I approached the launch of 2021 Lunar New Year at Viridian (Oakland) with mindfulness and empathy. With the difficulties of the previous year, I perceived that people wanted to embrace symbols of hope and fortune— things that the pandemic took away from them. I was inspired by artist Jessica So Ren Tang to make the Lucky Candy-flavored cake.
Photo by Jeremy Chiu.
Photo by Jeremy Chiu.
Seeing artist Jessica So Ren Tang’s Lucky Candy embroidery pieces immediately took me back to my childhood and Sunday afternoons at Chinese School. I could imagine the exact taste of the milky sweet, slightly strawberry hard candy and feel the ridges on my tongue. It transported me back to running around school sucking on these candies screeching “gong-xi, gong-xi, gong-xi NI -AH!” at the top of my lungs during Lunar New Year.
Photo by Jessica So Ren Tang, used with permission.
I wanted to capture this feeling of nostalgia and joy of celebrating the Lunar New Year with this cake. The final components consisted of layers of almond cake, a strawberry condensed milk pastry cream filling, and strawberry buttercream. The final design on the top of the cake was inspired by the upside down “福” (meaning good luck or fortune) square papers that my family would hang up on the walls. The intention is that fortune would arrive upon your household (it carries a pun/double meaning in Chinese).
Photo by Jessica So Ren Tang, used with permission.
Eater SF’s Lunar New Year article.
San Francisco Chronicle’s Lunar New Year article.