Talk:Turnip cake

Page move

Currently I have Daikon cake linked to this page. I am open to moving this page to either Daikon cake or Turnip cake just to make it more searchable. Once the name format is figured out, we can create the other cake pages to be consistent. Benjwong 01:24, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

One usually sees it on menus as "turnip cake," though you've convinced me that there's not any turnip in the dish! :-O But "Daikon cake" would be more accurate (though that's a Japanese vegetable name...). Maybe we could ask a few other of the active HK/Cantonese editors what they think, though there aren't many at the moment. I'm leaning toward "Turnip cake." Badagnani 01:34, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Turnip cake is fine. I am having difficulties finding images for the other cakes with legit licensing usable for wiki. Benjwong 16:43, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Just write to the Flickr photographers. They are usually very nice and happy to have their photo appear on Wikipedia, and agree to the terms. I can send you the text of one of the emails I've sent if you like. Badagnani 19:13, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

You must have some secret. But it doesn't stop with flickr. My luck of asking people for pictures is the same on 90% of the other sites. Make that 95%. Benjwong 05:28, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Meat

I've always seen this dish with small pieces of pork impregnated through the whole cake. This should be mentioned in the article. Badagnani 01:48, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Sure. Benjwong 05:28, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Cantonese pronunciation

I'm sorry but I'll have to say that the Cantonese pronunciation "lo4 baak6 gao1" is wrong, as "gao1" is definitely Mandarin.

fixed. Benjwong 05:28, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Lobag is not "turnip"

"Lobag" is Cantonese for "daikon". "Turnip" is an erroneous translation. Whoever put it on dimsum restaurants should correct this translation the first place. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bestlyriccollection (talk • contribs) 22:57, 29 July 2007

Yeah, that's true but "turnip cake" does seem, in a massive way, to remain the favored English name for this dish on menus. Badagnani 05:01, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

I was for daikon earlier. It seems to be the correct but less commonly used name. Benjwong 06:19, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

The correct English translation of 萝卜糕 is 'radish cake', not 'turnip cake', or, God forbid: 'carrot cake'. Those are simple mistranslations. Those Chinese restaurateurs who had to write their menues in English didn't know better (and then others just adopted the wrong translation over and over again...) I suggest making 'radish cake' the main entry, and within the article, declaring the other terms misleading but somewhat widespread mistranslations.

I've never heard of "turnip cake" before, but I know chai-tow, and its mandarin synonym "luo-buo" or "ruo-buo", can refer to both white radish or carrots. Typically carrots are referred to as "hong ruo-buo" (red carrot) whereas white radishes, or daikon, are referred to as "bai ruo-buo" (white carrot). So that's likely where the "carrot cake" mistranslation comes from. Frankly, I think this article needs to be merged with chai tow kway, and "turnip cake" should simply be used as a redirect.--Subversive Sound (talk) 23:28, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

The standard name for this food item is "turnip cake" and not "radish cake"; it comes from the regional dialectal term "turnip" for a daikon. Calling the term "turnip cake" a "mistranslation" is a prescriptivist view, and calling it a "radish cake" is contrary to how most people who actually make and eat it would call it. I think we can consider this matter closed.Edderiofer (talk) 11:25, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

References

Chai tow kway

How is this different from Chai tow kway? Badagnani (talk) 08:39, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Very close. HDev411 (talk) 09:14, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

recipe and cooking method

User:Badagnani reverted my edits, and I've just put them back. Now I'm commenting on the changes. I've cooked it this way, so pls clearly indicate what's factually incorrect about my changes instead of just a non-friendly revert. Well I admit the Chinese sausage doesn't need soaking, but it is an essential ingredient (left out of the recipe) except if the cook wants to make a vegetarian variant.

Firstly, the shitake are diced. Secondly, nothing is 'deep fried'; thirdly, seasoning should always take place after all the 'bulk' ingredients are put in, in this case the rice flour - there's no point in seasoning it before because you'll end up with a bland-tasting mixture. Also, rice flour doesn't dissolve in water, but is a suspension which will settle when left. I felt that mentioning 'steaming at high heat' is redundant: 'steaming' in Chinese cuisine always takes place at a high heat. And of course, the cake can only be sliced up when it is hardened, and there's less goo and mess when it's cooled somewhat. Ohconfucius (talk) 03:00, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

• As a corollary, I'd also say that I could have removed the whole section per WP:NOT#HOWTODOIT. Ohconfucius (talk) 03:04, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

Merger

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

The result of this discussion was no consensus. Original nominator did not propose anything on the talkpage. Seloloving (talk) 06:14, 7 August 2021 (UTC)

---

I see "It has been suggested that this article be merged into Chai tow kway. (Discuss) Proposed since April 2021."

but there's no thread here.

