Jinan rose cakes (meigui bing) are a traditional pastry unique to the city, made from a flaky pastry shell filled with a sweet paste of dried rose petals, red bean, and sesame. The rose variety used is a deeply colored Shandong species with an intense fragrance, and the best cakes use flowers that are sun-dried rather than chemically preserved. The pastry should be buttery and shattering, the filling aromatic but not cloying.
Good rose cakes are sold from a handful of traditional cake shops near Furong Street and the Baotu Spring area, where they are made fresh each morning. They are best eaten on the day they are made, which makes them an ideal breakfast pastry with tea rather than a gift item. The shops typically open at 7am and sell out by noon.