Destination
Taipei
The story
Car wheel cake — che lun bing in Mandarin, or in Japanese-inspired Taiwanese "imagawayaki" — is Taipei's most-loved after-school and evening street snack: small round golden pancakes about 8cm across and 3cm thick, shaped like tiny wheels, cooked in a special heavy metal mould with round wells. Each pancake is filled with a sweet or savoury filling — most classically red bean paste, custard cream, taro paste, chopped peanut with sugar, or shredded ham-and-cheese for a savoury version — and sealed by pouring more batter on top just before flipping. Sold hot from the mould at every Taipei night market cart, at every school-gate street counter and at every dedicated car-wheel-cake shop. Eaters buy 3 or 4 at a time and eat them still hot from paper bags.
Method
Whisk flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk, melted butter and vanilla. Combine wet and dry, whisking to a smooth thin batter (like pancake batter). Rest 20 minutes. Transfer to a jug for easy pouring.
Warm milk in a saucepan. Whisk yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a bowl. Slowly pour hot milk into the yolks while whisking. Return to the pan; cook over medium-low heat 5 minutes, whisking constantly, until thick. Off the heat, whisk in butter and vanilla. Cool.
Set out the fillings in separate small bowls near the mould. Each should be firm enough to spoon and hold shape (not runny).
Place the mould over medium heat. Brush each well lightly with oil. Let the mould get hot — 3 to 4 minutes.
Pour batter into each well until half full. Wait 60 seconds for the base to set into a small pancake shape.
Once the base has set (edges golden, top still wet), spoon 1 heaped tsp of filling into the middle of each well.
Pour more batter over each well to cover the filling and reach the top of the well. Cook another 90 seconds until the tops start to set.
Using two chopsticks or a small skewer, lift each pancake from its well and flip it back into the well upside-down. The cooked top is now the base, and the raw base is now exposed to the mould. Cook 90 seconds more until both sides are deep golden. Lift out. Serve warm in paper bags. Repeat until batter and fillings are used up. Serve immediately with hot tea.
Tips
- The mould is essential. Car wheel cake needs the specific round-well mould. Any Chinese cookware shop or online seller has them. Without the mould, you can approximate with a heavy egg-poaching pan.
- Medium heat, not hot. High heat burns the outside before the inside cooks. Medium heat with patience is the technique.
- Fillings must be firm. Runny fillings leak out and burn onto the mould. Chill your custard, use thick red bean paste, mash taro dry.
- Flip in the mould, not out. This is the trick — flipping the pancake upside-down while still in the same well cooks the other side evenly. Lifting it out and flipping in your hand risks tearing.
- Serve warm. Car wheel cake softens as it cools. Best within 20 minutes of cooking. Reheating on a dry pan for 60 seconds a side revives day-olds.
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