Oppose: Turnip cake is a vague term.

Condo951795 (talk) 07:44, 5 May 2021 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Merger redux

Turnip cake and chai tow kway deal with the same food from the perspective of two regions as can be seen in both intro sections. Both articles are short and there's already a lot of overlap making them prime candidates for a merge. What say ye? —  AjaxSmack  03:36, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

My only objection concerning merging the two would be what to title the article? I lean towards "turnip cake," but I lean more towards the Mandarin term, "Luóbo gāo." Mr Fink (talk) 05:04, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

Per WP:COMMONNAME, I support either of the current page titles but oppose using a Mandarin name. According to WP:Wikinav, Turnip cake has more traffic than Chai tow kway. Freelance Intellectual (talk) 11:20, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm fine with "Turnip Cake," then. Mr Fink (talk) 14:42, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

Support merge. They're clearly the same thing and there isn't a distinction between the ingredient and the dish. As for the name, turnip cake should be the most familiar name for English readers (except for Singaporeans). I don't see a good argument for using Mandarin. This is a southern Chinese food more common in regions that speak Cantonese or Hokkien, and is popular in diaspora communities that don't have Mandarin as the official language. C9mVio9JRy (talk) 12:06, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

​​​Thanks for the input. Based on your comments and previous mentions, I have merged "chai tow kway" into "turnip cake". —  AjaxSmack  21:59, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

Move to "radish cake"?

​​​​​​​​While merging the articles, I was a little surprised to find that the name "radish cake" is now nearly at common as the misnomer "turnip cake" in books. (See this Google ngram for the trend in book results.) Quality results found on the internet also tend to favour "radish cake" as do most of this article's sources (with several of the sources pointing out that "turnip is a misnomer".) In web results in general, though, turnip cake is still far more popular than "radish cake".

There is some policy basis for moving an article from the most common name solely because it is a misnomer (WP:UCN: Ambiguous or inaccurate names for the article subject, as determined in reliable sources, are often avoided even though they may be more frequently used by reliable sources), but I thought I'd check for others' thoughts on the matter before proposing a move. So what think ye? —  AjaxSmack  22:32, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

I would just wait a bit, especially since, technically, "radish cake" is a misnomer, too, what with it being made with daikon. Mr Fink (talk) 22:40, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

Daikon is a radish, though. It's the same species (Raphanus sativus) as the European ones if you choose to believe Wikipedia. —  AjaxSmack  02:31, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

I meant, a specific type/subgroup of radish, if we want to get more precise. Mr Fink (talk) 02:53, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

I have no objection to the move if the two terms are roughly used at the same frequency. Daikon just happens to be the variety of radish that is common in East Asia, but there is no rule that the food has to be made with that variety. Also the Chinese names "chay tow" and "luobo" can refer to any kind of radish. C9mVio9JRy (talk) 07:10, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

Oppose for now. Even though turnip cake is made with daikon (Raphanus sativus) instead of with turnips (Brassica rapa rapa), one could similarly argue that sweetbreads are neither sweet nor bread; egg creams contain neither eggs nor cream; refried beans are only fried once; and Rocky Mountain oysters are not oysters. There are plenty of foods that are named by a misnomer, and I don't think anyone would agree to renaming these other articles in the name of "accuracy". These articles are named such because those are (currently) the most common names of those foods.

Likewise, "turnip cake" is still far more popular than "radish cake" in web results. IMO, when "radish cake" clearly overtakes "turnip cake" in popularity, then (and only then) should the article be moved. Edderiofer (talk) 07:29, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

@AjaxSmack Thank you for the merge! I'm not convinced by the reason to move the page, though. Adding to what's been said above, botanical names and culinary names often diverge (e.g. berry vs. berry (botany)). If you asked me to go to the shops to buy a cabbage and a dozen or so radishes, and I came back with a single Brussels sprout and a dozen daikons, you would be absolutely justified in asking if I was playing a practical joke. I think it's reasonable to avoid using the term "carrot cake" for this article, but "turnip cake" is unambiguous. The word "turnip" is sometimes applied not just to European turnips and daikons, but also culinarily similar vegetables like swedes and jicamas. Freelance Intellectual (talk) 11:34, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

​​​​Thanks for the all of the input for what I thought would be a below-the-radar topic for Wikipedia these days. I'll leave it be. (I never thought about it, but yeah, refried beans are not fried twice.) —  AjaxSmack  18:00, 4 February 2026 (UTC)