There is a flaky pastry in Hong Kong called “Wife Cake”. I used to think that this food item was reserved only for weddings. But no, that was just the name of the pastry and it is a very common pastry in Hong Kong bakeries. You don’t need to wait for a special occasion to eat a wife cake.

I have a friend that says, “I’m single and I love wife cakes”.

Wife Cake is a flaky pastry with sweetened winter melon paste filling. The winter melon is mashed up with white sesame seeds and glutinous rice flour. Sometimes coconut shreds, vanilla and almond paste are added into the mixture as well. The flaky texture of the pastry uses pork lard or butter and is glazed with egg wash for that beautiful golden colour.

@motolala / Pixabay

Wife Cakes aren’t necessarily a dessert item because it’s not overly sweet when compared to other sweet pastries. Personally, I think Wife Cakes are on the blander side, so it doesn’t create big excitement to my taste buds. It is best to enjoy it with some hot tea because the winter melon paste can be very sticky and difficult to swallow.

@Klaus Nielsen / Pexels

There are many versions of how this food item got its name and I’ll share the top two stories with you.

The first explanation rewinds back in history to Imperial China. There lived a very poor couple in China and they had to take care of the husband’s father because he fell very ill. They were so poor that they could not afford any more money to buy medicine for the father, so the wife sacrificed and sold herself to be a slave in a wealthy family. The husband used that money to treat his father’s illness. The husband started to make cakes to sell on the streets and he dedicated it to his wife, calling the pastries “Wife Cakes”. It got very popular and eventually he made enough money to purchase his wife back and freed her from slavery.

The second story that I read about was about a dim sum chef living in Guangzhou. The chef’s wife was also interested in cooking. One day, the wife found an old recipe from her mother’s side of the family and she took some inspiration from it. It influenced her to make a flaky pastry with winter melon paste inside. The pastry became very popular and many people liked the taste of it. The chef was very proud of his wife’s invention and went around telling everyone that his wife made it and that’s why it’s called “Wife Cake”.

Which story do you like better?

Check out this video by Goldthread that talks about the best Wife Cakes in Hong Kong: