The ingredients for making cha cake are similar to those for mooncakes but simpler and with fewer components. You only need pork fat, lime leaves, granulated sugar, fine salt, wheat flour, and glutinous rice flour to start making the cake. However, because there are not many types needed, if you want truly delicious cakes, all selected ingredients must be very refined and high-quality.
After having sugar-marinated pork fat, you can add any flavor you want to the filling: cashews, sesame seeds, Chinese sausage, candied winter melon, melon seeds, or even salted egg... The main filling of the cha cake is pork fat. Therefore, choosing good pieces of fat is the deciding factor for the batch of cakes. The fat chosen must be tenderloin, nape, or shoulder fat; this is the type of fat that is not greasy or fatty, and becomes crunchy after you make sugar-marinated or salted fat. Bring the purchased fat home, wash it clean, and blanch it through boiling water to make it firm. Once drained, cut the fat into small pomegranate-seed-sized pieces and marinate with sugar. To make the fat more supple, we can mix a little glutinous rice flour into the sugar-marinated fat mixture. Sugar-marinated fat needs a relatively long time to achieve perfect harmony, about 10 days or so, depending on weather conditions.
If the ingredient that determines quality is pork fat, the thing that creates the distinctive, unmistakable flavor of the cha cake is the lime leaf. It can be said that without lime leaves, there is no cha cake.
Before baking, if you want the cake pieces to be golden, shiny, and fragrant, brush a thin layer of beaten egg yolk on the surface without using any additional coloring. Because the cake pieces are small, baking them does not take much time, only about 20 minutes per batch. But the difficulty when baking cha cake is having to monitor the temperature to ensure just enough heat for the cake to reach the right level of crispness and the right cockroach-brown color. Like most other traditional cakes, the crust of the cha cake is made from wheat flour. Knead the wheat flour thoroughly, then roll it out into a long, thin rectangle, about 3 mm thick. Take the sugar-marinated pork fat and lime leaf filling, spread it onto the dough crust along one edge lengthwise, then roll it up, seal the edge, and cut into bite-sized pieces. Thus, you have completed 70% of the process.
As society develops, with many types of imported confectionery alongside concerns about obesity and diabetes, the cha cake no longer holds its position as it once did. But during early-year gatherings, or whenever you like, you can enjoy a piece of cha cake with your loved ones and friends, alongside a cup of fragrant tea to chat when possible. A delicious piece of cake can make you feel warmer and preserve your childhood. Please try making and enjoying it. Traditional cha cake does not use preservatives, using only purely natural ingredients, so its shelf life is not long. Even under conditions ensuring absolute industrial hygiene and packaging that meets thickness and sealing requirements, it can only be kept for a maximum of one month.
If you want to fully enjoy the traditional flavor of cha cake, look for cha cake products from Bao Minh Confectionery Joint Stock Company at supermarkets, agencies, or convenience stores nationwide. Surely the delicious, crispy cha cake will be a meaningful gift for friends and relatives on gathering occasions!
BAO MINH CONFECTIONERY JOINT STOCK COMPANY
Address: Lot B2-3-3a, Nam Thang Long Industrial Zone, Thuy Phuong Ward, Bac Tu Liem District, Hanoi
Hotline: 0906 874 464
Phone number: 0243 719 2355
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