The cake is called “Hồng Đào Ngụy Quả” because the Gac fruit cake is "disguised" as another fruit like orange, or tangerine. This is a unique feature of this special cake.
Ms. Le Thi Thanh Huong, a Hue woman living in Kim Long land, which is famous for crystallized ginger marmalade and kinds of Hue cake, said that she had learned to make the cakes from her grandmother, with many kinds of cake such as: bánh bó (rolled cake), bánh mãng cầu (custard apple-shaped cake), fruit-shaped cake with mung bean stuffing, phu thê cake (Vietnamese conjugal cake), and Hồng Đào Ngụy Quả cake.
Making Gac fruit cake requires meticulosity in every step. From choosing ingredients to shaping the cake, as well as steaming to make the cake cooked both inside and outside, with the bright red color of Gac fruit, with slightly sweet taste and the characteristic fragrance of the Gac fruit mixed with mung bean and coconut flavor in the filling of the cake.
Hue News would like to introduce the photo series of Trung Phan, the photographer, capturing the steps of making Hue Gac fruit cake by Ms. Le Thi Thanh Huong.
By Hue News
Gac fruit is an indispensable ingredient to create the beautiful pink-red color
Glutinous rice is grinded into small particles flour and kept in pineapple leaves to absorb the fragrance; small particles flour is not smooth to create the veins like the ones of orange or tangerine
Flour is sifted to obtain the medium fine flour, enough to create the veins for the cake
The filling of the cake is made of mung bean combined with coconut and sugar
Gac fruit seeds and glutinous rice flour are the ingredients to make the crust
Ms. Huong is mixing well the ingredients so that the color of the Gac fruit will mix into the flour
Adding sugar water adequately to the mixture
The crust is kneaded well
Ms. Huong divides the dough into small round pieces to well fit with the filling of the cake
The filling and crust of the cake are ready for the next step
Putting the filling into the crust, covering it evenly and rubbing it round
The cake is completed before being steamed
The cake is steamed by wood stove, with bright color when being cooked
Adding leaves to suit the name "Hồng Đào Nguỵ Quả"
The cake is served in the occasions of wedding, espousal, and Tet Holiday