18 Best Traditional Vietnamese Cakes – Sweet Cakes

18 Best Traditional Vietnamese Cakes – Sweet Cakes

There is a wide range of traditional Vietnamese cakes you shouldn’t miss when you visit the country. The main ingredients of many delicious Western sweet cakes are wheat flour, cheese, and butter. Most of our favorite sweet cakes are made from glutinous rice, rice and/or glutinous rice flour and coconut creme. I’d like to introduce 15 Traditional Vietnamese Cakes – Sweet Cakes in this post. You can learn more about different kinds of cakes in Vietnam and I’m sure that you would like to enjoy them when you come to Vietnam.

1. Vietnamese cylindric glutinous rice cake (Banh tet)

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Square glutinous rice cake is popular in North Vietnam while cylindric glutinous rice cake is a favorite of people in South Vietnam. Banh tet is wrapped in banana leaves and has a cylindric shape. People in South Vietnam use glutinous rice, white bean, coconut cream to make Banh tet. So that Banh tet is richer and greasier than Banh chung. They also add pandan leaves’ juice to make it green or magenta plant’s juice to make it purple. There are various kinds of fillings such as banana, sweet green mung bean paste, savory glutinous rice cake with pork belly. Like Banh chung, Banh tet has been cooked for about 10 hours. Cut into 3-centimeter circles, Banh tet is ready to serve. It’s a perfect mix of tender sticky rice and other ingredients being cooked well. This is one of the traditional Vietnamese cakes you should not miss in the country.

2. Vietnamese fried wheat flour cake (Banh tieu)

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The crispy, soft and tender yellow Banh tieu with sesame has been the favorite cake of many generations in Vietnam. It’s made by frying wheat flour and baking powder dough with sesame in a deep-frying pan. People in Mekong Delta prefer eating this cake filled with steamed sticky rice, sugar, toasted sesame and crushed peanuts.

3. Pig ear cake (Banh tai heo)

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Banh tai heo is made from wheat flour and is usually cooked and eaten at Tet festival. It looks like pig ear so that we call it pig ear cake. This crunchy cake is worth a try. Pig ear cake is not only tasty but it is also one of the cheapest traditional Vietnamese cakes.

 

4. Pig skin cake (Banh da lon)

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This cake has many layers and looks like pig skin so that we name it as 9 layers of clouds cake. Tha main ingredients are rice flour and coconut cream. Pandan leaves are used to make green layers. While steaming the cake, they pour layer by layer into the mold every five minutes until the cake has enough 9 layers.

5. Duc cake (Banh duc)

Banh duc is a traditional cake of Vietnam and it’s popular in the North. Duc cake is a round cake made from rice flour and peanut. This cake is eaten with “tuong ban” or shrimp saturated paste (mam tom). This is a simple but delicious dish you should try in our country.

6. Banh gio with honey

Banh gio is a brown-yellow cake which is often eaten with honey. It is better to eat the cake hot. This cake is made from glutinous rice cake. The color, transparency and special taste come from the process of soaking glutinous rice in a mix of water and ash for 1 night. This makes Banh gio different from other cakes which also are made from glutinous rice.

7. Banh to

Banh to – a less-known among trais made from glutinous rice flour, sesame, and sugar. This light sweet cake is hearty and tasty. It’s made at Tet festival in Quang Nam family. What’s better than enjoy a piece of Banh to with a cup of tea and have leisurely chat.

8. Cow cake (Banh bo)

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Photo by Scooter Saigon Tour

Cow cake is a popular sweet cake in South Vietnam. It’s soft, a little tough, lightly sweet and greasy. The cow cake’s skin is shiny because it’s covered with coconut oil. Cow cake is usually eaten with coconut cream sauce or toasted pork.

