Chaozhou Snack – Laopo Cake (Wife Cake) 潮州小吃——老婆饼

起源自广东潮州点心老婆饼，外皮烤成诱人的金黄色，里头一层层的油酥薄如棉纸，酥松得不得了，一咬下去碎屑便掉了满地，每一口都尝得到蜜糖般的香甜滋味！老婆作的饼受到老板青睐！
Laopo Cake, or Wife Cake, was originated from Chaozhou of Guangdong Province. The cake has a golden flaky crust with paper-thin layers inside. It is so crispy that one bite causes it to crumble apart. Enjoy this tasty cake which is as sweet as honey.
相传在广州，有一间创办于清朝末年的老字号茶楼，以各式点心及饼食驰名；某日，茶楼里一位来自潮州的点心师傅，带了店里各式各样的招牌茶点回家给老婆吃，想不到他老婆吃了之后，不但没称赞店里的点心好吃，甚至还嫌弃地说：“茶楼的点心竟是如此平淡无奇，没一样比得上我娘家的点心冬瓜角！”
Allegedly, there was a traditional teahouse famous for various cakes in Guangzhou established in the late Qing Dynasty. One day, a pastry chef from Chaozhou brought all the famous cakes back home for his wife. Unexpectedly, his wife did not praise the cakes after eating them. She even criticized the teahouse, “The cakes in the teahouse are so prosaic. They are nothing compared to the Chinese wax gourd cake made by my parents.”
这位师傅听了之后心里自然不服气，就叫他老婆作出“冬瓜角”给他尝尝！老婆就用冬瓜蓉、糖、面粉，作出了焦黄别致的“冬瓜角”；这位潮州师傅一吃，风味果然清甜可口，不禁称赞起老婆娘家的点心！
Of course, the chef did not believe her and asked her to demonstrate. She baked golden cakes with Chinese wax gourd, sugar and wheat flour. Taking a bite of the cake, the chef couldn’t help praising the cake because of its sweet and delicious taste.
隔日，这位潮州师傅就将“冬瓜角”带回茶楼请大家品尝，结果茶楼老板吃完后更是赞不绝口，问起这是谁哪一间茶楼作的点心？师傅们说：“是潮州老婆作的！”于是老板就随口说这是“潮州老婆饼”，并且请这位潮州师傅将之改良后在茶楼贩卖，结果大受好评！“老婆饼”因而得名。
The next day, the Chaozhou chef took some of the cakes made by his wife to the teahouse. The boss of the teahouse was profuse in praising the cakes and asked which teahouse made them. The chef said, “The laopo (wife) in Chaozhou.” Then, the boss unconsciously named it Chaozhou laopo cake and asked the chef to produce it for his teahouse. Soon, Laopo Cake became very popular.
叠出酥松的层次感“老婆饼”的绝妙口感，来自于里头层层叠叠、薄如棉纸的油酥皮；“米哥烘焙坊”主厨刘哲男师傅说，要作出这份层次感相当费工夫，首先在材料上，要将水油面团与油酥分开处理，将水油面包入油酥，开再折起，如此重复两次，利用水与油互不相溶的特性，作出酥松分明的层次感！师傅说整个过程中力道要均匀，千万不能将面皮秆破，两种面团和在一起，就会失去层次感！
The excellent taste and texture of wife cakes comes from the paper-thin layers of bakery shortening crust. According to Liu Zhenan, chef of the Milk House Bakery, it is really a hard work to make them into different layers. First, we should divide oil dough from bakery shortenings through wrapping the bakery shortening into oily dough and fold the dough twice. As oil cannot be mixed with water, layers will be produced during baking. The chef said during the whole process, the force applied to the dough should be consistent so as not to break it. If the dough is broken, the dough and shortening will be mixed up and there will be no layers at all.
至于香甜的内馅，传统的潮州“老婆饼”包入的是冬瓜蓉，所以也称为“冬茸饼”，传入台湾后，甜馅内容改以单纯的糖为主，清甜的香味一样迷人可口！
The traditional Chaozhou Laopo Cake uses Chinese wax gourd spread as a sweet stuffing. Thus, it is also known as wax gourd cake. When the cake was introduced to Taiwan, the stuffing was replaced with sugar, but the taste is equally delicious.