Chinese Bakery Products - Western-influenced Pastry

Western-influenced Pastry

• Egg tart: This is a delicate pastry tart with a lightly sweet golden egg custard filling. It was probably influenced by the Portuguese tart "pastels de nata".
• Swiss roll: These rolls are made just like a Portuguese roll "torta".
• Sachima: Very similar to a pastry served during Christmas time by the Portuguese.
• Maxim cakes
• Napoleon

The biggest influence of the West to Chinese "baking" was the introduction of the "oven". Most traditional Chinese foods were steamed, boiled or fried in a Wok. For example, a "bao" currently means a bun (steamed or baked) as found in a bakery, but to the Chinese from the northern regions of China it mostly means a steamed bun.