Cake making skills (Huang Tianyuan Suzhou style cake making skills) Suzhou Huang Tianyuan Cake Shop, now located in Guanqian Street in the city center, is a century-old cake shop with the most varieties of cakes and the largest production scale in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. It is known as "the only one in China and famous in Southeast Asia". The custom of Suzhou people eating rice cakes during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Huang Tianyuan's osmanthus sugar rice cake was first created in the first year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty (1821). In that year, Huang Qiting, a native of Cixi, Zhejiang, first set up a rice dumpling stall at the end of Duting Bridge in Dongzhong City, and then rented a house to start Huang Tianyuan Cake Shop. After Huang Qiting and his son passed away, Huang Tianyuan Cake Shop was run by the widow Huang Chen; in 1874, it was transferred to the name of Gu Guilin, the master of the shop; in 1931, it was passed to Gu Guilin's son Gu Zifeng. Later, Gu Zifeng rented a house on Guanqian Street to open Donghuang Tianyuan. After Gu Zifeng passed away, his adopted grandson Gu Nianchun took over the cake business. In 1948, he bought a storefront on Guanqian Street and officially settled in the downtown area of Suzhou. In 1956, the company was jointly operated by the public and private sectors. Huang Tianyuan went from a workshop to a central store, and after several changes, it was restructured into Suzhou Huang Tianyuan Food Co., Ltd. in 2003. After several generations of inheritance and efforts, Huang Tianyuan has developed from the initial rice dumpling stall to a famous cake shop with a variety of colors and varieties, becoming a veritable "cake king". The cakes sold are known for their fragrance, sweetness, fineness and greasiness. Among them, the most famous osmanthus sugar rice cake, five-color small dumplings, lard rice cake, and eight-treasure rice are known as the "four famous actresses". In recent years, Huang Tianyuan has also launched nutritious and nourishing spirulina cake, perilla honey cake, precious cake, strawberry cake, wolfberry cake, tuckahoe cake, white fungus cake, and Euryale cake. Traditional cakes are developing towards natural, healthy, and fruit-based types. There are two ways to make Huang Tianyuan's cakes: one is to make them mature first and then shape them. When making them, first use fine glutinous rice and glutinous flour. After steaming, knead and press them to make the mature cake flour stick together. This kind of product has great toughness and is soft and sticky when eaten, such as osmanthus sugar rice cake, water chestnut cake, roll cake, flower cake, fruit honey cake, etc. The second is to shape them first and then mature them. Before making them, put the flour into a special mold to shape them. After steaming, there is no need to go through the kneading process. Most of these cakes are made of coarse glutinous rice and glutinous flour. They have little toughness, are soft when eaten, are easy to dissolve in water, and are easy to digest. Therefore, people often call them "song cakes", such as five-color small round pine, pine nut yellow cake, yellow song cake, white song cake, Dingsheng cake, etc. Huang Tianyuan's cakes are very particular about the formula, materials and craftsmanship. The entire process is divided into more than a dozen steps, including mixing flour, mixing flour, adding water, standing, sandwiching flour, steaming, kneading, patting cakes, and forming. Basically, they are made according to traditional manual processing techniques. Huang Tianyuan's various colored cakes use natural plants as pigments, which are rich in color and environmentally friendly and healthy. Red is mostly taken from red yeast rice, roses or rose jam, purple red beans, brown sugar, and red melon in candied fruit. Yellow comes from brown sugar, osmanthus, pumpkin, egg yolk, fried peach meat, fried yellow white sesame seeds, and oranges in candied fruit. Black sesame powder and black dates are naturally black, bean paste, cocoa powder, and coffee are brown, white sugar, melon seeds, and pine nuts are white, and mint powder, green vegetable juice, wheat leaf juice, onions, green plums and green melons in candied fruit, green grass juice, and vegetable juice are rich resources of green. Since the 1980s, Huang Tianyuan's cakes have reached more than 200 varieties, and more than 60 varieties are available on the market every day. At the end of the year, Huang Tianyuan's various cakes are in short supply, and citizens come to buy them in an endless stream. Osmanthus sugar rice cakes have become people's first choice. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)