🍽️ Fermented Rice Cake

Spring seasonal cake with fermented rice filling.

Jiuniangbing, or Fermented Rice Cake, is a seasonal springtime treat of Suzhou, Jiangsu. Dough is kneaded with liquid from sweet fermented rice instead of plain water, giving it a gentle natural yeast rise and a faint rice-wine aroma, then stuffed with rose-flavored red bean paste and pan-baked. The crust is soft, slightly sweet and faintly alcoholic, while the filling is smooth, mellow and fragrantly rose-scented. Sold only around the Qingming festival, it is tied to Suzhou's spring outings and seasonal eating customs. Best eaten warm with a cup of tea to cut the sweetness, these small, delicate cakes carry the refined, lyrical character of Suzhou's tea-time snacks.