At http://www.new-year.co.uk/chinese/histor... And at http://www.smartown.com/vc-cgi-asp/conte... You can find a brief summary of some common traditions and practices done for the Chinese New Year intermingled with interesting facts and other sites.
Traditional desserts for the New Year include Neen Gow( New Year’s Cake), Turnip Cake and Taro Root Cake. The ingredients used are symbolic of the things that are wished for in the New Year(i.e. good health, prosperity, cohesiveness of family, etc.). These are not cakes in the sense as most Westerners are aquainted with. These “cakes” are steamed and are on the order of a quick bread consistency and the sliced cake is pan fried before serving.
Epicurious.com features some recipes from Grace Young, author of “ Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen(Simon & Schuster, 1999) at: http://www.epicurious.com/e_eating/e04_c...
Also at Family.com there is a recipe for New Year’s Cake at: http:/www./family2.go.com/recipes/special/features/family_0105_01/famf/famf010501_ffsweet1/famf010501_ffsweet5.html This is a family orientated site and there are some crafts and decorations at this site and also at appropriate for this holiday that you and your family may enjoy making. ChinaSprout.com has a section where you can order Chinese paper cuts featuring Chinese characters for Good Fortune, Good Prosperity an so forth at:http://www.chinasprout.com/store/Arts&CraftsPapercuts.html - perhaps you could use these on one of your cakes as decorations. I would suggest putting the cut out between two sheets of laminating paper in order to protect it, your cake, and give it support and stability. You can either put in on top of the cake(use finely chopped coconut or powdered sugar on the top of your frosting where you would like to place the laminated item this is to prevent it from sticking and pulling the frosting up when it is removed for slicing) or you can hot glue a small diameter wooden dowel cut to size and then have the laminated item stand up 3D for an interesting effect.
At http://www.savoirfaire.ca/episode_archive/tip_7.1.html You will find a traditionally decorated cake with Chinese characters spelling “Good Fortune”. It’s a simple cake that carries some of the wishes for the New Year. And on this page: http://www.savoirfaire.ca/episode_archive/tip_7.3.html they offered some ideas for party favors and decorations.
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