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A Red Egg and Ginger (Dessert) Party

May 2 by Anita 16 Comments

Red egg and ginger dessert table

Success! Last weekend we threw a red egg and ginger party for Isabelle! This is a Chinese tradition where the new baby is officially introduced to relatives and family friends, and the baby’s name is revealed. Historically the red egg and ginger party was held when the baby was one month old, as high infant mortality rates meant that a baby surviving to one month of age was indeed a cause for celebration. Also, the mother was also typically kept at home to recover during the same month, so this party was also meant to mark her “return” to society.

Well, those mothers back then must have been pretty tough because I was certainly not up to having any parties at one month! These days, many families are more relaxed about when the red egg and ginger party is held: sometimes it’s at baby’s 100-day mark, sometimes it’s just within baby’s first year.

We decided to have the party right around Isabelle’s 100 days: I felt like I’d settled enough into the groove of parenting to take on planning a party, spring weather had arrived, and I would be returning to work in May, so the timing seemed perfect. Like most Chinese celebrations, red egg and ginger parties involve lots of food. These days they are usually lavish banquets held in Chinese restaurants. I decided I wanted something different, mainly since most of my relatives are in Hong Kong and if I didn’t have to worry about feeding hordes of family, I preferred to be a little more creative with our smaller, more intimate party. Since you’re on my site, you must know the logical conclusion was a dessert party!

Red egg and ginger party

The party was held outside in the patio of our complex, to take advantage of the delightful spring weather and to accommodate all the little kids. You know you must have passed some milestone in your life when planning get-togethers involves more figuring out of children’s activities than choosing the alcohol.

Isabelle in chalk

Presents and red envelopes for Isabelle! I love whoever wrote her name with the sidewalk chalk we handed out to the kiddies.

Traditionally red envelopes, or “lucky money”, were given as gifts to the new baby, and often pinned to their clothes. Although we got Isabelle a pretty red dress to wear, we forewent the money-pinning: the day was hot enough without her wearing an extra layer of money!

isabelle 100 days

Here’s Isabelle in her party dress! I can’t believe how much she’s grown since she was born!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Passion Fruit Curd

My idea for our version of the red egg and ginger party was to have desserts with Asian flavors, to reflect the merging of Western and Chinese sensibilities. Here, one of my favorite items, chocolate cupcakes with passion fruit curd filling. Some of the cupcakes have piped chocolate frosting on top, while others have fondant toppers made by my wonderfully talented friend Sarah of Sarah Lindsay Cakes. There are dragons, since Isabelle was born in the Year of the Dragon (she made it just in time), and little nests with red eggs and ginger. We did have a bowl of real eggs dyed red as per tradition, but I like the little fondant ones better – so cute! I suppose, in retrospect, having a bunch of desserts also meant that practically every dish had eggs in it, so I think we fulfilled the “egg” part of the party!

Vanilla and Chocolate Cream Puffs from Pacific Puffs

Although I wanted to make as many of the desserts as I could, I’m not crazy. Pre-baby, I’d be happy to work myself into the ground for a project, but now with a baby who needs me, I have to be realistic about what I can accomplish. Some of the desserts at the party were from some of my favorite local vendors, like these vanilla and chocolate cream puffs from Pacific Puffs. I guess these were the one item that wasn’t Asian in any way!

bloggers and babies

A pic of me with fellow food blogger Crystal and our babies. Now we have another thing to bond over besides food!

Red egg and ginger dessert table

It was a little hard to take pictures of the whole dessert setup at the party because we were so busy and because of the uber-bright daylight, so here are some indoor set-up shots of the desserts we had. As a side note, I really liked the yellow and red paper pom poms we had to decoration – if you look in the first party photo, you can see where they’re tied to the trees and chairs.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Passion Fruit Curd

A tower of chocolate cupcakes and cream puffs.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Passion Fruit Curd

A shot from when I was filling the cupcakes so you can see the passion fruit curd filling. Passion fruit is one of my favorite flavors and this curd has a minimum of butter to really let the sweet-tartness shine through.

