Chinese Pumpkin Cake (南瓜饼)

Chinese pumpkin cake features a beautiful golden crispy crust that is gooey and sticky like mochi inside, with a sweet red bean paste filling. It makes a delicious and healthy dessert for after dinner and a fun snack during Chinese festivals. The recipe includes the traditional frying method and an air fryer method. {Gluten-Free, Vegan} 

After a hot, dry summer, I’m excited for the coming fall season. In New York, we’ve had some very cool breezes and the weather has been so comfortable. And it’s so nice to see fall produce starting to pile up at our local grocery store and farmers market. Today I want to share this classic dim sum – Chinese pumpkin cake, for the upcoming season.

What is Chinese pumpkin cake

Chinese pumpkin cake (南瓜饼, Nan Gua Bing) is a very popular dessert and snack. Back in China, it was one of those desserts you’d see on restaurant menus quite often. The pumpkin cake is similar to mochi, which has a gooey texture, but the surface is crunchy and crispy. The skin has a beautiful orange color from the pumpkin puree. It is sometimes filled with a sweet filling such as red bean paste. Sometimes it is simply fried until crispy and served with a sprinkle of sugar. 

Ingredients for making Chinese pumpkin cake

Making Chinese pumpkin cake is very easy and requires just four ingredients.

Glutinous rice flour (糯米)

Glutinous rice flour, also known as sweet rice flour or sticky rice flour, is a gluten-free flour that is commonly used to make Chinese dim sum and Japanese mochi. When mixed with liquid, the flour will start to become sticky like clay and can be easily shaped. If you’ve never worked with glutinous rice flour before, no worries! It is so much easier to work with than regular flour and it is very forgiving. 

Pumpkin or pumpkin puree

In China, it is very common to make pumpkin puree from scratch to make this dish. But to make cooking easier, I opted to use canned pumpkin puree. It saves a lot of time and the result is excellent. 

If you prefer to cook from a raw pumpkin, the best one is red kuri pumpkin. It is a type of pumpkin you can usually find at Asian markets. It has a very sweet taste and bright orange flesh. It works perfectly for this dish. Alternatively, you can also use regular pumpkin or kabocha for this dish.

If you cook from raw pumpkin, do note that the flour ratio can change dramatically depending on the pumpkin texture. I will explain more in the recipe below.

Red bean paste (红豆沙)

Sometimes Chinese pumpkin cakes are served plain without any filling. But I found the red bean filled ones to be extra delicious.

If you prefer, you can make your own red bean paste from scratch. Alternatively, you can also buy bagged red bean paste from the Asian market or from Amazon.

How to make Chinese pumpkin cake 

Making Chinese pumpkin cakes is super fun and easy. Definitely let your kids help you with it because the recipe is forgiving and it feels like you’re playing with clay.

1. Mix the pumpkin puree with the glutinous rice flour to make a dough
2. Divide the dough into small pieces and shape it into balls
3. Shape the red bean paste into small balls for the filling
4. To assemble, flatten the dough with your hands to form a disk
5. Place the red bean paste filling in the center
6. Wrap the dough around the filling to seal it
7. Round out the filled cake then gently flatten it
8. Dip both sides into bread crumbs 

NOTE:

• If you cook the pumpkin from scratch, the amount of glutinous rice flour you will use can vary a lot, depending on the texture of the squash. If you use canned pumpkin puree, you might still need to make small adjustments depending on the brand you use.
• Make sure you cover the dough and the assembled buns with plastic wrap. The dough will be harder to work with if it starts to dry out.

How to cook Chinese pumpkin cake

Traditionally, Chinese pumpkin cakes are deep fried until golden crispy. To simplify the process, here I want to introduce how to shallow fry them, and how to make them in an air fryer.

The shallow fry method

The shallow fry method is quite easy. You should use a pan or pot on the smaller side if you do not want to use too much oil, but you will need to cook in batches.

Make sure to fill the pan with enough oil to cover the pancakes at least halfway up. The frying temperature shouldn’t be too high – the oil should have small to medium bubbles when you add the pumpkin cakes. If the pumpkin turns golden too fast, you should turn off the heat to let the oil temperature drop a bit. Otherwise the pumpkin cake surface will char too much while the inside is still raw.

The air fryer method

The air fryer method is a bit easier than the pan fry method and it uses less oil. Simply spray the pumpkin cakes with oil spray and air fry. The pumpkin cakes will turn golden crispy in no time.

Which method is better?

I do like the results for the shallow fry a bit better because:

• The fried pumpkin cakes have a more even color
• The mouth feel is a bit more oily but the cakes more fragrant
• The texture is slightly more moist

However, I do think the air fry method is a great alternative if you want to make the cooking easier and use less oil. 

How to serve and store Chinese pumpkin cakes

Chinese pumpkin cakes taste the best when they’re still hot. The surface will be super crispy, and the dough gooey and sticky like mochi. The red bean paste is also more moist and soft at this point. When the pumpkin cakes cool off, they will start to feel more chewy and less moist, but will still be delicious.

