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Tucked behind a Japanese izakaya along El Camino Real is a small white building with a sign reading “Temp & Time.” And while visually it may be easy to glance over, the vanilla-perfumed scent of freshly baked cakes is an unmistakable clue that it’s a bakery.
Step inside to be transported into a cozy, 14-seat Japanese cafe, with wood textures, a plushy cream banquet and hanging woven lights. Look to your left and spot a pastry case full of roll cakes and burnt Basque cheesecakes in flavors like hojicha, matcha and Thai tea, baked fresh daily by co-founders and childhood friends Suzie Zhu and Kay Y., who requested her last name be abbreviated for privacy concerns.
Zhu and Kay aren’t just the founders – they’re also the managers and bakers.
“There’s only two of us here,” Zhu said.
Their kitchen has just one oven, so all desserts are handmade in small batches, with Kay overseeing the roll cakes and Zhu the cheesecakes. Coordination and precision is of utmost importance in the creation of their baked goods, which is why the pair decided to name their businesses Temp & Time.
“We rely on the temp and time, precise, exactly, a specific temperature for the cheesecake and cakes,” Zhu said.
Temp & Time’s roll cakes feature light and fluffy sponge cake filled with flavored cream as well as nama cream (Japanese whipped cream) and come in flavors including black sesame, Biscoff and coffee ($6.50-$8). Whole roll cakes are available for preorder via the website ($30-$37). Burnt Basque cheesecakes are offered by the slice in flavors such as ube, matcha and Thai tea ($7.50-$8.50).
When asked what makes Temp & Time’s baked goods stand out from others, Zhu said, “It’s not too sweet. It’s the best compliment that we get.”
Matcha roll cake with matcha sponge cake, nama cream and matcha cream ($6.50) at Temp & Time in Menlo Park. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
Coffee roll cake with coffee sponge cake, coffee mascarpone cream, whipped cream and crunchy chocolate pearls ($7) at Temp & Time in Menlo Park. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel. 
Hojicha roll cake with hojicha sponge cake, nama cream and hojicha cream ($6.50) at Temp & Time in Menlo Park. Photo by Adrienne Mitchel.
Temp & Time offers a monthly rotating roll cake flavor: In December, the bakery offered chocolate sponge cakes filled with strawberry cream and strawberry chunks, and in February, it offered vanilla sponge cakes filled with white chocolate whipped cream, white chocolate chunks and raspberry whipped cream.
In addition to baked goods, Temp & Time offers a selection of tea drinks, including lychee rose sencha, strawberry jasmine tea and strawberry matcha lattes ($5-$6.50). Caffeine-free drinks include its strawberry yuzu sparkler, elderflower and grapefruit sparkler and black sesame latte ($5-$7.50). While Temp & Time’s kitchen space is too small for an espresso machine, it does offer an iced latte made with housemade cold brew coffee, as well as a coffee cream latte, made with housemade coffee syrup, milk, coffee mascarpone whipped cream and chocolate pearls ($6.75-$7.50).
Zhu and Kay developed the drinks menu with the help of David Zhou, founder of San Jose’s Urban Ritual. Kay and Zhou are friends from high school, and Kay continues to work at Urban Ritual when not at Temp & Time.
“We put in our blood, sweat and tears,” Zhu said. “We work so hard. We pretty much live here. We don’t even have a social life anymore. We actually see each other more often than we see our own family.”
Zhu and Kay said they hope to eventually open another location but right now are focused on getting the word out about their first, which opened in November.
“A lot of people say, ‘I like that it’s not that sweet,’ (or) ‘The cakes are really good,’ and hearing that makes us really happy,” Kay said. “It means our hard work is recognized.”
Temp & Time, 1438 El Camino Real, Menlo Park; 650-833-8768, Instagram: @tempandtimecafe. Open Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
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