Real Ingredients, Made From Scratch: Our From Scratch Bakery in Saigon

The short answer: The reason a Dulce bake tastes the way it does is boring and simple — real ingredients at our from scratch bakery in Saigon (District 3), with no preservatives. We use real butter, real cream cheese, sustainable Belgian-Vietnamese Puratos chocolate, Uji matcha direct from Kyoto, and fresh Đà Lạt strawberries. We even make our own marshmallows, graham crackers, and jam from scratch. It costs us more time, but if you want the best American bakery experience in Ho Chi Minh City, we don’t cut corners.

📸 Image: ingredients on the bench — butter, cream cheese, chocolate, matcha, fresh strawberries —
Dulce de Saigon District 3. Replace with real photo.

We make the small things ourselves

Most bakeries buy the fiddly bits in. We can’t — because here, the shelf versions of things like
marshmallows and graham crackers are stale and just wrong for Western baking. So we take it into
our own hands:

• Marshmallows — house-made, soft and fresh (the store-bought ones here aren’t), and the reason
  our miso–marshmallow–cornflake cookie works.
• Graham crackers — we bake our own for the New York cheesecake base and the cookie-cheesecake
  bar; the imported ones are stale and not the real thing (the Basque stays crustless).
• Strawberry jam — made from Đà Lạt strawberries, not a tub of bright-red syrup. It’s what
  goes into our strawberry shortcake.

It’s slower and harder. We’d still rather make it than serve something stale.

The ingredients we don’t compromise on

• Real butter, never margarine. Flavour and tenderness come from butter — it’s the single
  biggest reason our bánh quy taste rich instead of waxy.
• Real cream cheese, no gelatin. Our cheesecakes are baked, not set; our cream cheese frosting
  (on cinnamon rolls, red velvet and carrot cakes) has real tang and depth, not just sugar.

The Partners We Trust

For the few things we don’t make ourselves, we partner with suppliers who care as much as we do:

• Puratos Grand-Place Vietnam (PGPI): We use their chocolate because they bridge Belgian chocolate-making heritage with Vietnamese cocoa. Their Cacao-Trace program ensures sustainable farming and fair pay for local farmers right here in Vietnam.
• Inucha Matcha: Our matcha doesn’t come from a generic distributor. Our Inucha tier is ceremonial-grade, sourced directly from 100-year-old tea gardens in Ujitawara, Kyoto. You can taste the single-cultivar difference.
• Cà Kể Specialty Coffee: For our espresso and coffee drinks, we rely on Cà Kể, a roastery dedicated to elevating Vietnamese specialty beans from regions like Sơn La and Đà Lạt.

Local where local is better

Some things are better sourced close to home. Our Đà Lạt strawberries và của chúng tôi Cà Kể espresso
both come from Vietnam’s highlands — fresher, and our money supports local growers. We pick the source
by what tastes right, not by what’s furthest away.

No preservatives — so freshness is a choice, not a label

Because we don’t use preservatives, freshness has to be designed in: we bake through the day to
keep the case stocked, so you’re rarely getting this morning’s leftover by afternoon. It’s the same
reason a real cookie goes stale faster than a packaged one —
that’s a feature, not a bug.

Where it shows up

This isn’t an abstract promise — it’s in everything:

• Real butter + Puratos chocolate → the bánh quy.
• Real cream cheese → the cinnamon rolls, red velvet and carrot cakes.
• Inucha matcha → the matcha lattes, burnt Basque, and cookie.
• Đà Lạt jam → the strawberry shortcake. Three real milks → the tres leches.

If you’re tired of bakeries swapping butter for margarine just to save a few bucks, come find us.

Điều mọi người nói

The from-scratch obsession is the quiet reason people keep coming back:

“Freshly baked and the best in Saigon. This homemade cake is a true treat.” — Jessica L., Google ★★★★★

“They also have a big choice of (I think) homemade desserts like cakes, cookies, cheesecakes. Definitely recommend dropping by!” — Agnieszka T., Google ★★★★★

That’s part of our 4.8★ trung bình dựa trên 682 đánh giá Google.

• Walk in — 382/15 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai, Bàn Cờ Ward (District 3), open daily 8 AM–9 PM.
• Order — order.ipos.vn, GrabFood, ShopeeFood, or Zalo 0903 305 993.
• See it all on our cakes & menu.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Dulce de Saigon use real ingredients?

Yes — real butter (never margarine), real cream cheese (no gelatin), Puratos Belgian chocolate,
Uji matcha from Inucha, Cà Kể coffee, and Đà Lạt strawberries. No preservatives.

What do you make from scratch?

Our marshmallows, our graham crackers, and our strawberry jam (from Đà Lạt strawberries), among other
sub-components — plus everything is baked fresh, not shipped in.

Do you use preservatives?

No. We bake fresh through the day instead, which is why our bakes are best eaten soon after you buy
them.

Is your chocolate real chocolate?

Yes — Puratos Belgian chocolate that melts, not compound “chocolate buttons.”

Written by Garret, co-founder (sourcing & R&D), with head baker Thu. We make it harder for ourselves
on purpose. Come taste why — 382/15 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai, Bàn Cờ Ward, daily 8 AM–9 PM.

Về tác giả: Garret Nelson is Dulce de Saigon’s co-founder, leading sourcing, R&D and creative direction — the one who chases down partners like Puratos, Inucha and Cà Kể. A longtime Saigon F&B operator. More at câu chuyện của chúng tôi.

Order: order.ipos.vn
· GrabFood
· ShopeeFood
· Zalo 0903 305 993
· Google Maps