I'm a tutor (I tutor english) at a Buddhist Temple in Philadelphia and one of my students took me to a vietnamese/chinese market and bought be a cake to try. She wrote down the name for me but her hand writing isn't too clear.

I would say that it tasted similar to a pound cake but the texture was sorta chewy and very smooth. It was a in similar color to a pound cake with a dark brownish crust and a yellowish white core. Probably the one thing I found most interesting was how much it reminded me of the inside of an orange. The slice of cake looked just like an orange wedge on the inside.

Any help would be great. (watch it not even be vietnamese, my luck it will be some kind of english cake)

What I could make out of the 3 word name she wrote for me was the following

banh bo(or "lo") miong (?)

If she wrote "banh" then it's Vietnamese for "cake." Banh Bong Lan? Banh Bong Lan is Vietnamese pound cake.

Are you sure it isn't "Banh Trung Thu?" Banh Trung Thu is moon cake. We've been celebrating Mid-Autumn Fest last week and have lots of leftover moon cakes.
This year we could not go moongazing in the North East because of hurricane Jeanne. So Sad...

hello there, IanJ. ...wow, this cake must have tasted pretty delicious or different, that's why you want to know the name? hehe...

Well, from your description, and your 3 words, it sounds like it might be a cake called, "ba'nh bo`", which is very chewy.. and if it has a dark brownish crust, it probably is "ba'nh bo` la' du*'a", which smells like coconut...but the inside of this is usually green, outside dark... so it may not be...hmm...

or else, it could be "ba'nh khoai mi`" which is mostly made of mung bean, with some khoai mi`, it has a yellowish white, soft core... and dark brownish crust... but it's not very chewy... hehe.. that's all I can think of... ...maybe you could find a picture of it and post it here for us to see?

I took a few pictures. I didn't mention this earlier because I didn't think I could actually get them on to my computer.. I thought I was missing the cord but I found it... I just loaded them up. However, it seems as though I am not familiar
with this version of forum so I can't seem to figure out how to upload a picture into this post. (I'll just figure it out later) So heres a link to an online gallery.

My Vietnamese Culture Gallery (Still Under Development)

Yep I drunk the Aloe... Not what I was expecting at all(You don't want to know what I thought it would taste like). Tasted rather nice... I guess it goes to show that sometimes it's best to just put aside your preconceived notions and just go for it... (I think it was the little bits of pulp that put me off)

ooh yay! you got the pics! YEPPIES, so it is "b'anh bo`" ! ...the specific type, I wouldn't be able to say for sure though... maybe someone else would know!? cause there's more than one type of banh bo, this is a special kind... it has more aroma, and it's been baked in the oven, so the crust is a dark-brown, egg- spreading... my guess is it's called "ba'nh bo` la' du*'a" ..but ima not sure...

I showed the picture to some of my Vietnamese friends and they say that it is "banh bo nuong" or translated as "baked cow cake." She said that the cake is made from a tapioca type starch/flour. So with that in mind why is it called baked cow cake?

Yes, it is "banh bo nuong" and i'm absolutely sure that is. There is also another one also called "banh bo" but it is steamed instead of bake it in oven, and the texture of it taste quite slightly different, they both have chewy taste like, but the color is diffent also, the steamed one is white instead of browny like. I don't know how why people called that "cow cake".

oh that's right, it is called banh bo nuong, meaning baked cake, instead of just steamed, as justinqu said. That's a good question, Ian, I don't know why it's called banh bo, or cow cake either. ...but we also have other Vietnamse cakes with kinda funny names like that also, but which of course do not mean that literally. For example, we have a cake called "ba'nh da lo*.n", meaning cake of pig skin.. this is just to say that it's very expandable, like rubber or pig skin... but it tastes nothing like it, and it is completely meatless. So, I'm thinking banh bo maybe has some characteristics of a cow... in that it's very meaty, as in floury...? ...cause when we eat it, it's chewy and has a lot of texture? ...Just a guess .. who's to know what the real reason is huh? but if someone knows, then tell us!

I love this cake but is it really a Vietnamese cake?
My mom always buy these cakes for me to eat and for some reason, she always told me it's banana cake.
Asked my mom just now and she told me she bought it from a Malay church friend who operates a home bakery.

Oh really? That's interesting. Yes, I'm pretty sure it is a Vietnamese cake. It doesn't taste like banana cake though, so it may be different from yours, even though it might look similar. But your cake sounds really good also. hehe

There are few different kinds of banana cakes and different way to cook it, but the way its cook is similar to "banh bo nuong" but it turned out more solid kinda like. Is it have banana with it? or it just the name of it? Any pics?

I guess the name "cow cake" is similar to the name "hamburger." Generally hamburgers don't have any ham in then, originally it might have though. Is their any milk in this cake if so it it might have something to do with that... so why wouldn't they use milk instead of cow? Maybe something just got lost in translation or some confusion a long time ago. Just speculation...

Oh Banh Bo, you suppose to eat it with coconut paste.

No, we cannot translate "banh bo" to cow cake. I don't really know how to translate it but I'll find out.

The name "banh bo" I think is from this poem:

Ba` ba ba'n ba'nh bo` bo^ng.
Ba` bo? ba'nh bu*`a ba?i.
Ba` bi. Ba?y Bie^`n ba('t bo? bo't ba bo^'n bu*?a.
Ba` buo^`n bu*.c bie^'t bao

Mrs. Ba is selling cakes.
She litters too much.
She is arrested by policeman Bay Bien and put in jail for three or four days.
She is very upset."

or
Ba` Ba ba'n ba'nh bo` bi. bo` ba'ng be^? bu.ng...

Ok, to make it simple, we just call it "Banh Bo." Unless you bbq it.

I am very sure that it's the same kind of cake.
They look exactly the same as the one in IanJ's photos.
Do u have a recipe for the cake? I will love to make it myself

mm... cake... *drools* hey, do you have pandan cake in vietnam? it's brown on the outside but green on the inside.. well, it's greed to tell ppl it's pandan... its so good...

ooh these?



It's not a Vietnamese cake, but I ate it in Vietnam a lot of time

^mm yep... tastes better w/o the layers though.. i hate cakes with layers.. messes up the cake IMO..



i tihnk it's either filipino or indonesian.. i tihnk it's more indonesian though...

The last picture of the cake also have a name as "banh bong lan= Daisy "fower"cake", ppl eat it with tea, kinda good. The other one i've had seen it before in VN, there are something similar to that cake too, but instead of making it fine like that (used flower) it is can be make with rice, the same thickness, but two layers, and it is depended on how people like to make it. yum yum a cup of hot heavy tea go with it yum y um