Cake with 9 layers of clouds (bánh 9 tầng mây)

First thing first - I love the name of this cake! Nine layers of clouds! It sounds very nice in Vietnamese - bánh chín tầng mây. When I first heard this name - I was really curious what's is the cake with 9 layers of clouds!?
Then I found that the cake has another name - more original. And it may make you laugh, because the original name of this cake is totally a contrast to the title of this post. "Cake of pig's skin" or bánh da lợn, that's a real name, which is very popular, very close to us, and of course also very down-to-earth!

                 Famous traditional cake with 9 layers of clouds (bánh 9 tầng mây) 

I like both names - if "cake with 9 layers of clouds" emphasizes the quality of beauty, the intensity of emotion to this special traditional sweets - simple, nicely tasty but requires a perfect skill to make 9 thin layers (actually 11 layers as I count on the actual cake, but number 9 should be a good number!) with only two favorite flavors: sweet green mung beans and flavorful pandan leaves.

              or another name - less poetic but more folkloric - pig's skin cake (bánh da lợn) 

While the other name - more original - Pig's skin cake or bánh da lợn,  very good comparison between the cake texture and the image of the animal that many Vietnamese families in the country side consider as one of family members, a popular image in our folklore. We knew this cake and loved it since our childhood, until now!

              flavorful with pandan leave, sweet mung bean, nicely sticky and very tasty. 

Talking about this cake, I take a trip down memory lane when I was a little kid: someone in our neighborhood prepared this cake by using the mold made from the bottom half of Coke's can (due to the cane's bottom shape gives the cake a nice look!) and what I loved the most: to watch how my neighbor did one layer after another: the green one first with pandan leave flavor, then the yellow one with sweet green mung bean and the white one with coconut flavor, then she started with the green again... we couldn't wait until all of us could take the first bite of this tasty, yummy cake!

               on sale display with another traditional sweets at Bến Thành market. 

               Cake with 9 layers of clouds is glutinous soft, so always handle with care!

Bánh da lợn or a poetic name - bánh 9 tầng mây remains a favorite traditional cake for many of us. Nowadays I noticed that the cake is widely sold in the streets, small bowl size, much less layers, and each layer is thick, so it could be over rich. It seems not many foreigners hear about or taste this unique cake: sticky, not very sweet, strong pandan leave flavor, slightly oily from the outside (oil has been used during the preparation, to avoid the cake sticks to the mold).

                              The only place at Bến Thành market selling a terrific good bánh da lợn! 

So in case anyone want to taste this cake - a super good quality, please come to Bến Thành market - there is a tiny stall in small connection between the meat section and the grocery section - selling this cake but very quickly sold out so please go there before 8:00 am, hight recommendation!