Store the leftover pumpkin cakes in the fridge or freezer. I highly recommend reheating them before eating, to crisp up the surface again.  You can easily reheat them in an air fryer, an oven or on stove top (see the methods in the recipe below).

Chinese pumpkin cakes are a perfect dessert to serve at the end of a meal. And it’s a healthy snack to munch on at any time of the day. I hope you enjoy this one and happy cooking!

Other delicious Chinese sweets

• Black Sesame Sweet Rice Balls (黑芝麻汤圆, Tang Yuan)
• Red Bean Soup (红豆汤)
• Eight Treasure Rice (八宝饭, Chinese Rice Pudding)
• Easy Candied Walnuts with Spice
• Mango Sago (杨枝甘露)

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Chinese Pumpkin Cake (南瓜饼)

5 from 9 votes

Chinese pumpkin cake features a beautiful golden crispy crust that is gooey and sticky like mochi inside, with a sweet red bean paste filling. It makes a delicious and healthy dessert for after dinner and a fun snack during Chinese festivals. The recipe includes the traditional frying method and an air fryer method. {Gluten-Free, Vegan}

Author: Maggie Zhu

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: homestyle

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 cakes

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Ingredients

• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree (or 25 oz (700 g) pumpkin)
• 2 cups (250 g) glutinous rice flour
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• Oil spray (or oil for frying)
• 2/3 cup red bean paste

Instructions

Make pumpkin puree (optional)

• (Optional) If making pumpkin puree from uncooked pumpkin – Cut the pumpkin into large bite-size pieces. Fill a steamer with water and bring to a boil. Place pumpkin on a steaming rack, skin side down. Cover pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn to low heat and steam until the pumpkin can easily be pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes. Transfer pumpkin to a plate to cool. Scoop the pumpkin flesh from the skin and add it into a large bowl. Smash into paste.

Make the pumpkin cake

• Slowly blend glutinous rice flour into pumpkin paste, about 2 tablespoons at a time. Whisk with a pair of chopsticks (or a fork), until flour is fully incorporated. Add more flour and keep mixing, until the flour becomes difficult to blend. Dust both hands with rice flour. Knead the dough together with one hand until it forms a consistent and soft dough. The dough should be easily picked up by hand and should stick to the bottom of the bowl a bit. Pick up the dough and use both hands to press and knead the dough for another 5 minutes to blend the rice flour in well. The surface of the dough should be smooth and you shouldn’t notice any stray flour on or inside the dough.
• Put bread crumbs in a tall plate or a bowl and set aside.
• To prepare the filling, scoop 2 teaspoons of red bean paste and shape it into a small ball using your hands. Repeat until you’ve made 16 red bean filling balls.
• Divide the dough into 4 equal parts, then divide each of those parts into 4 small pieces (about 41 g per dough piece). Shape each small piece into a dough ball with both hands.
• To make pumpkin buns: Hold a dough ball in one hand and use the other hand to press it into a flat, round shape, about 2” (5 cm) in diameter. Place the red bean paste in the center. Wrap the dough around the filling and pinch the edges together to seal the filling, forming a ball again. Gently press the ball until it is shaped like a mini pancake, about 1/2” (1 cm) thick.
• Place the buns in the bread crumbs, pressing gently so the bread crumbs coat the surface. Flip to coat the other side. Process the rest of the dough in the same manner to make 15 pumpkin cakes.

Cook the pumpkin cake

• If using stovetop: Heat 1/2” (1 cm) oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Cook in batches by placing a few pumpkin cakes into the skillet. Fry over medium-low heat for 2 minutes, until the bottom side turns golden brown. Flip the buns and fry the other side over lowest heat for another 2 minutes. Check the bottom side of the buns after 1 minute. If the color has already turned brown, turn to low heat, and allow to sit for another minute. Transfer to a plate to cool.
• If using an air fryer: Preheat the air fryer for 10 minutes at 350°F (176°C). Line the air fryer basket with parchment paper. Place the pumpkin cakes into the basket without overlapping and leave a bit of space in between. Spray the top of the cakes with a generous amount of oil. Cook for 6 minutes, until the top becomes golden. Take out the basket, flip, and spray with oil. Air fry for another 4 minutes until the top becomes golden crispy, and the pumpkin cakes have slightly ballooned.
• Let the pumpkin cakes cool slightly before serving. Serve hot or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for 3 months. Thaw the cakes before reheating. You can reheat the cake in a 300°F (150°C) air fryer or oven until the cake is warm throughout. You can also reheat them on the stove top by adding a bit of oil into the pan, covering the pan, and reheating over low heat.

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 134kcal, Carbohydrates: 28.4g, Protein: 2.5g, Fat: 1.1g, Saturated Fat: 0.2g, Sodium: 36mg, Potassium: 61mg, Fiber: 1.9g, Sugar: 1.1g, Calcium: 13mg, Iron: 1mg

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