Bánh In ("Print" Cakes)

I made this cake to day, in my home town there is similar cake but inside the filling is coffee, so I change the filling with Nescafe instant coffee, just crush the the instant coffee add this as a filling instead of mung beans, the one with coffee is not as sweat as the original recipe. This wonderful recipe is from here.

The word "in" means print in vietnamese, thus gives us reason to make this cake "Print Cake".

For the Crust:

-450g koh fun (fried glutinous rice flour)

-350g sugar-175g water-

-1 1/2 tbs mali flavor

**Boil sugar and water together until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Stir or whisk cooled syrup until it becomes milky (stirring will crystallize the sugar thus it will turn "milky").

You want the sugar to be semi-crystallized which means white in color but still a "liquid", if it turns solid just add in about a tbs of water.

Lastly, add in mali flavoring, stir until mixed.

Sift flour onto a work surface and add syrup “rub” sugar and flour together, use a rolling pin to crush and roll out the large chunks of sugar (if necessary). Dough should be dry and crumbly but moist enough to hold together.

Filling:

-300g mung beans (peeled and split)

-250g sugar-75g candied melon (tong tung kwa)

-50g candied lotus seeds

-3 tbs oil + 2 tbs koh fun

-1 tbs mali flavor or durian

-12 egg yolks (washed in wine and steamed)

**Rinse, soak, cook and mash beans add in sugar, lotus seeds (split in half), and candied melon (chopped into small pieces). Stir fry over medium heat until thicken, then add oil, koh fun and mali flour, mix everything together and let cool divide into portions and add egg yolk in the middle.

To Make the Cakes:

Line bottom of mold with a piece of paper fill ring ½ full with crust, then add filling and add more crust to completely cover, then press with lid tightly. Carefully remove ring, and then lid, let cake sit still for 15 mins to harden before touching.

Let the cakes “cure” for a day before eating.Note:Salted egg yolks, candied melon, and candied lotus seeds are optional.

This type of cake usually comes in 3 flavors: durian, mali flower, and plain.

If you can’t get a mould then use a baking sheet press half the crust in the bottom then add filling and cover with remaining crust, cut cake into “bar” when done. The most important part of making this cake is the sugar, it should be crystallize (very fine crystals) yet still moist and syrupy. If it’s too dry then the curst will not hold together (stir in some hot water).

If the sugar is too moist then the dough will be lumpy.