Guilin Malay Cake

Guilin Malay Cake is an improved pastry influenced by Cantonese dim sum, very popular locally, with a soft, porous texture, carrying brown sugar's sweetness and a faint coconut aroma. The process involves mixing flour, brown sugar, eggs, milk, and a little coconut milk, adding yeast to ferment until expanded, pouring into a square mold, steaming for 30 minutes, cooling, and cutting into diamond shapes. The steamed cake is dark brown, smooth on the surface, with even air holes inside like a sponge, slowly bouncing back when pressed. A bite releases brown sugar's mellow sweetness, mixed with a hint of coconut milk fragrance, with a soft, delicate texture that melts in the mouth but retains elasticity. Guilin's Malay Cake emphasizes brown sugar proportion more than traditional Cantonese versions, sweet but not cloying, suitable for pairing with strong tea. Teahouses and dessert shops often serve it as a dim sum, paired with shrimp dumplings and siu mai, part of Cantonese morning tea. Foreigners will be amazed by its fluffy texture and rich air holes, finding this pastry like a "Chinese brown sugar sponge cake"—sweet and rich but not greasy, a good choice to experience Guilin's diverse food culture.