In the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights, Foundry Bakery owners and bakers Ray and Leah Yeh have been celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival with an artisanal take on Taiwanese-style moon cakes: Instagram-worthy globes of laminated pastry filled with premium ingredients from small U.S. farms.
The Yehs joined St. Louis on the Air to talk about their 2025 moon cake lineup, which features a new addition with goji berries and walnuts from an organic northern California grower, as well as organic jujube from southern California. They also shared how creating a Foundry Bakery moon cake tradition, which began in 2021, reflects their respective upbringings in Taiwan and Vietnam — and a commitment to offering tastes its clientele may be encountering for the first time.
“To test the recipes, [we] give it to customers to see if they like the flavor profile. Many people, most of our customers, are not even familiar with the flavor profile of a jujube, so we're happy that they really enjoy it,” Ray Yeh said.
Leah Yeh said their new jujube moon cake has been so popular, they’re having trouble making them fast enough. “I'm surprised how many Westerners have been asking, ‘It looks so beautiful. How does it taste?’ I say, ‘Well, it's a date, you try it.’ And then they all [are] like, ‘Oh, it's very good!’”
This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival may be over, but Foundry Bakery’s moon cakes will be available through Sunday. For shop hours, visit the bakery’s website.
To hear about connections between St. Louis’ allergy index and Foundry Bakery’s newest moon cake variety, as well as the impact tariffs have had on the bakery’s ingredient sourcing and product distribution, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
