Basic ingredients include flour, salt, yeast, caramel, pork suet, onion, sesame, alkali and lard.

Some cakes include fillings such as leaf lard, sugar, pork flakes, longhidou, sweet osmanthus, crab spawn, jujube paste and shrimp meat, and are considered a premium product.

Also, Travels of Lao Can (Chinese: 老残游记; pinyin: Lǎo Cán Yóujì), written by Liu E of the Qing dynasty also has a description of it.

Zhang Lihui (章力挥), the main writer of the revolutionary opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, was so taken with Huangqiao sesame cakes since childhood that he ate it in the morning, at noon, and at night.

In contrast, nowadays Huangqiao sesame cakes take form in new shapes like rectangles and ovals, while the fillings have been enhanced with floss, ham, shrimp, shallot, diced chicken, sausage, etc.