9. Thorn cake (Banh gai)

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Originated in North Vietnam, Banh gai is a chewy, sweet, rich and smelling cake. Main ingredient is “thorn” (“gai”) leaves and. The leaves are ground into black “thorn” flour which is mixed with glutinous rice flour to make Banh gai. Filling is made from pork fake soaked in sugar, banana essential oil, shredded coconut meat, mung bean paste, peanut, sliced zucchini, sesame, lotus seed. It’s wrapped in “gai” leaves and has square shape. Banh gai has a unique taste from “gai” leaves so that don’t miss the chance to try it when you’re in Vietnam.

10. Stuffed sticky rice ball or floating cake (Banh troi nuoc)

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Banh troi nuoc is made from glutinous rice flour like Banh it tran but its filling is made from mung bean paste, coconut cream and sugar. Stuffed sticky rice ball can be eaten with crushed peanuts or toasted sesame and shredded coconut meat. Some prefer eating it with sweet soup cooked from ginger and sugar. Pandan leaves’ juice or “gac” fruit is used to color the cake.

11. Vietnamese deep-fried cake (Banh ran)

This is one of the most popular cake in our country. Banh ran is a sphere-shaped cake with thin crust made from glutinous rice flour and sesame. The filling is made from pork and black fungus. After being deep-fried, the cake has an attractive smell, crispy crust and tender filling.

12. Mooncake (Banh trung thu)

Beautiful and delicious mooncakes are only made at full moon festival in Vietnam. There are many kinds of fillings such as lotus seed paste, mung bean paste, five-kernel, jambon, toasted chicken… There are two kinds of mooncake: grilled mooncake and chewy mooncake. Both of them are flavorful. At full moon festival, all members of family gather around the table in living room, enjoy mooncakes and sip some tea. The mooncake is as sweet as family’s love.

13. Banh che lam

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Banh che lam is a chewy, rich, light hot and sweet light brown cake. Ingredients to make this tasty cake are molasses, glutinous rice flour, peanuts and ginger.

14. Husband and wife cake (Banh phu the)

This traditional cake symbolizes the love of married couples. It’s made from tapioca flour so that it has a tough texture. The filling is made from shredded coconut, pandan leaves’ juice and mung bean paste. The cake’s filling is rich, tender, sweet and smelling.

15. Sticky rice cake wrapped in water coconut leaf (Banh la dua)

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Coconut leaf cake is popular in Mekong Delta and South Vietnam. It’s made from glutinous rice, peanut, banana, shredded coconut meat, coconut cream. All ingredients are mixed and wrapped in coconut leaves before being cooked in water.

16. Khao cake (Banh khao)

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The main ingredients for Khao cake include glutinous rice flour, sugar, pomelo flower extract, lime juice, sometimes mung bean, sugar-preserved wax gourd, pork fat. When eating, the cake melts in the dinner’s mouth. Khao cake can be filled with sticky, tender mung bean, crunchy sugar-preserved wax gourd cubes, greasy fat. Khao cake originated in North Vietnam and are popular in the Northern provinces of the country. Tay, Nung, Giay ethnic groups in Cao Bang, Lao Cai provinces usually make this traditional cake at Tet festival.

17. In cake (Banh in)

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In cake literally means “print cake” or “stamp cake”. The cake has that name because they usually stamp a character on the cake after molding the cake. In cake originated and is popular in South Vietnam. Similar to Khao cake, In cake is made from glutinous rice flour and sugar, sometimes it is filled with a mixture of mung bean (or other kinds of beans), durian, pineapple, taro, lotus seed, etc.

18. Cung cake (Banh cung)

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Simply made from rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, salt, sometimes green onions, Banh cung is a favorite food in Mekong Delta. To make this food, wrap the batter in banana leaves into a roll, then steam it for about 30 minutes. The cake has the smell of banana leaf, the greasy taste, smooth and tender texture.
Would you like to taste these amazing Traditional Vietnamese Cakes? Our female tour guide will drive you on our motorbike around the city and enjoy Saigon street foods on Saigon food tour by motorbike. Check out our Ho Chi Minh City Day Trip.

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