Enyang Titang Sesame Cakes 恩阳提糖麻饼

Enyang Titang Sesame Cakes (恩阳提糖麻饼) are round baked sesame cakes from Enyang (恩阳) in Bazhong (巴中), Sichuan. The Enyang district government describes them fresh from the oven as shaped like a full moon, golden and covered with dense white sesame seeds, with a flaky crust and a crisp inside.

Ingredients

The cakes are made from eight natural ingredients, among them fine wheat flour, glutinous rice, barley, brown sugar, sesame seeds and two kinds of sesame oil (麻油 and 香油). The district describes the method as seventy-two steps, grouped under choosing and preparing the ingredients, shaping the cake blanks and baking. Extracting the malt sugar, shaping the blanks and controlling the fire are singled out as the hardest parts; the whole process is still done by hand with family techniques.

Flavour and texture

Unlike ordinary sesame cakes, they bulge out from the middle on both faces, which gives them a shape like a flying saucer. The inside is brushed with a thin layer of melted brown sugar, and eaten on their own they are crisp and slightly sweet, golden without being burnt.

How it is eaten

The authentic way to eat them, according to the district, is to bite a small opening in the side and stuff the cake with cold dishes or cold noodles.

Where it comes from

One district page gives the cakes more than 300 years in Enyang and credits Lin Zhaoxiang (林照祥), already known for them around Xiaogan (孝感) in Hubei. In 1694, during the Huguang-to-Sichuan migration (湖广填川), the Lin family moved from Macheng Xiaogan (麻城孝感) to Enyang town, and the craft passed through Lin Fuqing (林福清) and Lin Zhizhang (林志章) to a sixth generation, Lin Gang (林刚) and Yin Zhongrong (尹仲荣). Another page on the same site puts the history of sesame cakes in Enyang at more than 500 years.