Tac Cau pineapple is the main ingredient that helps Ms. Dao make delicious cotton cake.
For nearly two years, in the small kitchen at the end of Binh Loi hamlet, every day there is a bustling aroma of freshly baked cotton cakes. It is not only the aroma of traditional cakes, but also the flavor of creativity, determination and love for the homeland of a girl from Tac Cau hamlet - Ms. Lu My Dao, 38 years old.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, her family's economy faced many difficulties, so Ms. Dao decided to restore the profession of making cotton cakes that her mother used to be attached to. But this time, she did not simply do it for fun, but was determined to bring the country cakes far and wide. The biggest difference is the way she approached the market through TikTok. Not familiar with technology, social media was unfamiliar, but after just over a year and a half of learning, Ms. Dao has now become a famous livestream seller. She tells stories about her life, her career, how her mother taught her how to make pineapple filling for cakes... honestly and simply, but viewers are fascinated. "Some days, only a few hundred people watch the livestream, but the next day, my hands are tired from placing orders. There are days when I close 30 orders and deliver them to all provinces and cities," Ms. Dao said.
Ms. Dao said that her hometown is in the Tac Cau pineapple area, where pineapples are famous for their delicious taste, but their prices are unstable. There was a time when pineapples were only sold for 2,000 VND per fruit, causing growers to lose money. Her family has 5 hectares of pineapples, and for many years they only knew how to sell fresh fruit. When making cakes, she takes advantage of her own pineapple source, then buys more from neighbors to have quality ingredients. "A pineapple when cooked as a filling will increase its value 4-5 times compared to selling fresh fruit. I not only make clean, delicious products, but also help my hometown's pineapples sell better," she shared. The cotton cake made by Ms. Dao is a combination of golden cake dough and finely chopped pineapple filling, cooked over low heat until it is sticky. The cake is sweet, not harsh, and has a fragrant aroma of tropical fruit. In addition to pineapple filling, she also makes bean filling, coconut filling and pineapple caramel - a by-product used to braise fish and meat that is very popular with consumers.
To meet the increasing orders, she invested in an automatic filling stir-frying machine and three modern electric baking machines to replace the old charcoal baking method. “The taste is still the same, the only difference is that the process is faster, cleaner and more consistent,” she explained. To date, more than 13,000 orders of pineapple-filled sponge cakes have been sent by Ms. Dao to all parts of the country. The precious thing is that each box of cake not only tastes delicious, but also tells a story about the mother who passed on the craft, about the land of Tac Cau and the woman who dares to think and dares to do.
Ms. Dao is not only a baker, but also a promoter of the quality of her hometown pineapples on social networks. While many people are still struggling to find outlets for their agricultural products, she has proven that, with her love for her homeland and her agility in the digital age, local agricultural products can completely become valuable specialties. “Now, when anyone asks me what I do for a living, I confidently answer, ‘selling cakes online’. I am proud that from my hometown pineapples, I have made a difference,” Ms. Dao said.
Article and photos: AN LAM
Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/banh-bong-mai-my-dao-a188090.html
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