A beloved Wuxi street snack of glutinous rice cakes pan-fried until puffy and bronzed, hiding sweet or savory fillings of bean paste, lard-and-rose, or minced pork — crisp shell, chewy interior, fragrant with sesame.
Conceived in 1850 at the Sun Ji pastry stall (孙记糕团店) near Wuxi's Yingdie Pavilion, during magnolia blossom season. The proprietor folded crushed yulan petals into the filling and named the cake for the flower. By the early Republican era, the petals gave way to standard sweet and savory fillings, but the name endured and the cakes remained a fixture of Wuxi breakfast culture.
The first bite shatters through a whisper-thin crisp shell into chewy glutinous rice, with a sweet bean or savory pork filling that blooms alongside the fragrance of sesame and scallion.
Glutinous rice flour is dominated by amylopectin (over 95%), which gelatinizes fully when scalded with boiling water to form a dense, elastic dough. During pan-frying, the outer layer undergoes Maillard browning and rapid dehydration, creating a rigid crust, while the amylopectin-rich interior retains moisture and remains chewy. Trapped steam also forms micro-bubbles within the dough, causing the cake to puff slightly and reinforcing the contrast between crisp shell and yielding core.
Variations
Classic fillings include sweet lard-and-rose (菜猪油), red bean paste, black sesame, and savory soy-sugar minced pork. Modern vendors occasionally offer matcha-red bean or salted egg yolk variants.
On the Palate
Where Yulan Glutinous Rice Fritter sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 40 min
- 110 min
Combine glutinous rice flour with a small amount of all-purpose flour; pour in boiling water while stirring, then knead into a smooth, pliable dough.
Watch outScald the flour with boiling water and knead smooth — that hot-water scald gelatinizes the glutinous rice so the dough turns pliable and chewy; cold water leaves it crumbly.
- 210 min
Prepare fillings: mix minced pork with soy sauce, sugar, rice wine, ginger, and scallion until sticky; or portion red bean paste into small rounds.
- 33 min
Divide dough into equal portions (about 40 g each); flatten each into a thin round disc.
- 45 min
Place a spoonful of filling in the center; gather the edges and pinch firmly to seal, then gently press into a flat round cake.
- 52 min
Heat a flat-bottomed pan over medium heat; add a thin layer of neutral oil and arrange the cakes sealed-side down.
- 65 min
Pan-fry undisturbed for 3 minutes until the bottom is golden; flip and fry the other side for 2 to 3 minutes.
Watch outPan-fry undisturbed until the bottom is set golden before flipping — flip too soon and the soft cake tears and the filling leaks.
- 75 min
Cover loosely and cook on low heat for 2 more minutes to heat the interior through; uncover and let the exterior crisp again before serving hot.
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