Joyce Tang, founder of the popular Bake Sum bakeries in Oakland and Alameda, has released a cookbook celebrating Asian American pastries and the diverse food culture of California’s Bay Area.
Bake Sum: Asian American Pastries, Breads, and Other Treats was written with Soleil Ho, the San Francisco Chronicle food writer, and features more than 75 recipes drawn from the bakery’s creative menu. ([publishing.hardiegrant.com](https://publishing.hardiegrant.com/en-us/books/bake-sum-by-joyce-tang/9781964786162?utm_source=openai))
The book includes recipes for treats such as mango pudding, black sesame snickerdoodles, milk bread, laminated pastries and the bakery’s Croissubi — a croissant inspired by spam musubi. It also explores the cultural history behind several of the dishes and ingredients, including ube, pandan, yuzu, hojicha and black sesame. ([publishing.hardiegrant.com](https://publishing.hardiegrant.com/en-us/books/bake-sum-by-joyce-tang/9781964786162?utm_source=openai))
Tang said the cookbook was a “love letter to the Bay Area and the wonderful diversity of flavors that you can find here”.
Bake Sum began as a pop-up during the pandemic before developing into an Oakland bakery and expanding to a second site at Alameda Marketplace. The business describes its pastries as combining French baking techniques with Asian American flavours. ([bakesum.com](https://www.bakesum.com/about-1?utm_source=openai))
The cookbook’s launch was marked by a book event with Tang and Ho in the Bay Area, as the bakery continues to grow beyond its original Oakland base. ([on-waverly.thethirdplace.is](https://on-waverly.thethirdplace.is/events/upcoming?utm_source=openai))
