The familiar image of a New Year Sweet Rice Cake (红糖年糕), or nian gao, is a welcome sight during Chinese New Year. Nian gao 年糕（高) symbolizes progress, advancement, and growth. Every family inevitably buys or makes this for their Chinese New Year celebration, in the hopes of having a better year ahead. It’s also a popular gift to give when visiting family and friends during the holiday.
Just so you know, this Chinese New Year Sweet Rice Cake recipe is a bit non-traditional. Before you think harshly of me, allow me to explain.
I know all about the traditional sweet rice cake recipe–it takes three to four ingredients: sugar, water and rice flours. Feel free to follow the cooking instructions and make the traditional version using just those basic ingredients listed below. I know many people are looking for that taste from home or from their childhood.
But to me, I just feel that the traditional nian gao recipe is a bit too plain and could use some improvement, so I adapted some western baking elements to come up with this recipe, which I’m quite pleased with (or, dare I say, that I’m actually proud of!). The addition of ginger and orange zest really enhances the subtle flavor of the nian gao.
So this recipe is basically based on the traditional version, but has a bit of oomph! Many readers have asked for a Sweet Nian Gao recipe over the past year, and I hope you’ll like my version of this Chinese New Year staple. I think it’s quite lovely!
A few things you might want to know about nian gao:
1) If you like Chinese dried dates, feel free to remove the pits from a handful of them, chop them up, and mix them in with the batter. The dates would be a great addition.
2) If you want to give these away as gifts, use a foil pan!
3) You can eat the rice cake once it’s steamed…just remember that it’s very sticky and gooey when it’s hot. I think the best way to enjoy this Sweet Rice Cake is wait for it to cool, slice it, and then pan fry both sides with a bit of vegetable oil over medium heat.
4) You can refrigerate or freeze Sweet Rice Cakes. They will harden, but they reheat nicely in a pan when sliced (as described above).
5) This recipe makes two 8” rice cakes.
You’ll need:
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, plus more for brushing baking pans
- 3½ to 4 cups of water (depending on humidity levels where you are)
- 4 slices of ginger
- 2 cups dark brown sugar or Chinese Brown Rock Sugar pieces if you can find then
- ½ teaspoon allspice powder
- 1½ pounds of glutinous rice flour (one and a half bags, as they generally come in 1-pound bags)
- ½ pound of rice flour (half of a bag)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon dark molasses
- zest of 1 large orange
- 6 dried dates, for decoration (optional)
Prepare two 8-inch round baking pans by brushing the insides with vegetable oil.
Add 2 cups of water and the ginger to a medium-sized pot, bring it a boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes over low to medium heat with the lid covered. Turn off the heat, and stir in the brown sugar and allspice until the sugar is dissolved completely. Remove the ginger slices. Now add 1 1/2 cups of cold water to cool down the mixture so its warm, not hot.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the two kinds of flours together and then slowly add in the sugar water mixture.
Stir thoroughly until the batter is smooth (without any lumps). Now stir in the vanilla extract, molasses, orange zest, and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil until thoroughly combined.
The resulting batter should have a consistency similar to condensed milk. If the batter is too thick, add a bit more water a couple tablespoons at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
Pour the batter evenly into two foil pans. Gently tap the pans against your countertop to get rid of air bubbles. Top each pan with three decorative dates in the center, if using.
Put both pans in a double-decker bamboo steamer and steam for about 1 hour on high heat (the water should be boiling, but should NOT be bubbling high enough to touch the foil pans). You might need to add hot water into the steamer midway to avoid having the water dry up and burn your bamboo steamers.
After 1 hour, poke a toothpick into the rice cake. It’s done if the toothpick comes out clean–just like a regular cake! Regarding steaming techniques, for this recipe and in general, it doesn’t matter what type of vessel you use. The core goal here is to use steam to cook the food, which means it’s important that the steam doesn’t escape.
For example, if you use bamboo steamer, you will also need a pot that fits the bamboo steamer perfectly so there is no visible steam escaping. If you don’t have a pot that fits the bamboo steamer, you will need to put the bamboo steamer inside a much larger pot with a lid and set the bamboo steamer on a rack above the water. Whatever you decide to use, with the correct set up, you should not see steam escaping!
Again, I like to make these ahead of Chinese New Year. When we’re ready to enjoy, I slice the cooled cake into pieces and pan-fry the pieces on all sides in a cast iron pan with a little canola oil.
Enjoy this sweet Nian Gao for Chinese New year!
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, plus more for brushing baking pans
- 3½ to 4 cups of water (depending on humidity levels where you are)
- 4 slices of ginger
- 2 cups dark brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon allspice powder
- 1½ pounds of glutinous rice flour (one and a half bags, as they generally come in 1-pound bags)
- ½ pound of rice flour (half of a bag)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon dark molasses
- zest of 1 large orange
- 6 dried dates, for decoration (optional)
- Prepare two 8-inch round baking pans by brushing the insides with vegetable oil.
