Fa gao

Fa gao (simplified Chinese: 发糕; traditional Chinese: 發粿; pinyin: fāgāo; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hoat-koé) is a Chinese cupcake-like pastry, most commonly consumed on the Chinese new year,[1] that is made of flour (usually rice flour), leavening (traditionally yeast, but can be chemical leavening),[2] sugar or another sweetener, steamed (instead of baked), until the top splits into a characteristic "split top" of four segments . The batter is typically left to rest for fermentation prior to being steam-cooked.

Fa gao

Type	Pastry
Place of origin	China
Main ingredients	flour (usually rice flour), leavening (traditionally yeast), sugar
Similar dishes	Htanthi mont, Bánh bò
Cookbook: Fa gao

The name of the cake is a pun, as "fa" means both "prosperity" and "raised (leavened)", so "fa gao" means both "prosperity cake" and "raised (leavened) cake". These cakes, when used to encourage prosperity in the new year, are often dyed bright colors.