Funing Sweet Cake 阜宁大糕
Funing Sweet Cake is featured among the local specialties of Jiangsu.
Funing Sweet Cake (阜宁大糕) is a glutinous-rice cake from Funing (阜宁), Yancheng (盐城), cut into very thin white slices. The slices are moist, soft and pliable enough to roll up. In Funing, Sheyang (射阳) and neighbouring areas, the cake accompanies weddings, festivals and Lunar New Year visits.
Pressed, steamed and sliced
A China Jiangsu Net account describes glutinous rice that is soaked, ground and sifted, then mixed with white sugar, rendered lard and candied fruit. The mixture is placed in a cake mould called a tangzi (烫子) and compressed with an iron paddle before steaming and slicing. In Zhao Jiyu’s (赵济宇) description for Yancheng News, sesame and peanut oils are listed; the rectangular cakes are steamed and cooled before cutting.
A New Year first bite
Zhao recalls elders placing a few slices beside children’s beds on Lunar New Year’s Eve. The children are told to eat a piece before speaking the next morning. This “first-speaking cake”, or kaikougao (开口糕), carries wishes for good fortune and progress. Cakes also travel as gifts on visits to relatives and elders.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.