- Add 2 cups of water and the ginger to a medium-sized pot, bring it a boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes over low to medium heat with the lid covered. Turn off the heat, and stir in the brown sugar and allspice until the sugar is dissolved completely. Remove the ginger slices. Now add 1½ cups of cold water to cool down the mixture so its warm, not hot.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the two kinds of flours together and then slowly add in the sugar water mixture. Stir thoroughly until the batter is smooth (without any lumps). Now stir in the vanilla extract, molasses, orange zest, and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil until thoroughly combined. The resulting batter should have a consistency similar to condensed milk. If the batter is too thick, add a bit more water a couple tablespoons at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
- Pour the batter evenly into two foil pans. Gently tap the pans against your countertop to get rid of air bubbles. Top each pan with three decorative dates in the center, if using. Put both pans in a double-decker bamboo steamer and steam for about 1 hour on high heat (the water should be boiling, but should NOT be bubbling high enough to touch the foil pans). You might need to add water into the steamer midway to avoid having the water dry up and burn your bamboo steamers.
- After 1 hour, poke a toothpick into the rice cake. It’s done if the toothpick comes out clean--just like a regular cake! Regarding steaming techniques, for this recipe and in general, it doesn’t matter what type of vessel you use. The core goal here is to use steam to cook the food, which means it's important that the steam doesn't escape.
- For example, if you use bamboo steamer, you will also need a pot that fits the bamboo steamer perfectly so there is no visible steam escaping. If you don’t have a pot that fits the bamboo steamer, you will need to put the bamboo steamer inside a much larger pot with a lid and set the bamboo steamer on a rack above the water. Whatever you decide to use, with the correct set up, you should not see steam escaping!
Shih-Han says
Dear Judy, many thanks for this recipe! I am looking forward to trying this today for a belated Chinese New Years party. I am planning to make it a week ahead. Does it keep for so long in the refrigerator? Or, should I freeze it first? (If I freeze it, should I cut it up first before freezing, or let it thaw, then cut?)
Many thanks!
Shih-Han
Judy says
Hi Shih-Han, you can pre-make this and freeze it whole after it’s cooled completely. Before cooking, thaw, cut and pan-fry. Hope this is helpful!
jess says
Hello and thank you for this recipe. What is the purpose of the 2 teaspoons of oil? Does it soften the cake? Also – could one play around with the proportion of the rice flours?
Judy says
Hi Jess, the oil makes the sweet rice cake less dense and sticky. And yes, you can play with the proportion of the rice flours. More sweet rice flour makes it stickier, and more rice flour makes it more firm.
Mateo Pedersen says
Just to add up something. I will put a table spoon of Granola Oil. But iblove your Nian Gao recipe.
Best regards and thanks.
Judy says
Lovely!
Evans says
The recipe worked perfectly and all was going to plan, and it sliced well, but almost as soon as I put the slices in the pan with the oil they started to stick to the chopsticks I was using to turn them, then to each other, and it turned into a big sticky burned mess! What did I do wrong?
Judy says
Hi Evans, I hear you, nian gao is supposed to be sticky. But it helps if you space each piece so they don’t touch.
Bill says
Some of my aunts actually dip the nian gao pieces in a water and egg mixture to keep them from sticking to the pan and each other. Also, if they are burning, then the heat is way too high. A very light outside crust and warm inside is what you’re after when reheating in the pan.
Danielle says
I made a half batch for our family’s new year dinner. Perfect amount for all of us and so delicious! Thank you so much for sharing. I’m sure I will be cooking many more recipes to come.
Happy New Year!
Judy says
Yeahhh! Happy New Year to you and your family too.
Maripaz says
Wow, this was amazing!! I don’t normally like Nian Gao but I just fried a whole plate to share with my kids and ate it all! The orange flavor punched me in the face and the ginger left a warm aftertaste. Thanks for sharing another great recipe. Do you guys have one for fa gao? Also, thanks in advance because I’ll primarily be using your site next week for our Chinese New Year dinner and can’t wait! Happy new year!
Judy says
Happy New Year to you too. I just made a double batch yesterday in small foil pans to give out as New Year’s gifts. So glad you and family enjoyed it.
Michelle says
If I use brown rock sugar instead of the brown sugar, how many slabs would you use? Thanks!
Judy says
Hi Michelle, I just weigh the slabs. Mine are about 65g each, and 1 cup of brown sugar weights about 200g, which means about 3 slabs for 1 cup of brown sugar (depending on the size of your rock sugar). But that sounds like a lot to me.
Since I am unclear on the sweetness difference between the two and the fact that you have to dissolve the sugar in water first, my suggestion is that you have a taste of the sugar water and add the slabs slowly until it reaches the sweetness you want…before adding it to the flour mixture.
vivi says
Can you substitute the bamboo steamers? Don’t have them and not sure how to maintain them.
Judy says
Hi Vivi, you can steam them in a pot or wok. As far as a bamboo steamer, you just have to wash them clean after each use and let them dry them out completely on the counter before storing them.
march says
Whoaaa…that’s a fun story to tell our kids. I love nian gao in banana leaves, too! Tastes so good and smells super nice when they’re pan fried. Yum!
Judy says
Thank you for your comment! Happy New Year, March!
Sarah says
Love your blog! Just a note for readers looking for that childhood taste as the new year approaches, traditionally my family makes this with peen tong (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/dailypix/2003/Feb/26/islandlife16_b.jpg) not brown sugar. You have to dissolve the peen tong in boiling water to use it.
Bill says
Hi Sarah, Thanks for your helpful comment! My mom used to make it with this sugar also – I still have to add it to our ingredients page so thanks also for this “reminder”! My mom used to make this neen go with this sugar dissolved in hot water also. We called it bing tong also the same name is also used for the rock sugar.