Mini Mezcal Jelly Cakes
A recipe and special Just a Bite interview from Phoebe Tran
Cake friends,
This week in the newsletter, we’re sharing a special Just a Bite interview with Phoebe Tran, an accomplished farmer and chef here in New York. Phoebe’s popular Vietnamese pop-up Bé Bếp is truly one of my favorites in the city—I devoured her spicy grilled prawns over rice at Botani Cafe’s block party last weekend. She also created showstopping mini jelly cakes spiked with Del Maguey VIDA Puebla mezcal at our Candy Land launch party last month. This newsletter shares Phoebe’s recipe and also a special summer mezcal cocktail recipe from Del Maguey—so you can drink and eat your margaritas. We’re also sharing Phoebe’s sources of inspiration and baking hacks. Hope you’re staying cool out there. –Aliza
P.S. Looking for cute mini molds? Look for silicone molds online.
1. You’re making dessert. What is it? How do you make it?
There’s an all-encompassing category of seasonal desserts called “chè” in Vietnamese that can only be described as a cross between a beverage, pudding, and soup. There’s cooling versions such as chè thái, chè hạt lựu, and chè ba màu made with an assortment of agar and tapioca jellies, tropical fruits, mung beans, coconut milk, and pebbled ice. There are some you can eat at room temp or hot, such as chè buổi and chè chuối, made with pomelo pith and bananas.
In the summer months, I love making my own version of a Vietnamese jelly fruit cocktail. I combine soft agar powder with sweetened coconut water or butterfly tea, following the recipe on the back of the package (10g to 1.5 L water). After whisking it together and allowing the powder to bloom for a minute, I bring it up to a simmer and pour it into a container to set in the fridge for about an hour. I typically like to serve it in big chunks with coconut milk that I’ve infused with pandan and seasoned with sugar and salt. It then gets topped with ice, peanuts, and nata de coco for some variation in texture.
2. Someone is making you a dessert. What do you ask for?
If I were to stick to the theme of chè, I think I’d probably ask my friend Mina of 99 to make me one of her infamous chè bấp cakes, which I have yet to try!!
I’m also a sucker for baklava and flaky desserts in general. Aside from Mina’s cakes, the only ones I ever really crave are the fruit mille-feuille layered cakes that my parents used to get me from the Asian bakery for my childhood birthdays.
3. You’ve transformed into a pastry. What are you and how are you consumed?
I’m a piping hot egg custard bun nestled in a stack of steamers on a dim sum cart. Soft and pillowy on the outside, sweet and salty on the inside—like a big hug. Best eaten quickly and ravenously in community, torn apart so that the center oozes out into your mouth and envelopes it in pure bliss.
4. Tell us about a dessert scene in a work of art/cinema/culture/literature that you’ll never forget?
In the Taste of Things, when Dido artfully plates a crispy crepe to conceal the most perfect poached pear with his ring, to propose to Eugenie. This movie was such an iconic food film for so many reasons, but I am especially fond of it because it was directed by one of my favorite Vietnamese (!) filmmakers Tran Anh Hung, who also made one of my favorite films, The Scent of Green Papaya.
5. Share with us a baking hack you can’t live without?
Check your oven temp, and always carry around a thermometer! I’ve run into this issue so many times working in different prep kitchens, and it’s led me to so many closely encountered kitchen disasters. I’m not the most precise and formulaic baker either (savory is more of my strong suit), so having all the right tools really helps to set me up for success.
6. How do you approach cooking in so many different restaurants/spaces for pop-ups?
There is so much beauty and challenge in cooking in so many different restaurants and spaces. It involves embracing the unique characteristics of each location and ensuring that my setup is flexible and adaptable. I’ve cooked inside of old ceramic stores, greenhouses, on the street as well as in fully-equipped kitchens. Each space is really a vessel for me to express myself creatively and challenge myself to find ways to engage with my community to create memorable, site-specific dining experiences.
I don’t think that I would be able to manage so many pop-ups without having a background in event production. It’s truly taught me to be a better problem solver and quick learner. I honestly couldn’t do it without a strong and consistent team that is familiar with my food and willing to put in the long hours to bring these events to life.
Misc cake content:
Eat: Jenneh Kaikai of Pelah Kitchen is having a pop-up at Make Manifest BK on Sunday, August 11 with treats like soursop lime pie.
Support: East Bay Booksellers is crowdfunding to re-open after a fire devastated the building they’ve operated in for the past 30 years.
Go: If you read Gabriella Burnham’s story on the singular performance artist Narcissister in Tough Cookie and want to witness the chaos up close, Pioneer Works just released tickets for Narcissister’s first large-scale performance commission since 2012, running September 14-15.
Want to support Cake Zine’s independent work? Subscribe to this newsletter and order a copy of our latest issue: Candy Land or our new limited edition Candy Land lollipop tee.
I love analyzing people’s choices when you ask them “if you were a [blank] what would you be?” and I find it interesting that Phoebe Tran would love to be torn apart quickly and ravenously by community! Like the imagery is so visceral but it also alludes to a desire to feed and nourish with sensuality.