雪花糕雪花糕 (xuěhuāgāo) is a soft, milky-white dessert that gets its name from its snow-like appearance — light, cool, and slightly translucent at the edges. It’s a staple of yum cha (飲茶饮茶, “drinking tea”) culture in Guangdong and Hong Kong, where dim sum carts have carried it alongside egg tarts and rice rolls since the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912).
Unlike the deep-fried or custard-heavy desserts that dominate a dim sum trolley, snowflake cake is deliberately restrained: five ingredients, no oven, no eggs. That simplicity is exactly why it has stayed on menus for centuries — it’s meant to be the palate-cleanser at the end of a long, rich meal.
Reading the name
雪雪 xuě — snow. 花花 huā — flower, used here the way English uses “flakes” (snowflake). 糕糕 gāo — a broad word for cake or firm-set sweets, the same character in 年糕年糕 (nián gāo, New Year cake) and 蘿蔔糕萝卜糕 (luóbo gāo, radish cake). Learn to spot 糕糕 and you’ve unlocked a whole category of Chinese desserts.
材料材料Ingredients
Units:
糖糖
Sugar
45 g
鮮奶鲜奶
Fresh milk
300 g
玉米粉玉米粉
Cornstarch (UK/AU: cornflour)
60 g
椰漿椰浆
Coconut milk
150 g
椰子粉椰子粉
Desiccated coconut powder
a light dusting
💡 Prefer it sweeter? Increase sugar to 60 g. No coconut milk where you live? Substitute it 1:1 with heavy cream or more fresh milk — the texture changes only slightly.
🌍 Shopping outside Asia: coconut milk (not “cream of coconut”) and cornstarch are both sold in most Western supermarkets — coconut milk near the Asian foods or baking aisle, cornstarch near the flour. Desiccated coconut powder can be swapped for unsweetened shredded coconut, pulsed finer in a food processor.
Almost always under-cooked cornstarch. It needs to visibly thicken into a paste that pulls away from the sides of the pan before you pour it — if it still looks like thin milk, keep stirring over low heat.
Gluten-free as written (cornstarch, not wheat starch). To make it vegan, swap the fresh milk for a plant milk such as oat or soy — the texture holds up well.
Refrigerated in an airtight container, 3–4 days. It’s a dairy-and-starch dessert, so it doesn’t freeze well — the texture turns grainy on thawing.
Yes — it’s an ideal make-ahead dessert. Prepare it the night before, cut just before serving, and dust with coconut powder at the last minute so it stays dry rather than clumping.
