From Vietnamese pumpkin to our puree
Every pumpkin item on our fall menu starts with Vietnamese pumpkin, bí đỏ, roasted in our Bàn Cờ kitchen and blended into a house pumpkin puree. It is never canned and never a syrup. Six items use it: the Pumpkin Cheesecake, the Pumpkin Spice Cake, the Pumpkin Pie, the Pumpkin Pie Bar, the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pain Suisse and the Pumpkin Spice Latte.
What is bí đỏ, and why do we bake with it?
Bí đỏ means red pumpkin. It is the orange-fleshed pumpkin Vietnamese cooks already know from soups and sweet desserts, and it grows in this country. So when we planned a fall menu, we started from the pumpkin that was already here, not one that had to travel.
Fall in Oregon, where I grew up, means pumpkin pie, apple pie and pecans. Our menu keeps that shape.
American bakes. Vietnamese pumpkin.
How do we turn Vietnamese pumpkin into puree?
Our team in Bàn Cờ does it in the same HACCP-certified kitchen that bakes everything else on the counter, down the alley off Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai. The method is short.
- Cut the pumpkins open and take the seeds out.
- Roast them in the oven until the flesh is soft and the edges start to brown. Roasting drives off water, so the puree stays thick and tastes of pumpkin, not of steam.
- Scrape the flesh off the skin and blend it smooth.
That is the house puree. It is the swirl in the cheesecake, the pumpkin in the sponge, the filling in the bar, the custard in the pastry and the pumpkin in the latte.
Roasted pumpkin tastes sweeter and deeper than boiled pumpkin, and it holds spice well. That is why the same puree can go into a cheesecake swirl, a sponge, a bar filling and a latte.
We keep the times, temperatures and weights to ourselves. You can taste the result at the counter, which is where we would rather you judged it.
Buying puree would be faster. We roast our own so that every step, from cutting to blending, happens in the Bàn Cờ kitchen.
Which fall items start with our pumpkin puree?
Cut into a Pumpkin Cheesecake slice and you can see the puree as orange ribbons through the cream-coloured filling. In the other items it sits out of sight, in the sponge, the filling, the custard and the cup.
- Pumpkin Cheesecake: a pumpkin swirl through the cheesecake, on a graham cracker crust.
- Pumpkin Spice Cake, a moist pumpkin sponge with cream-cheese buttercream and a chocolate crumble.
- Pumpkin Pie Bar: an oat crust under a smooth pumpkin filling, a squared-off take on holiday pumpkin pie.
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pain Suisse, a laminated pastry with pumpkin custard and chocolate chips.
- Pumpkin Spice Latte: an espresso latte with the puree, cinnamon, star anise and clove, hot or iced. The full drink is in where to get a pumpkin spice latte in Saigon.
Searching for bánh bí đỏ in Saigon? Ours are baked in the oven: a cheesecake, a sponge cake, a pie bar and a laminated pastry. They are American-style bakes, not steamed or fried pumpkin cakes.
Do all the fall items use pumpkin?
No. The Apple Pie, Pecan Tart, Butterscotch Pecan Latte, Spiced Apple Cider and Honey Berry Buzz have no pumpkin in them. The Apple Pie is a stacked apple pie in an all-butter crust. The Pecan Tart is a chocolate shell with a crunchy pecan filling and light whipped cream. The full list is on the fall menu.
Where can you taste the pumpkin menu?
Both shops are open 08:00 to 21:00 every day, Bàn Cờ and Thảo Điền in An Khánh Ward, and both carry the whole fall menu every day.
Frequently asked questions
Is your pumpkin puree canned?
No. We roast Vietnamese pumpkins in our Bàn Cờ kitchen and blend them into our own puree. The pumpkin items have no canned puree and no syrup in them.
Do you sell whole pumpkin cakes?
Yes. Whole cakes and pies, ordered on Zalo 24 hours ahead. You pick them up at Bàn Cờ, or we send them from Bàn Cờ by Grab. Sizes and prices are in ordering whole fall cakes in Saigon.
Which kitchen makes the puree?
Our team in Bàn Cờ makes it. The Thảo Điền shop’s fall menu starts from the same puree, and its drinks are made to order at that shop’s bar.
What does bí đỏ mean in English?
Pumpkin. Bí đỏ is the Vietnamese name for the orange-fleshed pumpkin, and the words mean red pumpkin.
Do both shops carry the pumpkin items?
Yes. Both shops carry every fall item every day, and the drinks are made to order at each bar.
Find us
Dulce de Saigon, Bàn Cờ: 382/15 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Ban Co Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Open 08:00 to 21:00 every day. 0903 305 993
Dulce de Saigon, Thảo Điền: 16 Duong so 54, An Khanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Open 08:00 to 21:00 every day. 0904 748 993
Written by Garret Nelson, co-founder of Dulce de Saigon.
About the author: Garret Nelson is a co-founder of Dulce de Saigon and looks after creative and marketing. He grew up in Oregon, and he and Thu (Nguyễn Bùi Minh Thư), who leads the company and develops our recipes, started the bakery at home in 2019.
Explore more from Dulce
- The fall menu
- Our cakes and baked treats
- Where to get a pumpkin spice latte in Saigon
- Ordering whole fall cakes in Saigon
Order or ask: Order on Zalo · Bàn Cờ 0903 305 993 · Thảo Điền 0904 748 993