Laoshitai Pastries 老世泰糕点

Laoshitai Pastries (老世泰糕点) are the Chinese-style cakes and biscuits of Laoshitai (老世泰), an old pastry house in Liaoyang (辽阳), Liaoning. Chinese Wikipedia lists the brand among Liaoyang's specialities, describing it as a long-established name of more than a century known for ganshu (甘酥) pastries, mooncakes and jingbajian (京八件), the 'eight Beijing pieces' assortment. The Liaoning Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs names Laoshitai as a pastry brand with more than 100 years of history.

How it is made

In January 2026 the traditional pastry-making skill of Liaoyang Laoshitai (辽阳老世泰糕点传统面食制作技艺) was entered in Liaoning's seventh batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage items, Liaoning Daily reported. The paper profiles Zhang Junbo (张俊波), the seventh-generation inheritor of the skill, who recalls his master's master dividing dough into 50-gram pieces by hand that weighed exactly right on the scale.

Among its products is caozigao (槽子糕), a cake baked in moulds. Zhang told the paper that Laoshitai's moulds are trays of natural red copper that heat evenly so the cakes have no hard centre, and that the same trays have been in use for more than 100 years.

Where it comes from

The Laoshitai food company stands in Baita District (白塔区) of Liaoyang, and Liaoning Daily gave it 146 years of history in 2026, calling it a landmark of the district. A folk rhyme quoted in an essay from the Liaoyang Federation of Literary and Art Circles pairs it with other Liaoyang foods: 'Laoshitai's pastries are out of the ordinary', alongside Yuanjiapu (袁家铺) sweet dumplings, Ma family huoshao (马家火勺) and Liaoyang pagoda candy (辽阳塔糖).

Zhang remembers the pastries as a treat that most families could buy only for festivals when he was young.