“Lam Cake” is one of the most famous specialties of Thach Xa Commune, Thach That district, Hanoi. The cake is more popular in Vietnam’s northern region, especially the rural areas. The ingredients are very familiar to Vietnamese people: rice flour, malt, sugar, ginger, and peanuts. The right blend of ingredients and two skillful hands make the cake absolutely delicious and attractive. Lam cake is pretty hard to make, but whenever you ask people about this traditional cake you will get detailed instructions. Lam cake maker Nguyen Chi Thuy elaborates on how to select the ingredients.“The Lam cake requires meticulous preparation. The ingredients must be carefully chosen. You should choose good glutinous rice, yellow ginger, white sugar, malt, peanuts, and other natural flavorings. First, cook the glutinous rice in a frying pan to make puffed rice.  Afterwards, the puffed rice is crushed into smooth, white powder. Without this powder, the cake won’t turn out right.”

The right blend of ingredients and two skillful hands make the cake absolutely delicious and attractive (Source: Loca.vn)

 People in Thach Xa have secrets for improving the flavor of the puffed rice.  You must be patient enough to cook until the glutinous rice bursts into white “flowers”. The powder that results is sifted again and again to make it smooth. This step can take 1 to 2 hours to complete.  But that’s not the most important step, because the most important step is to heat the honey, which is made from the white sugar and malt. The honey pot must be cooked slowly to maintain the fragrance and keep it from turning bitter. Thuy elaborates on how to boil the honey pot.“The boiling process is very painstaking because the sugar and malts must be carefully cooked. Only someone who has experience in making this dish knows how to control the fire. After the honey pot’s boiling foam disappears, you put all the peeled peanuts and rice flour into the pot and stir till the mixture is well blended. The flour not only prevents the cakes from sticking to the molds, but also preserves the quality of the cake 3 to 4 months without using preservatives”.

The cake has the fragrance of newly-harvested glutinous rice, the sweetness of sugarcane malt, the crunchy, yumminess of peeled peanuts, and the slightly spicy aroma of yellow ginger (Loca.vn)

 There’s no single recipe for this cake. The cook decides the amount of flour, ginger, and malts to use. In the cold weather, they use less glutinous rice flour. Mixing the flour with the honey requires patience, experience, and strength, so, for this step, a man is often enlisted. The cake has the fragrance of newly-harvested glutinous rice, the sweetness of sugarcane malt, the crunchy, yumminess of peeled peanuts, and the slightly spicy aroma of yellow ginger. The slight chewiness of “mochi”, and the sweetness of honey makes the cake so adorable. When you take a bite, the delicious cake melts in your mouth and the slight spiciness of yellow ginger warms your body. Enjoy Lam cake with a cup of hot tea is an impressive experience.