This inspired by the Black Mirror episode of a similar name(in this case, Bete Noire, which translates to “thing that people particularly dislike”), but with pastry always on my mind, I immediately thought of the chocolate cake instead. Bete noir is a French flourless chocolate cake, literally translating to “black beast”. For my variation on…
Author: Freddy
I have some training in both savory and pastry when it comes to food. I love to develop recipes in my spare time, just because the creative side of cooking is what really appeals to me.
Black Chicken Tsukune with Ginger Broth
This recipe wound up being like an Asian take on an albondigas soup, using black chicken(also called silkie fowl) as the base. Black chicken is a popular ingredient in Asian cuisines because it creates a gorgeous broth. My mother actually loves eating black chicken, which is why I opted to use it to make one…
Corn-Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches
Whenever I think of a corn dessert, almost immediately my mind wants to pair it with some kind of berry. Corn is sweet and usually lends itself to creamy, buttery textures. Whereas with a berry, it will be sweet and tart. So the two make for a perfect contrast. Usually my default is pairing corn…
Nanaimo-Chip Cookies
This recipe was loosely inspired by a Nanaimo bar, which is a Canadian dessert featuring a chocolate-nuts-coconut water base, a custard layer, and a chocolate layer, all set into neat little chocolate bars. They are very rich, but they kind of remind me of like a Boston cream pie conceptually(at least in the sense of…
Stewed Beef Tongue and Prunes
This is the definition of a granny dish. Stewed meat and prunes. Literally a grandma-inspired dish is there ever was one. It is a giant bowl of brown too, yet this is a dish that I really enjoyed making, and eating. Beef tongue is such an under-loved cut, being more popular in Latin dishes(for lengua…
Smoliv Oil Cakes
I haven’t made a Pokemon-themed dessert in a hot minute, but I wanted to try my hand with one after I made this really tasty olive oil cake, and wanted to find a way to showcase it! So I figured, why not make a cake inspired by the adorable Pokemon, Smoliv? Smoliv is a Normal/Grass-type…
Sourdough Shio Pan Taiyaki
So a while back, I made these anko shio pan, but what I did not talk about was how I frozen some of the leftover shio pan, and eventually tried making taiyaki out of them! Taiyaki are a Japanese fish(sea bream)-shaped waffle, usually stuffed with either red bean paste or custard most commonly. In the…
Umami Oil Scallion Pancakes
When I was testing out a recipe for scallion pancakes, I happened to have made an umami oil with celery leaves and scallions, so I figured, why not infuse my dough with some of that? The dough itself was a subtle green color(which might not have photographed too clearly, but I promise you that there…
Milk Oolong-Yuzu Shortbreads
These shortbreads were loosely inspired by an Arnold Palmer, but using slightly fancier ingredients. I love milk(y) oolong, because it tastes almost like those sweet milk nougat candies I would find in the Chinese furniture stores growing up. So I figured, why not pair that with butter, and make shortbread cookies from those? And then…
Chocolate-Salted Date Thumbprints
This recipe was inspired by the combination of chocolate and dates. Both are a bit earthy, but one provides sweetness, while the other more bitterness. Combine that with a little bit of salt from the usage of soy sauce, and you have essentially a chocolate-salted caramel-esque cookie! In this case, we have a salted date…
Melon (Soda Ice Cream) Pan
These melon pan were the brainchild of me baking sourdough, wanting to find ways to use up said sourdough, and experimenting with a hybrid between pate choux and milk bread. I found that mixing pate choux dough into a bread dough is similar to a tangzhong(cooked flour mixture), and results in a tender, soft crumb….
Stuffed Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
Stuffed cream cheese cookies had quickly become an addiction of mine when I made those cranberry bliss cookies a while ago. The tender, soft, buttery cookie just melts in your mouth, while it is contrasted with the creamy, tangy filling. So it got me thinking, what other flavors could I go for with this cream…
Sourdough Bolognese Pizza
While I was experimenting with sourdough pizza crust, I happened to also have meal-prepped a giant vat of bolognese(meat sauce), just to have throughout the week for potential dinners. Originally, this was going to be a bolognese pasta post, but I forgot to photograph that, and decided instead, let’s use the bolognese on the pizza…
Strawberry Custard Cream Cake
While I was at my friend Hannah’s wedding, I happened to befriend a couple sitting next to us, who also lived near the South Bay area(of Los Angeles, not San Francisco). It’s not every day that you meet people who live in that part of LA county, especially because it is a much more residential…
Sourdough Red Bean Shio Pan
About a year-ish ago, I made sourdough shio pan using my sourdough starter Horacio. Shio pan is a Japanese pastry, literally translating to mean “salt bread”. I like making it from time to time, and I have made sourdough variations of it in the past with my starter! The funniest thing was that I did…
Egg-Free Hummingbird Cake
Hummingbird cake is my obsession. I love banana desserts(get your minds out of the gutter), and the concept of hummingbird cake, being this Southern hummingbird cake with Caribbean roots, is just so fascinating to me. Plus the name is just so pleasant and cute. My version of hummingbird cake usually is made with this brown…
Hojicha-Miso Alfajores
These cookies came about because I decided to test out making dulce de leche in my pressure cooker, and I ended needing to use said dulce de leche in a couple different recipes. So you can expect to see a few dulce de leche-based recipes in the horizon, with this being one of them! Alfajores(basically…
Strawberry and Chocolate Pate Choux
In a lot of ways, this recipe is an homage to several of the first things I things I ever learned how to bake. Cream puffs were among those, as was chef Chloe Coscarelli’s vegan chocolate strawberry shortcake cupcakes. These chocolate and strawberry pate choux combine both of those experiences into one. We have a…
Milky Oolong-Strawberry Tarts
I have become fully obsessed with milky oolong, which is an alkalized oolong tea that tastes like those creamy milk nougats you might find in Asian grocery stores. I find that milky oolong is the perfect ingredient to pair with strawberries, as one is sweet and buttery, and the other is tangy and tart. I…
Pork and Collard Chou Farci
Chou farci is a French dish that translates to “stuffed cabbage”. I love doing renditions on stuffed cabbage or cabbage rolls because it is fun to bite into something that looks like a vegetable, only for there to be this unctuous, savory filling instead! In the case of my recipe, I wanted to pair the…
Freddy's Harajuku 