The most anticipated thing about the Lunar New Year, besides the consecutive days off, is of course the various “festive” essential Chinese New Year cakes that symbolize “rising step by step” in the new year! Although there are still more than three weeks until the new year, major brands have already launched special Chinese New Year cakes for everyone to get early, so if you haven’t prepared your Lunar New Year shopping list yet, you might as well bookmark the following recommendations!
//1. Ruxin Hotel//
Nina Hotel Group brings a variety of exquisite pastries with a “Floral & Full” theme this Year of the Tiger, including the traditional “Dried Scallop and Chinese Sausage XO Sauce Turnip Cake” made with premium dried scallops, Chinese sausage, thick-cut turnip, and flavorful XO sauce, and the “Five-Spice Chinese Sausage and Taro Cake” offering a rich and indulgent taste with taro paste and Chinese sausage.
Additionally, there are soft and smooth “Coconut Milk Brown Sugar Rice Cakes,” where the natural caramel aroma highlights the unique sweetness of coconut milk, while the “Osmanthus Bird’s Nest Water Chestnut Cake” has a tender and smooth texture, emitting a unique fragrance, and also nourishing and beautifying.
//The Wharney Guang Dong Hotel//
Above & Beyond at Hotel ICON offers a selection of homemade Chinese New Year rice cakes including “Chinese Sausage and Preserved Meat Turnip Cake,” “Dried Scallop and Preserved Meat Taro Cake,” and “Golden Sugar Nian Gao,” all rich in flavor. Additionally, you can choose the “Nian Gao Gift Box,” where you can select one rice cake to pair with a bottle of homemade X.O. sauce or a pack of amber walnut.
//3. Island Shangri-La//
Island Shangri-La’s Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant, Summer Palace, has launched a variety of Chinese New Year cakes for the Year of the Tiger, such as the new “Summer Palace Michelin-starred Imperial Eighty-year-old Tangerine Peel Nian Gao Gift Box”, which includes “Eighty-year-old Tangerine Peel Red Bean Nian Gao” and “Eighty-year-old Tangerine Peel Aged Pu’er Nian Gao”, using the precious eighty-year-old tangerine peel from Summer Palace, and respectively paired with sweet but not greasy red beans and rich and mellow fifteen-year-old aged Pu’er, presented in an elegant wine red silk hexagonal gift box, very exquisite.
“The Summer Palace Eight Happiness Abalone Radish Cake” is a traditional radish cake topped with fragrant morel mushrooms, 88-month air-dried Spanish black pig ham, and creamy Swiss Avedon cheese. Additionally, there are “Summer Palace Preserved Meat Taro Cake,” “Summer Palace Preserved Meat Radish Cake,” and “Summer Palace Traditional Rice Cake.”
//4, Kowloon Shangri-La//
Kowloon Shangri-La is launching several Chinese New Year puddings this year, presented by the Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant Shang Palace. The most distinctive one is the new “Japanese Black Sugar and Dried Persimmon Nian Gao,” made with Okinawa pure black sugar and sweet fragrant Japanese dried persimmons, which is sweet but not greasy, paired with classic Nian Gao, offering a soft and chewy texture.
The inspiration for the “30-year Chenpi Red Bean Nian Gao” comes from traditional red bean paste, using Chenpi, one of the “Three Treasures of Guangdong,” which not only has a rich fragrance but also higher health benefits. It is paired with delicately made sweet red bean paste, soft and delicious. Additionally, there is the “Fragrant Palace Ginger Black Sugar Jujube King Cake,” which uses Yunnan’s special jujube king, known for nourishing yin, supplementing yang, nourishing blood, and calming the mind. It has a richer and more fragrant taste than regular red dates, and black sugar is good for the spleen and stomach. Both have the effects of beauty, skin care, and refreshing the mind.
//5. Kerry Hotel Hong Kong//
Kerry Hotel Hong Kong presents a series of Chinese New Year puddings made with “red sugar” this year. The 4 flavors include “Red Sugar Turnip Cake with Premium Dried Scallops”, made with high-quality white turnip, paired with generous portions of premium dried scallops, Chinese sausage, Chinese preserved meat, and dried shrimp. The ratio of turnip shreds to cake base is just right, resulting in a crispy and delicious texture when pan-fried. The “Red Sugar Secret Recipe Taro Cake” is made with ample taro, Chinese preserved meat, Chinese sausage, and dried shrimp, enhanced with a hint of Chinese five-spice powder for freshness.
“Red Sugar Traditional Rice Cake” is made with healthy Okinawan black sugar, balanced with rich coconut flavor, not too sweet on the palate. If you prefer a light sweet taste, you can try the “Red Sugar Water Chestnut Cake”, with a crystal clear appearance and a refreshing sweet water chestnut filling, fragrant and sweet.
//6. Sheraton Hong Kong Tung Chung Hotel//
Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers in Tung Chung, Hong Kong presents two flavors of savory and sweet Chinese New Year cakes at the Celestial Court Chinese Restaurant, including the delicate and chewy “Okinawa Black Sugar Ginger Nian Gao” that is sweet but not greasy, and the “Parma Ham Turnip Cake” made with premium waxed meat and Parma ham, blending Chinese and Western flavors for a new twist!
//7、The Cakery//
Vegan bakery The Cakery brings 3 flavors of Chinese New Year cakes, all vegan and free of refined sugar, allowing you to eat healthier this Lunar New Year. These include a less sweet version of “Brown Sugar Cake”, a rich and date-flavored “Goji Berry Red Date Cake”, and a “Black Truffle Radish Cake” made with dried shiitake mushrooms, black fungus, and turnip, topped with black truffle sauce and gold leaf, exuding a subtle truffle aroma and full of texture.
Each pastry is packaged in a reusable orange, red, or black tin box, decorated with embossed paper art and a pearl envelope featuring a tiger pattern, which is tasteful and environmentally friendly.
Learn more and image source: Nina Hotel Group, TheIconHotel, Island Shangri-La Hong Kong, Kowloon Shangri-La Hong Kong, Kerry Hotel Hong Kong, The Cakery, Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers
