Beijing Jujube Cake北京枣糕
It used to be easy to find zao gao in old Beijng. If you walked around in the early morning, as bakeries opened, you would see queues of people snaking down the pavement, and if you followed it to the source, plastic bags of steaming hot jujube cake would be handed out from street-side bakery windows. There was a famous store in Wudaokou, Beijing called Wudakou Jujube Cake King - it was about 12RMB for a bag, enough to feed six people.
It’s similar to the British dessert Sticky Toffee Pudding (without the toffee topping) - a rich sponge with chunks of jujube bringing sweetness. But jujube? What even is a jujube? For years, I always called this sponge ‘date cake’ in English and no one ever corrected me. I assumed then, that 枣 meant ‘date’, but only years later, did I realise it was, in fact, a different fruit altogether, something called jujube, otherwise known as Chinese red date.
Jujube is (probably) a native fruit of Southern China, but has made its way across the country. The fresh fruits look like tiny brown-speckled apples, and have the crunch of one too, often eaten in spring and summer in Beijing. Dried they’re added to tea or hot pot broth, or chopped and made into the wonderful jujube cake.
If you can’t find jujubes, which is understandable, a drier date variety would work.
Use an 8 inch by 8 inch baking tray. Makes about nine chunky pieces.
Ingredients
5 eggs
100g dried jujube / red dates
100g brown sugar
100ml milk
65ml oil
20ml honey
150g cake flour
2g baking soda
3g baking powder
1g salt
Sesame seeds
Method
Soak the jujubes in hot water for about 20 minutes. Once they are soft, drain the water, de-core them and roughly chop. It’s fine for the pieces to be different sizes, it will give the cake an interesting texture.
Add the jujubes to a pan, pour over the milk and honey, and cook on a low heat until the jujubes absorb the milk.
Pour in the brown sugar and stir until the sugar melts and forms a thick sticky paste with the jujubes. Then move the paste to a mixing bowl to cool.
Break all five eggs into the paste and whisk (using an electric whisk) on a medium speed for about 5-8 minutes. The mix is ready when it looks thick and glossy with a few big bubbles here and there.
Mix the flour, baking soda, baking power and salt together, and then sieve half into the bowl with the egg mix. Stir by hand until all the flour is mixed, and then add the remaining flour. Finally add the oil and stir again.
Dig out your cake tin. I use an 8-inch square one, but round will also do. Line the tray/tin with baking paper, then pour the cake mix into the mould. Tap the tin to pop any large bubbles then leave to rest for about five minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (fan 150°C) and bake for 45 minutes.
Remove from the tin and let cool on a cooling rack before cutting.
