Besides the ancient houses, mossy green bushes, Hoi An cuisine is one of the undeniable attractions. Not only famous for Cao Lau, Banh Mi Phuong or Com Ga Ba Buoi, but Hoi An specialty also has the white rose dumpling (vac cake). It can be said that these are the delicious dishes of Hoi An that anyone who has the opportunity to visit the old town must enjoy its deliciousness. Hoi An white rose cake is a famous and delicious dish of the old town. This dish has been around for a long time, like a glue that combines traditional and modern culinary values. The soft and melted cake makes diners when traveling to Hoi An for the first time to enjoy it, they have to be curious to find out the recipe.
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Hoi An White Rose Cake – a dish loved by Western guests like a dumpling
White rose cake is a long-standing specialty of Hoi An. This cake appeared more than 100 years ago, like a “heirloom” handed down that Hoi An people are proud of.
If Cao Lau and banh mi attract Vietnamese guests, Western guests seem to be more interested in the vạc cake here. Meticulously processed, the vac cakes are covered with white powder on the outside, and the inside is full of rustic Vietnamese ingredients such as shrimp, pork, and black fungus. Each beautiful little cake is shaped quite elaborately, like pure white flowers. That’s why this cake is jokingly called white roses dumpling.
As you know, the characteristic of Western dishes is the meticulousness and deliciousness of the dish. They also like food that is beautifully presented and easy to eat. And the white rose cake, with the skillful hands of the chefs, has created cakes that are both beautiful and delicious. These things seem to create a special feature in the famous vac cake in Hoi An, thereby becoming one of the specialties of Hoi An that every visitor loves.
Hoi An White Rose Cake – an ancient specialty in Hoi An
If chicken rice, Quang noodles or bread that you can enjoy in Da Nang or the surrounding areas, the white rose cake is only available in Hoi An. Since then, this cake has become a specialty of Hoi An, a unique culinary feature that everyone wants to discover as soon as they arrive in this ancient town.
Although not as famous as Quang noodles, Cao Lau or chicken rice, the white rose cake is strangely delicious. If the dishes mentioned above have a rustic quality, this cake is a blend of traditional and modern dishes. The cake is simple from ingredients such as flour, meat and mushrooms, but is delicate in shaping. The cake is molded into flowers like pure white roses, just looking at it but can’t bear to eat it because it’s too beautiful.
How to make white rose cake in Hoi An?
Since it is called with the beautiful name “white rose”, this dish is also present on the menu of many restaurants in the center of the old town. However, the most famous is still the White Rose restaurant at 533 Hai Ba Trung, Cam Pho Ward, Hoi An. In addition, some shops located on this road also sell this cake but not as famous as the White Rose restaurant.
Coming here, you not only enjoy the delicious white rose cake but also witness the extremely elaborate and skillful process of the chef.
To produce hot plates of white rose cakes, the chef must have long-term skills. According to the chefs here, the main ingredient for making the white rose cake is rice starch, but to have perfect plasticity, it must be filtered many times. Rice must be soaked for a long time, rinsed with water many times before grinding. Then, take this flour to soak with water, let the rice flour settle to the bottom, pour off the clear water on the surface. Filter it again and again until about 10 times, the new powder has clarity. This is also the secret to Hoi An white rose cake taste more special than anywhere else.
For the filling, the chefs take advantage of easy-to-find ingredients such as shrimp, meat, and mushrooms. All are finely ground, seasoned with spices and then stir-fried in the traditional Vietnamese way. To satisfy diners, the chefs here often create into small parts, then spread a layer of cassava flour outside and then steamed. Take a sufficient amount of dough, roll it thin and put the filling in the middle. Cleverly molded into rose-shaped cakes.
Finally, put everything in the steamer, wait for 5-7 minutes, then take out the cake. At this time, the cake will be soft and sweet, the crust is not too tough, and the inside is hot.
Hoi An white rose cake brings you back to the old town to enjoy the hot cakes that have shaken diners outside. If you have never tasted the fragrant flavor inside the tough crust, you are not a gourmet. If you have the opportunity to visit the ancient town in the near future, do not forget enjoy this famous specialty.