How the home baking revolution has taken hold in Hong Kong
It took the pandemic to turn a white-bread city into hub of do-it-yourself artisanal pastry chefs
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) was born in the wrong century. “Let them eat cake,” was famously what the French Queen consort reportedly told her attendants. These days, there’s plenty of baked goods to go around for everybody, whether you’re a noble or just bougie.
A proliferation of home bakers and interest in the pastry arts has led to perpetual crowds at supply shops in Hong Kong.
Every time I turn on my television, there’s yet another cake competition to create the most elaborate, gravity-defying gateau with the most unusual frosting flavour.
Online, the algorithms have determined I have an interest in food and cooking, so my feed is filled with baking content for recipes and hacks with hyperbole ranging from “the world’s best ever cake” to promises of pastries that will “change your life”.
To be frank, that’s never going to happen. Firstly, I’m not a baker. I don’t have an oven in Hong Kong – my kitchen is a little small for that, so baking is automatically out.
Secondly, I cook but I don’t have the patience to bake. My girlfriend, however, is the opposite. She enjoys the meticulous mixing of flour and butter, the precision of spreading frosting, and finely presenting her cakes like a fussy couturier.
I think it’s great that people are now so interested in baking. I remember a time – as late as the
1990s – when it was really difficult to find loaves here, other than really soft buns, dinner rolls and white sandwich bread.
As a fan of Middle Eastern cuisine, it used to be a real hassle trying to find pita bread.
If I had hummus at home, I would have to just enjoy it with supermarket soft tortillas or go to an Indian restaurant and ask for a takeaway order of nan bread.
For dessert pastries, richer folks would visit fancy hotels for elaborate cakes and French patisserie, but the average family relied on Maxim’s for their Swiss rolls and fresh cream sponge cakes.
In this way, it’s quite remarkable how baking is a popular obsession now for so many people. The flour revolution started with a growing interest in pretty desserts. From cupcakes and macarons to eclairs, as well as the Cronut, each had its day as a trending fad.
There are studios and classes everywhere to teach children and parents how to make their own cakey desserts and banana bread.
The artisanal lure of sourdough was a pandemic passion for many. Before the pandemic, I bet many hobbyists didn’t even know how fermentation even worked.
Ironically, as more people bake, there are more contrarians going carb-free or wanting gluten-free products. I guess you know what this means, right? The rest of us must take up the slack and eat more fresh baguettes and chocolate cakes.
It’s quite remarkable how baking is a popular obsession now for so many people