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| Tree cakes at the new Le Tokyo Baum Café have rings like the growth rings of a tree - Photo: Yen Dung |
The delicious cake, so named because it has concentric rings like the growth rings of a tree, is a specialty at a new café in District 1 called Le Tokyo Baum.
Even though the cake originated in Germany, the special equipment and skills to make baumkuchen in Vietnam came from Japan, where it’s been popular since 1920, Nguyen Duc Nghia from Le Tokyo Baum said.
A cake has 15-30 layers. To achieve the ringed effect, it is baked on a special rotisserie and layers of cake mixture are brushed on, one layer at a time, and let bake. The process is repeated 30 times and the individual Baumkuchen are cross-sectioned off revealing the golden rings that give the cake its name, which literally means “tree cake” in German.
Japanese buy Baumkuchen cake as a gift, because they like its tree-like growth rings. It is a wish for longevity and prosperity to the receiver.
Nghia expects people to buy the cake to give to business associates, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and baby showers.
Le Tokyo Baum serves the cake in four flavors, vanilla,chocolate, orange and green tea with tea, coffee or fruit juice. Cakes to take home start at VND100,000 for a small one.
Le Tokyo Baum is located at 46 Nguyen Van Trang Street, District 1, HCMC.
