These little cuties are all handmade by Qi Zhenhua and Zhu Xinmao from north China’s Shanxi Province, a province known for its wheat flour. (Photos: VCG)

The duo traveled across the country learning new pastry techniques. Their efforts paid off, with the pair creating a new kind of steamed bun – a fruit and vegetable bun shaped in fun characters.

The fruit and vegetable buns come in different colors and are made from a mixture of fruit juice, vegetable juice and flour.

Qi and Zhu have different specialties when making the buns. Qi is responsible for kneading the dough while Zhu is good at molding and color-matching.

“The fruit and vegetable steamed bun stresses the natural and pigment-free ingredients as well as vivid shapes, which can help attract customers. Shaping is very important actually. [I] need to design ahead of time,” Zhu told VCG.

The steamed buns sell for 2.5 yuan each. They earn around 2,000 yuan a day. Qi said “Both of us like cooking pastries though the income is not too high. We hope that we are able to organize a gourmet festival.”