It is very timely to make Tikoy (Chinese Sticky Cake) or for our Cantonese friends, it’s called Nian Gao. It is also known as the year cake or the Chinese New Year’s Cake. Tikoy is prepared with glutinous flour and traditionally eaten during Chinese New Year. 

This new year cake implies prosperity year after year. It is usually given as a gift among Chinese people. I remember how my Filipino-Chinese clients generously gave me tikoy for Chinese New Year! I literally had 2 or more boxes every year! I appreciated and until now I have never forgotten how blessed I was to have a very kind and generous clients in the past. Today, there are a lot of flavors that has been invented such as brown, white, ube, muscovado, sweet corn and pandan, but I still prefer the original brown and white tikoy. Never beats the original!!!

Ingredients:

3 cups glutinous rice flour
1 ½ cup warm water
½ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons roasted sesame seeds
½ cup dates, pitted and chopped

Procedures:

1. Combine water and brown sugar then mix well
2. Combine glutinous rice flour with the water and brown sugar mixture then mix thoroughly.
3. Add the pitted chopped dates then mix until every ingredient is well distributed.
4. Grease a Wilton 8-Inch Springform Pan and transfer the glutinous rice flour mixture then sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.

5. Steam for 45 minutes. Make sure to cover the top part with cheesecloth to avoid water drippings.
6. Remove the tikoy from the cake pan and transfer to a wax paper or cling wrap then refrigerate for at least 5 hours.
7. Take the tikoy out of the refrigerator. *Cook using your desired method.

* Tikoy can be re-steamed, microwaved, or fried after dipping in beaten egg mixture.
* I find this recipe not too sweet which I didn’t like much, so I suggest you add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup more brown sugar and vanilla essence to make it tastes more like the ones we usually bought in the Philippines.

Share and enjoy with family and friends!!!
Adapted from: Panlasang Pinoy

I hope you give this recipe a go and please let me know how it works for you! Thanks for visiting my blog! See you next time!