Hong Kong style paper cupcake

I grew up eating these spongy cupcakes in Hong Kong. Love the simplicity and the sponginess of it. It's basically a sponge cake wrapped around with baking paper. No frosting needed. Super soft, extremely yummy. Ever since I moved to the States, it's not easy to find good HK style paper cupcakes. I remember there was a pretty good bakery in Chinatown Boston that sells these huge paper cupcakes. I'm not sure maybe I was craving for them so much, every time I went there I would buy a few of them and ate them as lunch.  Now I'm back in California (with a car), it's a lot easier to find them at a local Chinese bakery.  However, some bakeries don't make them as spongy as the ones they sell in Hong Kong.  I was thinking it would be nice if I could bake them freshly at home.  Since I need to practice on baking sponge cake, this recipe would definitely help me!  The orginal recipe calls for 6 large cupcakes.  I don't have the large cupcake mold, so I used muffin pans instead.  It's actually better that way so I could lower the calorie content on each serving.  Yes, I am a calorie counting freak :)

 

Hong Kong style paper cupcake
(18 servings ~ 80 calories each)
adopted from christine's recipes

Ingredients:

5 eggs
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup nonfat milk
3/4 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extra
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar



Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 360F. Melt butter in a microwave oven.  Separate the egg yolks and the egg whites.

2. Add the melted butter into milk, then sift cake flour into it and mix well. Add whisked egg yolks and vanilla extract into the mixture, mix thoroughly.

3. Use an electrical mixer to beat egg whites for 3 minutes, then add cream of tartar and blend again. Pour sugar in the egg whites gradually and blend until very stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into the flour mixture gently with a rubber spatula just until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not stir or beat. For a better result, fold in egg whites with small amount at a time for 3 times.

4. Pour batter into cup cake molds that are already lined with baking paper. Bake at 360F for 20 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see if the cakes are done. If the toothpick comes out of the cake clean, then they’re ready. Allow the cakes to cool for a minute or two in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!