Salted egg has seen its fair share of fanfare in Asia. From burgers to pasta, croissants to cream puffs, lava buns to chip flavouring, the mania around salted egg has only grown in the past few year. And if you’ve been to Changi airport in Singapore, you’ll know the crowd-crushing craze that is salted egg fish skin chips. (Yes, it’s a mouthful to say, but you won’t be saying much when you’re munching on these after braving the queues)

While at first, salted egg might seem like a food fad, unlike other fads though, the hype around salted egg feels different. Because unlike rainbow unicorn cakes and kale smoothies, salted egg isn’t a new invention. It’s been around for over a thousand years, a preserved food that persevered through time, and this recent buzz around it is just a fresh chapter in its steady rise to culinary stardom.

And to have found a salted egg recipe on an international food site just goes to prove this point! It really made me so happy when I spied this recipe for a salted egg pound cake on Food52’s site, developed by Coral Lee. Honestly, I was so stoked and surprised to see salted egg being represented on American soil. And it made me wonder, hmm, maybe this could be the next chapter in the salted egg saga—a simple pound cake gilded by salted egg.

It’s simple, sure, but that just speaks volumes about how salted egg can elevate even the most straightforward of dishes. And I could continue to wax lyrical about the power of salted egg—and I did on episode 4 of my Take a Bao podcast, on the history and culture of salted egg!—but for this cake, Coral puts it best when describing her recipe:

“Here, cured egg yolks provide a rich saltiness that heightens the sweetness—and deepens the savoriness—of pound cake. The sugar migrates pan-ward, creating a crisp, lacquered crust that yields to a tight crumb. Look out for stray bits of salty egg yolk; if you are like me, you’ll pick them out, and feed them to the person you love.”

Rich saltiness. Heightened sweetness. A lacquered crust. Feeding loved ones. That is the power of salted egg.