A tiny steamed sweet from the Hui Muslim quarter (回坊) of Xi'an, made of glutinous rice flour packed into small wooden or bamboo molds only about 6 cm across and steamed in stacked sets until just set, in a matter of minutes. The little white cake is turned out, speared on a bamboo stick, and dusted or dipped to order with toasted sesame, sugar, and rose-petal sugar (some stalls also offer osmanthus). It is street food in the literal sense — steamed and sold on the spot from a small cart and eaten warm as you walk. Its name comes from the small round shape, like a little mirror, and despite the near-identical sound it is a different dish from the layered 甑糕.
Mirror cake is a traditional snack of the Hui community in Xi'an, sold along the food streets of the Muslim quarter (回坊 / 回民街). Its exact origin and inventor are unrecorded; it survives as a vendor's street food rather than a banquet dish, and is documented chiefly through the carts that still make it. The name 镜糕 ("mirror cake") describes the small round cake that comes out of its little mold like a hand mirror. It is routinely confused with 甑糕 because the two sound almost the same: 甑 (the name of the iron steaming vessel used for 甑糕) is a pointed-initial character in the Guanzhong dialect of Xi'an and is read locally so that it slides toward the sound of 镜. The two are nonetheless distinct dishes — 甑糕 is a layered breakfast cake of glutinous rice, jujubes, and red beans steamed in a large iron 甑, while 镜糕 is a bite-sized sweet snack steamed in tiny molds.
Off the stick it is a warm, soft little disc, tender and faintly springy from the glutinous rice, with almost no flavor of its own — a near-blank sweet canvas. The pleasure is in the dressing: the nutty toast of black sesame, the grit of sugar, and the floral perfume of rose sugar clinging to the sticky surface, eaten in two or three small bites while still steam-warm. Done well it is freshly steamed, just set, soft but not gluey, and well coated. Done badly it has gone cold and rubbery from sitting too long, or it is dense and stodgy from being over-packed or over-steamed, or it carries so little topping that the plain rice tastes of nothing.
The dish works on starch and steam. Glutinous rice is almost entirely amylopectin — the highly branched starch — with little of the straight-chain amylose; when its flour is moistened, packed into the small mold, and steamed, the granules gelatinize and the branched chains hydrate into a soft, sticky, cohesive body that stays tender and chewy rather than turning dry or crumbly the way ordinary rice would. The molds are deliberately tiny, only about 6 cm across, so the thin cake heats through and sets in minutes, which is what makes true street-side fresh-steaming possible. Stacking the little molds in a set lets a vendor steam many at once over one pot. The toppings are added only after steaming: dry sugar and toasted sesame for crunch and nutty aroma, and rose or osmanthus sugar for perfume, so their texture and fragrance stay distinct on the surface instead of dissolving into the cake.
Variations
The dressing is where mirror cake varies most: the traditional finish is toasted sesame, sugar, and rose-petal sugar, with some stalls adding osmanthus (黄桂) or a drizzle of rose or honey syrup, and red and green candied shreds (青红丝) scattered on top in the older eight-treasure style (八宝镜糕). Modern Muslim-quarter vendors, chasing tourists, press the cakes into cartoon shapes and offer fruit-flavored colored sugars — strawberry, blueberry, pineapple — alongside the classic sesame and rose. The base flour is sometimes cut with a little ordinary rice flour for a firmer cake. It should not be confused with 甑糕, the large layered glutinous-rice, jujube, and red-bean breakfast cake of the same region, whose near-identical name comes from the dialect reading of 甑.
On the Palate
Where Jinggao Mirror Cake sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 2How it's made
6 steps · 10 min active + 10 min waiting
- 15 min
Sift glutinous rice flour and moisten it with a little water (and a touch of sugar if desired), rubbing it into a loose, even, just-damp crumb that holds together when pressed.
Watch outRub the glutinous rice flour with just enough water to a loose, damp crumb that holds when pressed — too wet and it steams into a dense paste, too dry and it won't set.
- 24 min
Lightly pack the moistened flour into the small wooden or bamboo molds, about 6 cm across, leveling the tops without pressing too hard.
- 35 min
Stack the filled molds in a set over a pot of vigorously boiling water and steam over high heat just until the cakes are set, only a few minutes.
Watch outSteam over vigorously boiling water just until the thin cakes set, only a few minutes — these little molds cook through fast, and over-steaming turns them gummy.
- 42 min
Lift out the molds and turn each little cake out onto a bamboo stick or small plate.
- 52 min
While still hot, dust or dip the sticky surface with toasted sesame, sugar, and rose-petal sugar (and osmanthus if using).
- 62 min
Add red and green candied shreds or a drizzle of rose or honey syrup if making the eight-treasure style, and serve warm to eat off the stick.
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