Freddy's Harajuku

“Butterfly Skies”(blueberry-yuzu) entremet

Now I would be lying if I said this recipe was easy. Or very doable. Or simple. I would not be lying if I said this recipe takes multiple days to execute without a blast chiller or liquid nitrogen. This is the kind of cake you would only make for special occasions. Between the techniques,…

Apple and pear crisp with gjetost cheese

So I actually made this recipe back in November for Friendsgiving, but I somehow managed to forget to actually write out the recipe, so here we are, writing it out in December. I was inspired half by the tarte tatin that will FIVE-EVER haunt my nightmares, and half by this pear and apple crisp I…

Chestnut and yogurt pound cakes

I came up with this recipe, half because I purchased a rather large tub of goat yogurt as an impulse buy, but also because me and a bunch of my friends from Masterchef(obviously Bri, but also Gabriel from season 8, and Samantha from season 9) wanted to get together for the holidays and do basically…

Penguin coconut macaroons

So a couple years ago, I made a penguin-themed haupia pie using yuzu, coconut, and these coconut macaroons I shaped to resemble little penguins. I was somehow able to get the actual body of the macaroon to resemble a penguin, dying half of it black with activated charcoal, and using almonds to resemble the beaks….

Hazelnut baumkuchen with whipped nama chocolate

Whenever Christmas rolls around, I feel like the typical cakes you would see are the yule logs or roll cakes with the meringue mushrooms on top. Or some kind of cake with lots of powdered sugar on it, and some sort of Santa-themed decoration. Not trying to rag on those kinds of cakes, as I…

Malted chocolate basque cheesecake

Back when I used to use TikTok(before I got rid of it because I didn’t really like dealing with TikTok personalities or that general audience), I actually posted this recipe on there! These basque cheesecakes are mixed with chocolate to give them a nice, fudgy finish. I actually used chocolate as both a flavoring and…

Cranberry-yuzu layer cake

When I did the Masterchef recipe swap with my friends, I wound up with a lot of leftover cranberry sauce and dried cranberries. So this recipe was sort of my solution to that. Actually, it was my solution to that, as I was able to get rid of the entire can of jellied cranberry sauce…

Vegan “Oreo” macarons

Randomly enough, one of my earliest childhood memories in Taiwan was actually buying Oreos from the 7-11 at the first floor of our Linkuo apartment, and dipping them into Taiwanese milk. Besides the fact that Taiwanese milk is absolutely delicious(it’s something in the grass those cows eat, I swear, but it’s naturally a lot sweeter…

Basic Betch Birthday Cake

I will be honest. I never grew up on funfetti cake. My Buddhist health nut mother would not let anything artificially colored into our household, so we would not even have certain kinds of cereal. Because of that, funfetti was definitely not a thing in my childhood. I would see other children eating cakes with…

Tahini panna cotta with soy sauce caramel

So I made a riff on this dessert about a year ago for a digital cook-along event for the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester, Minnesota(thank you, Shari for inviting me to do this!). For them, I did a demo on a dessert, which would be delivered to those who participated. For the dessert that…

“Tiramisu” cookies

I always wanted to do a take on a ricotta cookie, but I was never quite sure what direction to go with them beyond that. The idea of putting a soft cheese into a cookie dough was intriguing , just because I was always curious how that would affect a cookie’s consistency over using butter…

Misugaru-chip cookies

These were literally inspired by the very first thing I made at Milkbar Lab, being these toasty, nutty cookies that use Korean misugaru. For those unfamiliar with it, misugaru is a 7 to 23-grain blend from Korean that tastes like peanut butter! Because of the different grain blends that go into misugaru, this can actually…

Matcha-gjetost cookies

So I technically made these cookies when I was trying to use up leftover French buttercream. French buttercream is made by emulsifying egg yolks with simple syrup and butter to create this luxurious mousse-like cream. I usually use it in macarons as a filling, but I found that it could be re-purposed into shortbread dough…

Yuzu tofu matzoh balls with chili-fennel broth

I feel like whenever the holidays roll around, there are always weird recipes or dishes that come up. This recipe would be one of those. I purchased yuzu flavored tofu from the local Japanese grocery store on a whim, thinking it would be fun to bake a dessert with. Little did I read, it was…

Persimmon and fresh cream cake

Every time it’s the fall, I HAVE to use persimmons in something. They are such an autumnal fruit, and take me back to childhood memories of eating them off the tree in our backyard. What I love about persimmon is that they come in such different forms, depending on the ripeness. With the unripe ones,…

Hidden rose apple tarts with ruby chocolate

I just love it when fruits come in unusual or different colors. Purple kale, watermelon radishes, rainbow carrots, blood oranges, all things that I came to love when I first got into cooking over 10 years ago. Then about 3 years ago, I learned about naturally pink apples. Mountain or hidden rose apples, depending on…

Matcha purin dorayaki

I have done dorayaki in the past, and I have even done purin-stuffed dorayaki as well, but this is a slightly different take on the usual. Typically, Japanese purin(also called pudding), is made of a baked custard topped with a layer of caramel, similar if not exactly the same as Mexican flan. However, my take…

Boba milk tea-ramisu

I really only came up with these tea-ramisus while I was running. Specifically, I was thinking about how I could make boba-flavored desserts, and I was also thinking about the milk tea tiramisu that was popularized by chef Melissa King. Her version was the Hong Kong milk tea tiramisu, but I wanted to take it…

Milk tea apple tart

For me, apple pie brings back fond memories…of making a fool of myself on national television. Besides the fact that apple tarte tatin lives rent free in my head and nightmares, I do love the idea of roasted apples and a buttery pastry, regardless of if those things are directly related to one of the…

Gooey butter mochi cake with hojicha sugar

So this recipe was a hybrid between St. Louis gooey butter cake and Hawaiian butter mochi. For context, a gooey butter cake is either a yeasted cake or a yellow cake that has a TON of butter in it, and is baked with a cream cheese topping that is similar to a cheesecake. Between the…