Thai Catholics Bake Portuguese Cakes | Jack Kurtz: Photojournalist & Travel Photographer

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06 FEBRUARY 2015 - BANGKOK, THAILAND: A worker at Thanusingha Bakery pulls traditional Thai Catholic desert cakes out of the baking pans. The cakes are called "Kanom Farang Kudeejeen" or "Chinese Monk Candy." The tradition of baking the cakes, about the size of a cupcake or muffin, started in Siam (now Thailand) in the 17th century AD when Portuguese Catholic priests accompanied Portuguese soldiers who assisted the Siamese in their wars with Burma. Several hundred Siamese (Thai) Buddhists converted to Catholicism and started baking the cakes. When the Siamese Empire in Ayutthaya was sacked by the Burmese the Portuguese and Thai Catholics fled to Thonburi, in what is now Bangkok. The Portuguese established a Catholic church near the new Siamese capital. Now just three families bake the cakes, using a recipe that is 400 years old and contains eggs, wheat flour, sugar, water and raisins. The same family has been baking the cakes at the Thanusingha Bakery, near Santa Cruz Church, for more than five generations. There are still a large number of Thai Catholics living in the neighborhood around the church. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ

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Filename: PortugueseBakeries0206009.jpg
Image Size: 4608x3456 / 13.1MB; 020615 Bakery Bangkok Cake Dessert Food Kudeecheen Kudeejeen Kudi Chin Portuguese Portuguese Bakery Santa Cruz Thailand Thonburi Traditional
Contained in galleries: Thailand (All)

06 FEBRUARY 2015 - BANGKOK, THAILAND: A worker at Thanusingha Bakery pulls traditional Thai Catholic desert cakes out of the baking pans. The cakes are called "Kanom Farang Kudeejeen" or "Chinese Monk Candy." The tradition of baking the cakes, about the size of a cupcake or muffin, started in Siam (now Thailand) in the 17th century AD when Portuguese Catholic priests accompanied Portuguese soldiers who assisted the Siamese in their wars with Burma. Several hundred Siamese (Thai) Buddhists converted to Catholicism and started baking the cakes. When the Siamese Empire in Ayutthaya was sacked by the Burmese the Portuguese and Thai Catholics fled to Thonburi, in what is now Bangkok. The Portuguese established a Catholic church near the new Siamese capital. Now just three families bake the cakes, using a recipe that is 400 years old and contains eggs, wheat flour, sugar, water and raisins. The same family has been baking the cakes at the Thanusingha Bakery, near Santa Cruz Church, for more than five generations. There are still a large number of Thai Catholics living in the neighborhood around the church. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