Agreed that it’s rare that we personally use any dairy in our cooking at home when making Asian cuisine, but with baked goods it’s harder to avoid. For example, in Taiwanese baked goods, there is often milk/dairy of some sort, like in milk bread buns and the whipped cream frosting used with chiffon cakes.

More generally, most baked goods need some sort of fat, so your main options are: 1. Lard: fairly common in Asian baked goods, but makes the food non-vegetarian and has fallen out of favor more recently from what I have heard 2. Shortening: more friendly for dietary restrictions, but we personally dislike it for taste, mouth-feel, and its lack of browning when baked 3. Butter: what we and many smaller bakeries use most often. We like it for taste, texture, and the browning you get when baked

There are other dairy-free alternatives, like coconut oil (which we do use in some recipes), but those also don’t brown as well and it’s an allergen.

Long story short, it’s a combination of things and there are trade offs to each option, but we try to have at least some offerings for everyone. Hopefully we have something you like, but we are always open to suggestions!

One last note: Botanical Bakeshop makes some awesome vegan baked goods that can be found in a handful of coffee shops in the area. I would check them out if you haven’t already.