Right, so I had this idea floating around for a while – making a dim sum cake. Not a cake made of dim sum, that sounds a bit weird, but a cake that looks like a bamboo steamer full of the stuff. Seemed like a fun project, maybe a bit fiddly, but I like a challenge now and then.
Getting Started – The Plan (Sort Of)
First thing was figuring out how to tackle it. I decided a simple round cake would be the base. Nothing fancy, just a reliable sponge cake recipe I’ve used loads of times. The real work was going to be the decoration. I knew I’d need fondant, lots of it, and various food colourings. Trying to get that specific translucent look for har gow, or the yellow for siu mai… that was the bit I wasn’t sure about.
So, I went shopping. Got the usual cake stuff – flour, sugar, eggs, butter. Then the decorating supplies:
- White fondant (a big block)
- Gel food colours (brown, yellow, orange, pink, green, black)
- Some cornstarch for dusting (fondant gets sticky)
- Basic modelling tools (nothing fancy, mostly my hands and a small knife)
Finding the right shade of brown for the steamer was tricky, ended up mixing a couple. Always seems to be the way.
Baking and Building the Base
Baked the cake first. Just a standard vanilla sponge, couple of layers. Let it cool completely – learned that lesson the hard way years ago, trying to frost a warm cake. Disaster. Once it was cool, I stacked the layers with some simple buttercream in between. Then I crumb coated the whole thing. That’s just a thin layer of icing to trap all the loose crumbs. You let that set in the fridge. Stops the final layer of fondant looking messy.
Next up, the steamer. This took longer than I expected. I rolled out a big piece of light brown fondant. Getting it smooth and large enough to cover the cake sides was a pain. Had to lift it carefully. Drape it over, smooth it down, trim the excess at the bottom. Then, for the bamboo effect, I used the back of a knife to score lines all around the sides. Rolled thin strips of slightly darker brown fondant for the top and bottom rims and the bands around the steamer. Stuck them on with a bit of water. It looked… okay. Like a steamer, sort of. Good enough.
Making the Mini Dim Sum
This was the fun part, but also the most detailed. Making tiny food out of fondant!
Har Gow (Shrimp Dumplings): Mixed a little pink into white fondant for the shrimp peeking out. Made tiny shrimp shapes. Then rolled out white fondant very thin, trying to make it look translucent (failed a bit here, it was just thin white fondant). Cut circles, put a pink bit inside, and folded them into that classic har gow shape with the pleats. Fiddly work. My fingers are too big for this sometimes.
Siu Mai (Pork Dumplings): Dyed some fondant yellow for the wrapper. Made little balls of a brownish-pink fondant for the filling. Wrapped the yellow around, leaving the top open. Added tiny orange dots (supposed to be roe, I guess) and a green dot (a pea?) on top. These looked pretty convincing, actually.
Baozi (Steamed Buns): Easiest ones. Just plain white fondant rolled into balls, pinched at the top to make that bun-like swirl. Made a few of these.
Other bits: Made some green fondant things to look like maybe bok choy or something leafy, just for colour. Also, some little brown triangles, maybe supposed to be fried wontons? Just filling space, really.
Putting It All Together
Covered the top of the cake (inside the “steamer”) with a circle of white fondant to look like the base lining paper. Then I just started arranging the little fondant dim sum pieces on top. Tried to make it look like a full, generous steamer basket. Poked them in place, sometimes used a tiny dab of water to make them stick. Moved them around a bit until it looked right.
Stood back and looked at it. Honestly? Not bad. It definitely looked like a dim sum basket cake. Some bits were cruder than others, the har gow weren’t perfect, but the overall effect was there. It took a good few hours, mostly the decorating part. The kitchen was a mess, fondant dust everywhere.
Final Thoughts
Was it worth it? Yeah, I think so. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, and the result was pretty unique. Definitely a conversation starter. It tasted fine too, just a normal cake underneath all that sugary art. Would I make it again? Maybe, but I’d try different techniques for the translucent wrappers next time. Or maybe just buy the dim sum instead! Making the real thing is probably easier sometimes.