Baking: Old-School Flavor Cake

“Gǔzǎo wèi” (old-school flavor) is a phrase you see more in Hong Kong and Taiwan — roughly means “ancestral recipe.”

In northern mainland China, “old-school flavor cake” would probably just be called “traditional sponge cake,” though honestly it’s almost indistinguishable from chiffon cake at this point.

There are tons of recipes online, but they’re all the same: heat the vegetable oil first, then add egg yolks and start stirring, add cake flour to make a batter, then whip the egg whites with lemon juice to stiff peaks.

Then fold the yolk batter and the whipped whites together in batches, pour into the mold, and bake!

The difference is you need a long toothpick to make sure the inside is fully cooked, and you can put some water in the oven to keep the top from scorching. I baked mine for 1 hour at about 170°C.

Came out looking pretty good, just not very sweet.

But it’s fine — good texture when you eat it. Worth trying more often.