Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 508 Rice Cake and Layered Cake

In the afternoon, she tossed and turned in bed, her mind replaying the expressions of those who had asked about the price. The reason they didn't buy was clearly because they were scared off by the price. Three yuan each, was it expensive? She didn't think so, but if the customers thought it was expensive, then it was expensive.

She needed to find a breakthrough, something that people in Qing City were willing to pay for, something they didn't think was expensive, and something that wouldn't be too much trouble for her to make.

What else can you make with rice and noodles? Rice, porridge, fried rice, rice balls, noodles... and rice cakes!

Rice cakes are found in many places, but they have different names. Some call them steamed sponge cake, some call them white sugar cake, and some call them rice steamed buns.

The methods are similar: grind rice into a paste, add sugar, steam until cooked, and the texture is soft, chewy, and sweet without being greasy. It is more suitable for breakfast or snacks than sweet potato chips.

The key point is that she had never seen rice cakes in the eight districts of Qing City. She walked around the streets for so long today, from north to south and from east to west, and did not see a single place selling rice cakes. It was a blank market.

She turned over and suddenly remembered that Xuanxian County also had a local specialty food called thousand-layer cake. It is steamed layer by layer, and each layer can be selected with different colors and flavors. It has a rich texture, with both the soft and glutinous texture of rice cake and the distinct chewy texture of each layer.

The process of making layered rice cake is a bit more complicated than that of regular rice cake, but it looks better, with layers of white and red, neat and orderly, and you can see beautiful stripes when you cut it open.

Products that look good can be priced higher. Hopefully, mille-feuille cake will be the kind of thing that makes people want to buy one just to look at it.

At 3:45 a.m., before the alarm clock went off, Xu Xiaoyan woke up. She had no choice; she had been waking up and falling asleep on and off since yesterday afternoon, and she was practically numb from all the sleep.

She went downstairs and ground the rice that had been soaking overnight into a paste. The blades of the soy milk maker spun at high speed, making a sharp "buzzing" sound. The rice grains were cut into fine powder by the blades and mixed with water to form a milky white rice paste.

She poured the blended rice milk from the soy milk maker, one pot, two pots, she kept blending and pouring until both basins were full before she stopped.

The milky white rice paste sloshed gently in the basin, with a layer of fine bubbles floating on the surface—air trapped in during the mixing process.

When the deliveryman brought the goods at 4:50, the rice slurry was already fully prepared.

For the rice cake, she poured sugar and yeast into the rice batter, stirred it slowly with a long-handled spoon, covered it with plastic wrap, and placed it in the warmest spot next to the stove to wait for it to ferment.

She divided the layered cake into two equal portions and poured them into two bowls.

One portion retains its original color, which is the milky white of the rice milk itself.

Another portion of brown sugar was added, dissolved in water, and then sprinkled into the rice milk. The originally milky white rice milk turned into a light coffee color, with the unique caramelized aroma of brown sugar.

That's right, she's preparing to make a white and red layered cake. The two colors are stacked together, and it will look beautiful when cut after steaming.

Xu Xiaoyan took out a small steamer from her home in Xuan County from her spatial storage. It was a pity that she had nowhere to use the large steamers she bought in Linchuan. Otherwise, she could have steamed a large amount of rice cakes at once.

She sighed, placed the steamer on the stove, filled the pot with water, covered it, and turned the heat up to high.

After the water boiled, she lined the steamer with a steaming cloth, then scooped a spoonful of white rice batter and poured it evenly onto the steaming cloth.

The rice paste flows freely on the steaming cloth, spreading outwards from the center to form a thin circle, about two or three millimeters thick. When it reaches the edge of the steaming cloth, it is blocked by the edge of the cloth, forming a neat circle.

Cover the pot and steam over high heat for three minutes.

Three minutes later, when the lid was lifted, a burst of white steam rushed up, and the first layer of white rice batter had solidified into a milky white rice cake.

Then came the second layer. She scooped a spoonful of brown sugar rice paste and poured it evenly over the first layer of white rice cake.

Brown sugar syrup flowed and spread across the surface of the white rice cake, forming a light brown circle.

Cover the pot and steam for another three minutes.

Three minutes later, the brown sugar layer solidified, turning a darker coffee color with a glossy surface.

Then she started on the third layer, repeating the same actions: scooping the batter, pouring it out, spreading it evenly, and steaming it for three minutes.

This process is repeated, and the amount of ingredients for each layer needs to be precisely controlled. Too much will make it too thick and won't steam through; too little will make it too thin and the layers won't stick together properly, causing them to separate and fall apart when eaten.

White steam filled the kitchen, and a thin layer of condensation formed on the windowpanes.

The range hood above the stove hummed, sucking away most of the steam, but some still escaped into the air, making the whole kitchen humid.

She stopped steaming when it reached the ninth layer.

Nine floors, representing the unity of all things, sounds good, looks good, and sells well.

The last layer is white. She poured the white rice batter on top, spread it evenly, covered the pot, and steamed it for another ten minutes.

Ten minutes later, turn off the heat and lift the lid.

Steam billowed out of the pot. Xu Xiaoyan turned her face to the side and waited for the steam to dissipate before leaning over to take a look.

The nine-layer rice cakes are neatly arranged in the steamer, with distinct white and brown stripes, clean edges, smooth surface, and a warm luster.

She took the whole steamer out and placed it on the cutting board to cool.

While waiting for it to cool down, she began to process the fermented rice milk.

Upon removing the plastic wrap, a faint aroma of wine wafts out, and the surface of the rice milk is covered with fine bubbles, indicating that fermentation is complete.

She added a small spoonful of cooking oil and stirred it well. The oil spread in the rice paste, was enveloped by the air bubbles, and formed a thin oil film.

Then she poured the rice milk into several small bowls, filling them about seven-tenths full, leaving room for expansion.

She placed several bowls in the steamer, leaving a little space between them to prevent them from sticking together while steaming.

Cover the pot and steam over high heat for 20 minutes.

In twenty minutes, she cleaned the stove, washed the steaming cloth, and thoroughly cleaned all the used basins and spoons before putting them back in her storage space.

When the time is up, turn off the heat and lift the lid.

After the steam dissipated, she saw that the rice cake in the bowl had expanded considerably. The bamboo box, which was originally seven-tenths full, was now completely full, with rounded curves on the surface.

The rice cake has a smooth and elastic surface. If you poke it with a toothpick and pull it out without anything sticking to the toothpick, it's cooked.

By this time, the layered cake had cooled down enough. She took the whole cake off the steaming cloth and placed it on the cutting board.

The mille-feuille cake is round, about 30 centimeters in diameter and nearly 3 centimeters thick. The nine layers of stripes are clearly visible from the side, with alternating white and brown stripes.

She used a long knife to cut the layered cake into many small triangles, and put the scraps in a small dish for customers to try.

Regular rice cake has a soft and slightly chewy texture, with just the right amount of sweetness, and is not greasy.

The texture of the layered cake is quite different because it is steamed layer by layer. Although each layer is stuck together, you can feel the texture of the layers separating when you eat it. It is firm and chewy.