Lychee Raspberry Macarons from Chantal Guillon

Lychee raspberry macarons from my favorite macaron place in the Bay Area, Chantal Guillon. The lychee raspberry was originally a special limited flavor for Valentine’s Day, but it proved so popular they extended the run – lucky for me! Chantal Guillon regularly rotates in other seasonal flavors.

Raspberry Ginger Lemonade

Raspberry ginger lemonade – It’s called a red egg and ginger party because you’re also supposed to serve dishes with lots of ginger in them. Ginger is said to have warming, revitalizing properties, which help the new mother recover (my mom did put a lot of ginger in my food while she was here). I worked both red (ok, pink) and ginger into this drink.

Strawberries and Cream Pocky

The strawberry-white chocolate pocky I was testing in my last post made it onto the menu! Next to them are some red egg-shaped almond sugar cookies.

No pictures because they weren’t that exciting but we did also have fortune cookies and ginger candy from Hong Kong – my preferred way of eating ginger!

Lastly, the red egg and ginger party is also when you tell everyone the baby’s name. We of course gave Isabelle her English name when she was born, but we let my parents come up with her Chinese name. We decided that in English she would have Mike’s surname, but in Chinese she would have mine. I actually think it’s kind of cool that she has two completely different names: it’s like having an automatic alias!

In the excitement of the party we forgot to tell our guests her Chinese name, but we did have it on display with the presents. My mom, who practices Chinese calligraphy, wrote the name in two different styles for us:

Isabelle Chinese Name

The first character is my last name, Chu. The second character, “ai”, means love, so in a way her name in Chinese means “beloved”. The last character, “ling”, means bell, which my parents chose to go with Isabelle. I’m so grateful to my parents for giving Isabelle such a lovely name and I’m looking forward to teaching her about both sides of her heritage.

Isabelle party presents

Thanks to all our friends who came! Happy 100 days Isabelle!

Paper poms

Chocolate Cupcakes with Passionfruit Curd

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  • If you are lucky enough to find fresh passionfruit, you can always use the pulp in this recipe. Otherwise, I use passionfruit puree - I like The Perfect Pantry brand. You can adjust the amount of sugar according to your taste.

Chocolate Cupcakes

  • 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 2 oz (57 g) bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup (43 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup (94 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (115 g) sour cream

Passionfruit Curd

  • 1/2 cup passionfruit puree
  • 1 cup (200 g) sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1-in pieces

For the cupcakes:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with baking-cup liners.
  • Combine butter and chocolate in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate start to melt. Add cocoa and whisk until smooth and fully combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to touch.
  • Whisk flour, baking soda and baking powder in small bowl to combine.
  • Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine. Add sugar, vanilla and salt and whisk until fully incorporated.
  • Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.
  • Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined; then sift in remaining flour mixture and whisk batter until it is homogenous and thick.
  • Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool.

For the curd:

  • Create a water bath by placing a saucepan of water over heat to simmer and placing a metal bowl unto the pan so its bottom does not touch the water. Whisk together passionfruit puree, sugar, eggs, and egg yolks in the bowl.
  • Cook the mixture over the simmering water, whisking constantly, until the cream thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 6-8 minutes. Keep whisking while the mixture is heating up to prevent the eggs from cooking.
  • Take mixture off heat. Add in butter a couple pieces at a time and stir to thoroughly melt and combine.
  • Pour curd into a container and place a piece of plastic wrap against the surface. Cover and chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

Filed Under: Cakes, Personal, Recipes Tagged With: baby, chocolate, cupcake, party, passionfruit, red egg and ginger

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« Party Planning: Strawberries and Cream “Pocky”
Another Year, Another Birthday: Mango Passion Fruit Cake »

Comments

  1. 1

    Mr. & Mrs. P says

    May 2 at 11:00 am

    those cream puff look so yummy!!!

