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Raisin Egg Cake or Ti Zi Dan Gao {提子蛋糕} is a classic and well-liked Chinese Bakery. It is essentially a sponge cake and Italian Panettone put into one. The vanilla sponge cake and raisins complete each other perfectly. The iconic citrus aroma and flavor are enticingly pleasant. Pumpkin seeds are often used as garnishing, adding additional texture, flavor, and nutrients.

Fun Facts about Hong Kong Style Raisin Egg Cupcake
It is more of a snack vs. a dessert. As a matter of fact, it is an excellent choice to go with a cup of tea or coffee for breakfast thanks to the high egg content and semi-sweetness level.
What makes this Chinese Bakery Style Raisin Egg Cake so special?
First of all, it is a sponge cake
Therefore, no baking soda is used for the recipe. The fluffy yumminess is coming from whipped egg whites, or meringue. When beating egg whites with sugar until forming peaks. Its volume will expand often 5x plus. When you fold this into the cake batter, it makes the cake batter extremely airy and smooth. The secret for a soft sponge cake.

While you can try to beat the egg whites manually using a whisk or use a handheld mixer, a Stand Mixer gets the job done easier and faster. It takes about 5-6 minutes on medium speed. When the peak forms and stays in shape and doesn’t drip, you know the meringue is ready.
Secondly, it uses homemade cake flour
Of course, you can use store-bought cake flour for this recipe. However, when you can make a homemade cake four nice and easy using your favorite organic all-purpose flour, why bother buying another type of flour?
Simply steam the all-purpose flour in a bamboo steamer double layered with organic cheesecloth. Wait for it to cool and dry, then roll it into powder again and store it in an airtight large glass jar.

Most Importantly, all the ingredients are nutritiously healthy with loads of eggs
Chinese Bakery Style Ti Zi Dan Gao is hearty and semi-sweet with (pumpkin) seeds and dried fruits (raisins), which makes it a perfect snack or breakfast item.
Loads of eggs are included which makes this egg cake fluffy and hearty. Only a small quantity of avocado oil is used too, which also makes this raisin egg cake nutritious and healthy.


Raisin Egg Cake Recipe {Chinese Bakery Style}
Raisin Egg Cake or Ti Zi Dan Gao {提子蛋糕} is a classic and well-liked Chinese Bakery. It is essentially a sponge cake and Italian Panettone put into one. So hearty and yummy.
Ingredients
- 150 g cake flour
- 6 eggs
- 3 tsp white vinegar
- 100 g cane sugar, organic unrefined preferred
- 1/4 tsp salt, such as Himalayan Pink Salt
- 60 g whole milk
- 60 g avocado oil
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp citrus blossom super extract
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup raisins, about 100 g
- 1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds, about 35 g
Instructions
Make Homemade Cake Flour In Advance:
- Homemade cake flour is easy to make using organic unbleached all-purpose flour. Simply steam the all-purpose flour in a bamboo steamer double layered with organic cheesecloth. Wait for it to cool and dry, then roll it into powder again and store it in an airtight large glass jar. Read here for a detailed guided recipe.
- If you decide to use homemade cake flour, do it a couple of days in advance.
Prepare the Cake Batter:
- Measure out and gather ingredients. A kitchen scale is a very handy tool if you cook/bake a lot.
- Separate egg whites from egg yolks. Place all the whites in a Stand Mixer bowl, along with 3 tsp white vinegar. Add the yolks to another large mixing bowl, along with avocado oil, milk, vanilla extract, citrus blossom super extract and apple cider vinegar.
- Sift the flour and salt and set it aside.
- Use an electric handheld mixer or whisk to whisk the egg yolks with the rest of the ingredients very well until fully blended. Set it aside to let the foam and bubbles settle.
- Turn the Stand Mixer to medium-high (e.g. 6 out of 10), and set a 6 minutes timer. Add sugar after 2 minutes along the whisking process. Carefully add the sugar slowly by sprinkling it into the Stand Mixer. Stop the mixer once the egg whites volume expands significantly and forms peaks and the peaks stay.
- Add the sifted flour/salt to the egg yolk mixture, add in batches and fold into the mixture. Do not stir, but use a fold motion. No need to be perfectly blended either at this point. It is more important not to over-work the flour, otherwise, it may get doughy.
- Add half of the whisked egg whites to the batter mixing bowl, using the fold motion. Remember not to stir, but only fold the meringue into the batter. A silicone spatula is a handy tool that does scraping. scooping and folding motion all in one.
- Pour the cake batter into the Stand Mixer, fold the rest of the meringue into the cake batter and then pour the cake batter back into the large mixer. Let the silicone spatula touch and scrape the bottom of the mixer and then flip so what is in the bottom is now on the top. Just be patient and continue to use this fold motion until the meringue is blended with the cake batter.
- Separate the raisins individually if they are sticking to each other and then just add them to the cake batter. No need to mix, as we don't want to over-work the batter. As you scoop out the batter just be mindful of picking up raisins evenly.
Bake the Raisin Egg Cupcake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (~177 C).
- Line the cupcake/muffin pan with a liner, and use a large spoon to scoop the batter and fill each opening almost to the top. Garnish with raw pumpkin seeds. This recipe makes 6 jumbo-sized cupcakes or a dozen regular-sized cupcakes.
- Add the cupcake pan to the oven, middle rack, and bake for 25 minutes. Then turn off the oven but leave the cupcakes in the oven for additional 10 minutes before removing them from the oven. The last 10 minutes will brown the cupcakes nicely.
- Enjoy a nutritiously yummy Chinese Bakery Style Raisin Egg Cake!
Recommended Products
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- Unbleached Muffin/Cupcake Baking Cup Liner
- OXO Good Grips 3- Piece Mixing Bowl Set
- Egg Separator
- Kitchen Scale
- Standard Natural Cupcake Liners
- Standard Muffin Pan & Cupcake Pan, 12-Cup, Steel
- Glass Mixing Bowls
- Small Silicone Spatulas
- LorAnn Citrus Blossom SS Flavor, 1 ounce bottle
- Terrasoul Superfoods Organic Heirloom Pumpkin Seeds, 1.5 Lbs - Sourced from Europe | Keto | Raw | Unsalted
- 365 by Whole Foods Market, Raisin Canister Organic, 12 Ounce
- Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, 4 ounces
- Avocado Oil
- Hamilton Beach Professional 5-Speed Electric Hand Mixer
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer
- Organic Cane Sugar
- Heinz All-Natural Distilled White Vinegar, 5% Acidity, 16 Fl Ounce (1 Pint)
- Cast Iron Wok with Flat Base 14 inch
- 12 inch Bamboo Steamer Basket, 2 Tier
- Organic All-Purpose Flour
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 314Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 187mgSodium: 293mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 2gSugar: 28gProtein: 8g
Nutrition calculation is provided by Nutritionix to the best knowledge per ingredients description and isn't always accurate.