One story says the enterprising post-war generation created the egg-shaped mold to make up for an eggless batter, as eggs used to be a luxury.

Another tale points to street hawkers who bought damaged eggs on the cheap to work them into a batter, resulting in the classic golden color of the cake.

It also is reasonable to suggest that the special iron skillet used to mold the gai daan jai is a Hong Kong take on the traditional checkered European waffle press.

[1] There is also another tale that in 1944, a food stall owner named Mr. Cheung, began using a cart to sell daan kau jai (蛋球仔), which is the predecessor of egg waffle.

It is common to see the egg waffle in a variety of flavours such as green tea, chocolate, cheese, or purple sweet potato,[11] but it has also gained popularity as a dessert in which it is served with different kinds of ice cream.