worked really well for me and it is my first time making a cake of any sort! I used Rapadura Sugar instead of brown sugar and it really enhanced the flavor as there is more molasses in rapadura sugar.
Judy says
Yayyyyyy! Two thumbs up!
Irene says
This recipe was great! I tried another recipe before this one and had an absolute fail, but the ma-lai-go turned out wonderful with your recipe. My daughter gobbled up several pieces. The only thing is that the cake didn’t rise as much as I expected – should it be rising as much as what you would see at dim sum? Or because there isn’t starter dough used, I shouldn’t expect it to be very high?
Bill says
Hi Irene, I have found that not using the starter dough does in fact affect the rise – meaning the rise is not as good. Using the starter dough is a much bigger investment but once I try it, I will definitely update the recipe!
Christine Graham says
I wonder what is a cake flour? “is it a pre mixed flour with baking powder, or bicarbonate!
Bill says
Hi Christine, cake flour is more finely milled, yielding a much lighter flour than all purpose. It also has a lower gluten content, and many cake recipes call for cake flour to produce a lighter cake. A common substitute is to take a cup of all purpose flour, and then replace 2 tablespoons of the flour with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.
A. Matulich says
This turns out to be a pretty robust recipe that tolerates changes. I didn’t have brown sugar, so I substituted some raw sugar, and reduced the amount to 1/2 cup because I didn’t want it to be too sweet. I also didn’t have custard powder or condensed milk, so I substituted whipping cream. And finally, I didn’t have cake flour, so I substituted whole wheat flour. And I sprinkled some sesame seeds on top of the batter after pouring it into the parchment-lined steamer basked. It came out great! A little drier than I expected for a steamed dish, but fluffy and tasty.
Bill says
Hi A. Matulich, thanks for sharing your cooking experience!
Sheryl says
May i know what would be good substitutes for vanilla pudding mix/custard powder? I am from Manila and I haven’t seen them in any of the asian stores here. Will vanilla extract work? Thank you!
Bill says
Hi Sheryl, you can use a mix of 3/4 part cornstarch, 1/4 part milk powder and add another half teaspoon of vanilla.
Eunice says
Thank you for this recipe! I am excited to try it. I was wondering if you have tried making this in the instant pot, and what your recommendation would be for that in terms of how long to set the instant pot timer if it’s a possibility. For both an 8 in cake pan and an 8 in steamer basket. Thank you!
Bill says
Hi Eunice, We have not tried using the instant pot as a steamer yet, but it should work. That said, I don’t have any idea of what the settings should be.
Rachelle says
Thank you so much for this recipe! Your site is my go-to to find my childhood favorites that I can’t ask my grandparents about anymore. I really appreciate all the traditional (and not-so-traditional) recipes that you’ve all shared.
Bill says
Hi Rachelle, you’re welcome and hope you enjoy it!
Cindy says
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve been looking for a ma lai go recipe for a long time. The ones I’ve encountered are yellow rather than brown. Would you know what substitution would make it yellow? Your blog is great and have enjoyed many of your recipes.
Bill says
Hi Cindy, the dark brown sugar is what makes the cake brown, so if you use granulated white sugar, the cake will be more on the yellow side. Happy steaming!
Joyce Foong says
Malaigo is still very popular in Singapore but the taste is just sweet with very little flavour. They just don’t make it like they used to anymore.
By the way, can I use self raising flour instead so I can skip d baking powder?
Thanks for sharing the great recipe!
Bill says
Hi Joyce, this recipe without using any starter rising agent took quite some time to develop, so I’m confident it is reliable and tasty. I have not tried self-rising flour instead of the baking powder, but my understanding is that while self-rising flour does have salt and baking powder in it, it has less than my recipe calls for. Let us know if you give it a try!
Lorelei says
I was super excited to see this recipe on this site. I’ve not had a lot of luck making Ma Lai Gao so far. I just finished steaming your recipe so I haven’t tasted it yet but I was dismayed that the middle of mine is concave. Any idea of what I need to do to fix it or what I might have done wrong?
Bill says
Hi Lorelei, not sure what happened but perhaps you had water dripping onto the cake?
Lorelei says
No, I had a towel wrapped around the cover to prevent that. Yes, I’ve had to deal with that problem before too!
I was wondering what size pan you guys use. Mine came out mostly fluffy, so it wasn’t dense in the middle even but maybe the pan was too big? My pan was 8 inches. I did have a few slightly denser streaks throughout but I think I did not fold it enough after sitting for fear of getting rid of too many of the air bubbles after sitting for the first time.
Overall, it tasted great…just didn’t look as pretty as yours.
Bill says
Hi Lorelei, not enough folding could have been the problem, and baking powder may not be uniformly incorporated. I did have a version with some uneven rising also. Another reader asked me about the pan and bamboo basket size and they were both 9 inches. An 8-inch pan should give you a slightly higher rise.