Spreading the Bouncy Joy

Doris Hô?-Kane is leading a new wave of Vietnamese-American bakeries.

- Alexandra Domrongchai

FOR DORIS HÔ-KANE, baking has always meant more than just creating beautiful treats. “It's always been so important for us to preserve our culture," says the owner and founder of the Brooklyn-based Vietnamese-American bakery Bạn Bè. "The easiest way to do it is through food."

On any given day, the offerings at Bạn Bè could include multicolored pandan waffles, mooncakes, bánh mì, tins of her signature bo butter cookies, or thạch rau câu, fruit jellies that Ho-Kane makes just like her grandmother did. Sometimes, she layers jelly made from agar, a gelatinous substance derived from seaweed, to make thạch rau câu dừa lá dứa, chewy confections with alternating tiers of pandan and coconut milk molded into a flower shape. If you're lucky, she'll have concocted her cà phê thạch rau câu flan, which features layers of flan and Vietnamese coffee-infused agar jelly molded perfectly into a Bundt shape.

Ho-Kane's desserts are inspired by the culinary traditions of her family, who moved to the United States from Vietnam as refugees. "They came over with nothing. The things that my family held with them were from memory, and those memories were all the desserts my grandmother loved to eat," she explains. The family settled in Dallas, in 1980, where familiar ingredients were in short supply. "We didn't have an Asian grocery store at the time, but she would make do with what she had."