Changzhou Flaky Sesame Cakes 常州麻糕
Changzhou Flaky Sesame Cakes is featured among the local specialties of Jiangsu.
Changzhou Flaky Sesame Cakes (常州麻糕) are a local speciality of Changzhou (常州) in Jiangsu, known in full as Changzhou large sesame cake (常州大麻糕) and in the city simply as ma gao (麻糕). Chinese Wikipedia notes that the technique for making them is on Jiangsu's provincial intangible cultural heritage list.
Ingredients
The ingredients include wheat flour, white sugar, pork leaf lard (猪板油), osmanthus, spring onion, salt and sesame.
Flavour and texture
A finished cake is golden and glossy. The pastry is loose, crisp and fragrant, with a thin skin over thick flaky layers that stay clearly separate.
Where it comes from
Chinese Wikipedia credits Wang Changle (王长乐) of the Changle tea house (长乐茶社) with creating the cake. Its shape resembles the sole of a shoe, and because most ordinary people in Changzhou wore straw sandals at the time, it was nicknamed the straw-sandal sole (草鞋底).
In September 2009 the making technique of Changzhou large sesame cake entered the second batch of Jiangsu's provincial intangible cultural heritage list.
Questions before you order
Why are Changzhou Flaky Sesame Cakes called the straw-sandal sole?
The cake is shaped like a shoe sole, and most people in Changzhou wore straw sandals when the nickname arose.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-25. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.
Image credits & notes (1)
- Reference photo of a similar dish · 同类菜品参考照片A similar preparation is pictured; the local version may differ. 同类菜品参考照片，当地做法可能不同。Photo: Vesekskiy · CC BY-SA 4.0Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited. Thumbnails may show a cropped view.
