Freddy's Harajuku

Starry night: lucuma tarts

If you were to ask me what I have been up to in terms of my cooking, I would probably present you with these lucuma tarts. They perfectly represent how much I have been doing research on Latin American-cuisine, as well as tie into my background at Milkbar. The shells are made with lucuma, being…

Summertime: a plated dessert

When I was conceptualizing this dessert, I wanted to focus on three specific ingredients, being peaches, blood orange, and olive oil. I have done olive oil desserts in the past, but most, if not basically all of them, featured an olive oil cake, or an olive oil gelato. So I decided to go a different…

“Worms and dirt”: a plated dessert

I mostly made this dessert because I was craving black rice pudding, and just felt like making it. So I made a take on it, being more like a custard. But I wanted to also make a conceptualized dessert out of it, and celebrate rice in general. So I thought about what else I could…

Ube Basque cheesecake

I’ve made Basque cheesecakes before, but I wanted to try making another flavor, using leftover use paste that I had in my refrigerator. You know, a two in one. Practice a baked good, and also use up an ingredient/flavor that I have not necessarily touched in a while. Ube is a Filipino purple yam, and…

Cafe de olla cake

When I was doing research on Latin cuisine, I came across an interesting beverage called cafe de olla. It is an earthy coffee drink with spices, namely cinnamon, anise, and clove, sometimes orange, in it that is normally served in a clay cup. It sounded like a lot of beautiful flavors, to be honest, and…

Strawberries and cream Mont Blanc

I really wanted to make this Mont Blanc after seeing so many different kinds of them on my discover feed on Instagram. Traditionally, Mont Blanc is made with chestnuts, but I opted for a fresher, strawberry version instead, just to make it appropriate for the summer. So I went with a strawberry chiffon cake, a…

Starting your day: a religieuse

I was trying to figure out some creative ways to use pate choux, and then I thought about making breakfast cream puffs. I wanted to use bacon, blueberry, and maple, to emulate pancakes, and from there, I just thought about how I could use them in fun or inventive ways in pate choux. So I…

Soulmate: a petite gateau

I’ve been meaning to make this dessert for months now. Ever since I heard about candied rhubarb ribbons, I knew that I was going to use them in a cute, pink little cake. I really wanted to make these for Valentine’s, but sadly in California, rhubarb isn’t in season until May. So I had to…

Duo of eclairs: ruby chocolate-apple and chocolate “Inca gold”

I just wanted to make really artsy eclairs, so I opted for two flavors, being a ruby chocolate-apple and a chocolate “Inca gold”. For the ruby chocolate eclairs, they are glazed in ruby chocolate and garnished with shards, while the inside is an apple butter pastry cream. I wanted to keep this one aesthetically pleasing,…

If I believe: a Mont Blanc

When I was doing a Google Hangout baking session with my friends, Ann and Sylvie, I was struggling hardcore with what to make. I really wanted to do a strawberry Mont Blanc, but I had these dates in my refrigerator that have been laying there for at least four weeks, and I also had a…

Pork and vegetable fried rice

No matter who you ask, one of the first Chinese dishes anyone has any exposure to is fried rice. It is a quintessential Chinese dish! So many different varieties too, truthfully. For me, it always starts with cooking a thin layer of egg, then breaking it up and stirring in my already-cooked rice into that….

Pork and mushroom san choy bau

I feel like san choy bau is a Chinese dish a lot of people have either eaten or seen, but they did not know the same of. It is basically a lettuce wrap, with minced and stir-fried meat inside. It is such a simple recipe, as with most Chinese dishes, but it is one of…

Blood orange-rhubarb mimosa cake

I wanted to do a summery, Italian take on mimosa cake with this recipe. I have made mimosa cakes before, but I wanted to do a different take on it. For this cake, I went with a blood orange-olive oil cake, whipped skyr, which is this Icelandic yogurt, a blood orange-amoretti crunch, and macerated blood…

London Fog Boston Cream Pie

So I actually made this dessert was my entry item for the “Great EatWith Bake-Off” as a part of EatWith(a dining-serving company that Bri and I partner with to do our pop-up dinners)’s social media event just to keep users engaged. The premise, inspired obviously from the “Great British Baking Show” is that 5 of…

Sea salt ice cream popsicles

Now that I finally have proper popsicle molds, I can make the actual sea salt ice cream from Kingdom Hearts. I have done renditions on it in the past, but this time, I feel like this is as close to the ice cream as I can possibly get. Just to make these more interesting, I…

Matcha bundt babka

Babka are always so much fun to make, and every more fun to eat! I wanted to do a fun little take on the classic babka, and use a matcha filling instead of the traditional chocolate, and bake them in my doughnut molds instead of the loaf pans, just to give them more of a…

Something comforting: a plated dish

I really love stewed chickpeas. Actually I just love chickpeas in general. And luckily, I got to cook with them more often these days because I need them for their aquafaba. However, with all of the vegan meringue I have been making, I still need to get rid of the actual chickpeas themselves. So this…

Pork belly okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes)

Okonomiyaki are one of my personal favorite things to make. The first time I ever had one was with my cousins, and it was delicious. It’s a Japanese pancake batter that can have a variety of things in it, but typically you would find cabbage, pork, and a delicious sauce and Japanese mayonnaise. A lot…

Duck fat-grilled onigiri

These rice balls were just a way for me to utilize a bucketload of leftover brown rice. With rice of any kind, it can be very bland. In the case of brown rice, that is no exception. I knew that I had to inject as much flavor as I could into it, so I wanted…

Chocolate covered banana craquelin choux puffs

I was doing some recipe testing with craquelin pate choux, since I am planning to use them for quite a few different projects and concepts coming up. For these choux pastries, I decided upon the flavor pretty quickly. I had bananas in the freezer that were taking up space, so I wanted to get rid…