Hot Cake House

While red bean paste is the most traditional filling, Hot Cake House create dozens of different flavours, like their homemade custard, caramel, cheese and corn, coconut and Belgian chocolate. For the more adventurous foodies, try their taro, red bean, sesame paste or green tea flavours. And the best? A visit isn’t complete without trying their Oreo hot cake.

Inspired by the little cakes she loved as a child in Taiwan, owner Angela Yuyuchen and her husband Tony decided to bring the treats to Brisbane, opening their store 14 years ago in Sunnybank.

“I couldn’t find really authentic hot cakes in Brisbane, so we decided to bring them here,” Angela said. “We travelled to Tainan in Taiwan and studied under a top dessert chef before returning with our new found skills.”

The duo even got a custom made hot cake contraption, called the “red bean machine”, created in Taiwan and brought to Sunnybank.

So how are these little morsels of deliciousness made?

The pancake batter is poured into the mould and just before it is set, a dollop of filling is added, before a skewer lifts the half from the mould. To get the fillings sandwiched between two layers, staff then quickly add another bit of batter before flipping the cooked half on top. The simple storefront has glass dividing it from the open kitchen, so you can watch your hot cake and Japanese pancakes being churned out super fast.

“We make everything from scratch in our kitchen,” she said. “We create all the custard and fillings ourselves, nothing is pre-made and it is all fresh. We try to use all Australian ingredients as much as possible like our eggs, milk, flour and sugar.”

Crowds flock to this dessert haunt on a regular basis to pick up Hot Cake House’s signature hot cakes and Japanese pancakes, however the shop also creates crispy and buttery fresh cinnamon Danish twists and a good takeaway coffee.