Around a year and a half back, I heard about a shop in NYC’s Chinatown which sells sponge cakes in a variety of flavors.
The sponge cakes looked incredible so I started following the Instagram account for Kam Hing Coffee Shop, looking forward to giving their baked goods a try.
Our first visit was back in April. We were beyond impressed with the texture, flavors and cheap prices of these amazing little cakes. Since then, we’ve been back a bunch of times.
After visiting Kam Hing, I read about another shop across the street which also sold sponge cakes called, Spongies! From what I recall, the owner of Spongies used to work at Kam Hing and then opened their own shop.
We were curious to give another Chinese-style sponge cake a try but Spongies seemed to always be closed when we were in the area.
Around a week back, we had a chance to try Kam Hing and Spongies on the same night.
While the cakes look similar, Kam Hing’s is shaped more like an oval and is a bit lower in height. The Spongies cake more resembled a sponge muffin (I don’t mean that in a bad way)…
Pricing is the same, costing $1.25 each, originals being a bit cheaper at 3 for $2.
(For this post, I will only review the original sponge cakes.)
Kam Hing:
We’ve had Kam Hing a bunch of times and in a variety of flavors. They’re delicious and have never disappointed.
The cakes have an awesome, subtle vanilla flavor, not too sweet and incredibly enjoyable.
The texture is great too, light and airy.
Spongies:
From the photos I took, you can’t really tell how much higher the Spongies cake is but take my word for it, it’s bigger.
We found Spongies to be delicious too, however it was a bit sweeter than Kam Hing. The flavor was more eggy and custardy than vanilla. 
Spongies really excelled on texture. While Kam Hing was light and airy, Spongies version was even lighter and airier! Wow!
Final Thoughts:
You can’t go wrong with the sponge cakes at either shop, they’re both incredible. However, if I had to choose one to visit, I’d have to pick Kam Hing. If they’re both open, I’d really highly recommend just going to both shops.
After having this delicious items various times, I’d say Chinatown sponge cakes are some of my favorite baked desserts out there.
Kam Hing Coffee Shop is located at 118 Baxter Street. Spongies is located at 121 Baxter Street in NYC.
J- That’s a good question. Pretty sure Spongies was opened by a former Kam Hing employee…
Why in the world did Spongies open up shop across the street from Kam Hing’s, which is the original? Super weird competition when there is a whole city Spongies could have set up shop in. Are they family or are they trying to steal the thunder of Kam Hing?