    Reply
  2. 2

    kazari says

    May 2 at 2:07 pm

    This looks fab! and so polished. I don’t remember what we did for our LO’s 1 month birthday…and it wasn’t that long ago! But one month in, I was just lucky I was showered and my hair combed. 🙂

    Your baby is beautiful, though. And I love her name!

    Reply
  3. 3

    Elle says

    May 2 at 2:07 pm

    This looks like such a lovely occasion and very delicious desserts! Congratulations 🙂

    Reply
  4. 4

    Pat says

    May 2 at 6:44 pm

    Oh gosh I share the same Chinese name with Isabelle only difference is the surname which sounds very close to your surname in English

    Reply
  5. 5

    Stephanie says

    May 3 at 7:44 am

    Hi Anita. I’ve been reading your blogs for 5 ~ 6 years now. You have been an inspiration to me. Your daughter Ai Ling is cute and beautiful.

    Reply
  6. 6

    Melanie says

    May 3 at 3:10 pm

    I was thinking “Oh my gosh, look at those dragon cupcakes” but then I scrolled down and the thought was immediately supplanted with “Oh my gosh look at that adorable baby!” She’s beautiful!

    Reply
  7. 7

    suds says

    May 5 at 12:18 am

    Your baby is incredibly cute.
    The cake spread looks amazing. Congratulations.

    Reply
  8. 8

    Michael says

    May 5 at 7:32 am

    Oh what a beauty! I like!

    Reply
  9. 9

    Lawrence says

    Jun 11 at 5:32 am

    I look forward to trying this..
    its FABULOUS..

    Reply
  10. 10

    Dhez says

    Mar 24 at 5:26 pm

    I was just browsing the net about 100 days celebration and I saw this blog. My daughter has the same name as yours Isabelle and she’s gonna have her 100 days this weekend. I find it interesting that we have a lot of things in common name wise because my boyfriend’s nickname is Mike and his last name is Chu. And we live here in the Bay Area

    Reply
    • 11

      Anita says

      Mar 25 at 11:21 pm

      Dhez,

      Wow, that is a lot of coincidences! Congratulations on your daughter’s 100 days, and perhaps we’ll run into each other one day!

      Reply
  11. 12

    Wes says

    Jun 24 at 3:33 pm

    Really beautiful party and delicious looking food! I’ve seen RE&G parties celebrated at 1 month, 3 months and 100 days. Do you know what part of the culture dictates one choice versus another?

    Reply
    • 13

      Anita says

      Jun 27 at 11:01 pm

      Thanks for much for the compliments, Wes! I actually just asked my mother, who was born and lives in Hong Kong, the same question recently. She said that it’s really a matter of personal preference – although 100 days has traditional significance, today families seem to choose whichever suits them best. Interestingly, where I live in the Bay Area, 100 days seems to be the most popular choice!

      Reply
      • 14

        Wes says

        Aug 31 at 10:56 am

        Excellent, thanks for that information!

        Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Another Year, Another Birthday: Mango Passion Fruit Cake says:
    May 8 at 12:00 am

    […] to keep up. Since I had quite a bit of passion fruit puree left over from making Isabelle’s cupcakes I decided to put it to good use. For my birthday cake I combined two of my favorite flavors: […]

    Reply
  2. La Red Egg and Ginger party, une baby shower post-natale chinoise says:
    Jun 10 at 6:57 am

    […] un exemple de Red Egg and Ginger Party moderne, et une idée de sweet table sur ce thème : Crédit photo : Pen N’ […]

    Reply

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about pastrygirl

Anita Chu, also known as pastrygirl, is a baker, writer, and photographer with a passion for pastry. She trained at Tante Marie's Cooking School and is the author of Field Guide to Cookies, Field Guide to Candy, and Lollipop Love. Anita lives in San Francisco with her husband, baby girl, and rescue cockapoo Snickerdoodle. More about pastrygirl

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