Suncake
Encyclopedia
A suncake is a popular Taiwanese dessert
Dessert
In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...

 originally from the city of Taichung
Taichung
-Demographics:Taichung’s population was an estimated 1,040,725 in August 2006. There are slightly more females in the city than males.24.32% of residents are children, while 16.63% are young people, 52.68% are middle-age, and 6.73% are elderly....

 in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. The typical fillings consist of maltose
Maltose
Maltose , or malt sugar, is a disaccharide formed from two units of glucose joined with an αbond, formed from a condensation reaction. The isomer "isomaltose" has two glucose molecules linked through an α bond. Maltose is the second member of an important biochemical series of glucose chains....

 (condensed malt sugar), and they are usually sold in special gift boxes as souvenirs for visitors. Some famous suncake pastry shops always have long lines of people waiting to buy boxed suncakes.

The shape of suncakes are round, of varied sizes. They are characterized by crunchy crusts. Most people eat them with Chinese tea, and some people dissolve them in hot water to make a porridge-like dessert.

Origin of the suncake

The first suncakes were made by the Lin family in the She-Ko area of Shengang Township, Taichung County
Taichung County
Taichung County was a county in central Taiwan, the Republic of China, that surrounded but did not include Taichung City. The name Taichung means "central Taiwan"...

 (now part of Taichung City). The Lin family used condensed malt sugar as a filling for cake pastries. Later on, pastry maker Wei Qing-hai modified the cakes to their current form.

Though not originally called "suncakes," they were given the name by the owner of "Sun Booth", one of the most famous pastry shops that sells them. The name was not trademarked, and other pastry shops used the same name for their own suncakes.

External links

  • http://www.sunbooth.com.tw/
  • http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%80%81%E5%A9%86%E9%A4%85
  • http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/3/4/9/c12094.htm
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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