Melody Hu launches Petit Bakery with Asian mochi the “secret sauce”

A new bakery springs from the prolific rental kitchen of Studio Cake in Menlo Park. At the beginning of the year, Melody Hu launched her patisserie business, Petit Bakery Co.

A native of Taiwan who moved to the Bay Area in her teens, she admits to falling into — rather than planning — her newest venture. “I ate a lot of sweet rice treats growing up, and when I lived in Paris, I did a lot of entertaining while working in the luxury watch business,” she said.

“I met and married a French man. After I had kids, I quit my corporate job and became a free lance translator and editor of cookbooks. And I watched a lot of cooking and pastry shows on TV!”

Back in the Bay Area, she started experimenting with sweet rice flour to make cookies. “My husband thought they were great and urged me to sell them,” she said.

As her website explains: “Petit Bakery Co. is the home of the original Mochi Madeleines and innovator of Mochi Cupcakes. We use the Asian mochi rice, combined it with French madeleines or American cupcakes and created something new… small bites of fusion delights!”

Locals can sample her creations at Cafe Zoë in Menlo Park as well as peruse her website to make a custom order, which Melody will personally deliver on the central Peninsula. “Part of the pleasure is tailoring an order to what a customer would like,” she said.

Melody also does pop ups. Our photographer caught up with her recently at the Pottery Barn at the Stanford Shopping Center, and she’ll be at all the upcoming Facebook Festivals.

“I love the idea of bringing people together so that they can share food as much as I like putting different flavors and textures together,” she said. “Diverse and inclusive tastes make the world a tastier place!”

Photos by Lena Kalotihos (c) 2018