Yen Fang’s palate was shaped by the Hmong treats she ate growing up. But it took a trip to New York, where she tried a Japanese cheesecake, to inspire her first business.
SoYen Desserts recently held its grand opening at 275 4th St. E. in Lowertown St. Paul, where it is drawing lines out the door for Fang’s hand-rolled brioche donuts, as well as her cheesecakes, crepe cakes, panna cotta, and congee.
“It’s a little bit of Italian, a little bit of Thai, a little bit of Hmong,” Fang said. “It’s everything I like and I just hope that the community comes in, that whatever they eat they also like, because it’s SoYen.”
SoYen Desserts joins a wave of Asian-inspired bakeries that combine tropical flavors like ube and pandan with a lighter, airier style of cakes and other desserts.
In an interview with Sahan Journal, Fang talked about the challenges of launching a small business; how baking helped her cope with mental health challenges; and making desserts her grandma would love.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: Where and how did you start?
A: I started in 2019. It was just a hobby. I’ve always loved desserts. And so I decided that I wanted to find a hobby, something to do, keep me busy, especially because I have really bad anxiety. I [have] dealt with mental health issues, so I needed something to distract me, especially on the weekends. I started doing desserts. I would travel and I would eat things like Japanese cheesecakes, and that was the first thing that I ever made when I did SoYen. I really liked it, but I couldn’t find it in Minnesota. I started to play around in the kitchen and I created my own version of the Japanese cheesecake and then I started giving it to friends and family, and they started asking if I would sell, and before I knew it, through word of mouth, it got bigger and bigger.
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I remember when it hit the first 500 followers of my [Instagram] page, I was so excited. I never thought that it was going to be anything. And this was during pandemic, too, so I was really surprised how much people still wanted to place orders with me.
I eventually started doing it in a [family member’s] food truck, then started selling at a family kitchen as well. We started doing the brioche donuts last year. When we did that, it just flew. The demand was just there, it was crazy. My husband and I needed help because we hand-roll every single donut, so my brother decided that they would help. We came together and started looking for a place and this is where we found ourselves. So this is SoYen. This is our house for the next couple of years.
Q: When did you guys open?
A: We just had the grand opening last weekend. We renovated the place inside a little bit and we were here maybe about three months now and we would just do pop-ups and we have a big window right over in the back that we will open and so people can buy through the window and they can come through the front entrance on Fourth Street.
Q: When did you do that, the pop-up?
A: I would say we started to pop-up maybe like December. It was kind of scary because I wasn’t sure if people would still come to the window, but, oh my god, the community, they are just so loving and so supportive that even through the cold, -2, I remember one weekend, they were still standing outside. So they’re amazing and you know, I’m here not because of me but because of my customers.
Q: Explain what they line up for?
A: Right now they are lining up for my brioche donuts. It’s a hand-rolled donut that we make every morning. My husband and my brother hand-roll it early in the morning. Then we have to proof before we fry. Once it’s done, we pipe it. We fill it with our in-house-made filling, and they come in different flavors from ube Oreo, lychee raspberry, to chocolate, vanilla.
I love Asian-inspired flavors. That’s where I came up with the ube Oreo because ube is popular in Southeast Asia. That’s my No. 1 seller right now.
Q: How many total are you making per day?
A: Right now per day we’re making about 500 to 600 donuts. The donuts sell out within an hour to an hour and a half. There are days that we don’t sell out, and those days we’ll be left with a dozen or two. And that holds up until 2 o’clock when we actually close. But on most days, we do sell out by 11:30.
Q: Other than the donuts, what else do you sell?
A: My Japanese cheesecake is a cross between a sponge cake and a cheesecake. So it’s nice, soft and fluffy. And we do crepe cakes. My parents used to do crepes at a farmer’s market. They would make crepes and fill it with ice cream, fill it with strawberry, banana. So I took that concept and then made crepe cakes when I discovered them from New York and ate a Lady M cake. I also do these little panna cotta cups. They’re an Italian dessert, almost like a pudding, that I also top with flavors such as mango, strawberry and a tricolor coconut one—that one also seems to sell very well.
All my stuff I try to [make] very subtle in sweetness. Buttercream is very sweet to me. When I created my desserts, I wanted to make sure that the sweetness level was something I like or something where I can give to my grandma and she would be able to eat it without saying that it was too sweet for her.
Q: Culture-wise, I can’t say this is a Hmong place.
A: Correct.
Q: So, what is this place?
A: It’s SoYen, it’s everything Yen likes. [Laughs.] I have three kids but I have one daughter and her name is Soraya. So I shortened it to So, and Yen is for me. It’s a little bit of Italian, a little bit of Thai, a little bit of Hmong. So, you know, it’s everything that I like, my taste buds, and I just hope that the community comes in, that whatever they eat, they also like, because it’s SoYen.
Q: Let’s go back a little bit. How did being the owner, the creator of this type of donuts, help you with anxiety and stress?
A: It helps me because I feel like when I’m in the kitchen and making these items, my mind is no longer thinking about things that stress me out. Instead I’m doing something fun, something I enjoy. And then I always look at it like it’s art. When you finish the product, you get to decorate it, and that’s my favorite part. I come from a family of six total siblings and I always tell them that I’m the least talented person in my family. [Laughs.] I’m not good at drawing, I’m not good at anything [artistic]. When I can make something that, in my eyes, I think is pretty, and when customers also eat it and they like it, it makes me happy.
Q: What was it in 2019 that connected the dots to start your business?
A: In 2019, I just did it solely just for fun. For the purpose of keeping my money low and keeping me distracted. And then last year when my husband came in, he was like, “Okay, I think you can do something out of this.” And I still work full-time, but he was like, “I think you can do something with this,” and I said, “No, I’m scared. It’s a big sacrifice, you know, what if people don’t like me after a week—I just signed my life away?”
This past year I met so many good people, people that were in small businesses like Diane Moua. I met Tiffany [Singh] who is the owner of Laune Bread. They were all very humble people who were like, “Why are you scared? Don’t be scared, take the leap.” And my husband’s like, “I support you. I’m here, I’m still working. So do it. If you don’t do it, you won’t know where you’re going to be.” I remember right before I signed I cried. I cried, and I told my husband that I don’t think I can do it, but he was like, “No, do it. What is the worst that can happen?” So we did it, and it’s still scary for me. But so far the community has been great, and Lowertown, it’s a whole new world down here. There’s people everywhere that have come and have welcomed us to the neighborhood. So I’ve been just so grateful from the bottom of my heart. I owe it to the community and I love everyone that has come and that I’ve met.
News editor Trisha Collopy contributed to this story.
