Freddy's Harajuku

Tomato-basil flatbreads

I love making pizzas or flatbreads. Kneading the dough is definitely one of my favorite parts in making bread dough, just because it takes a lot of effort, love, and attention. Plus, it’s a great arm workout, so there’s that too. For my dough, I kept it really simple and went with my very straightforward…

Matcha-vanilla checkerboard cake

I love making checkerboard cakes. For TasteBUds, I actually prepared a chocolate-vanilla one inspired by Lady M. Since I love making them, I figured I would share a different recipe from that one, this one featuring matcha, and using chiffon cakes instead of genoise. While genoise are sturdier and can hold up to being cut…

Samoa Cupcakes

Samoa, coconut dreams, whatever the hell they’re called, they’re arguably one of the most delicious Girl’s Scout Cookies of all time, unless you’re an evil bitch and hate coconut, chocolate, or caramel, in which case, go step in front of a bus. Since I had already prepared one dessert inspired by Girl’s Scout Cookies before,…

Goat’s milk feta

1/4 rennet tablet 1 cup goat milk a pinch of salt 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar Heat together and stir until everything is dissolved. Allow the mixture to sit for 1 hour until it firms up, and then pour through a strainer. Allow it to sit in the strainer for another 30 minutes before pressing…

End-of-summer barbecued baby back pork ribs

I love ribs. Like a lot. Growing up, we would always got to a chain restaurant called “Chicago for Ribs”, and I just have fond memories of chowing down on a rack of baby back pork ribs, which were smothered in this smoky, sweet, pretty standard barbecue sauce. But I didn’t care if it was…

Passionfruit Souffle

Passionfruit is easily one of my favorite ingredients of all time. My dad has fond memories of eating a ton of them in Taiwan, mostly because they grow quite frequently there. For me, it is a reminder of my heritage and I just love the sweet-tart flavor of the pulp coupled with the crunch of…

Thick Mint Bars

These were obviously inspired by the popular Girls Scout Cookie, the Thin Mint. A thin, dark chocolate cookie with a minty chocolate glaze. They’re delicious, to say the least. Since Girl Scout Cookies are not available year-round (while they do have knock-offs available, it’s just not the same), I figured I would try to recreate…

Banoffee Sticky Buns

I love banoffee pie. For those of you who do not know what that is, it’s a British dessert consisting of shortcrust pastry, fresh bananas, dulce de leche (caramelized condensed milk), grated dark chocolate, and whipped cream. It’s pretty decadent, like a lot of British desserts (trust me, that’s not a bad thing. I personally…

Blue mallow marshmallows

The inspiration for this dessert came from a play on words, being the “mallow” from blue mallow tea and the “mallow” from marshmallow. Yes, it’s original. I know. I flavored the marshmallow with elderflower liquor and bee pollen, just because I had those in my pantry to give it a very unique flavor profile. Blue…

Chocoholic naked layer cake

Now I have been watching a lot of Christina Tosi’s cooking videos on Youtube lately, and I have seen so many people do the funfetti birthday cake. However, I personally do not want to do that. When I think of birthday cakes, I typically almost always have a fluffy, moist chocolate cake. Now to challenge…

Red velvet-raspberry entremet

Now you cannot deny the beauty of a mirror glaze cake. You can try, but you are just kidding yourself. Since my last attempt at a mirror glaze cake, I have decided to have at it with another one, this time, a raspberry infused red velvet entremet. The design was actually inspired by my friend,…

S’mores gateau

I have done quite a few s’mores desserts in the past, but this one is different in that it is a cake-based dessert. I used graham crackers in place of 75% of the flour for the cake, and for the chocolate components, I did both a chocolate ganache and a chocolate panna cotta. I have…

Lapis Lazuli fruit tart

The inspiration behind this fruit tart came from the lapis lazuli gemstone. It is a naturally blue mineral studded with gold and white streaks. I wanted to also make this dessert an homage to my hometown of Palos Verdes, where wild fennel grows, and that’s where the inspiration to use fennel pollen came from. I…

Matchamisu naked layer cake

When I open Harajuku Cream Handle (a cheap, Taiwanese knock-off of Momofuku Milk Bar that shall actually never come into fruition for many potential lawsuit-related reasons), the matchamisu naked layer cake is going to be displayed to the world in all of its gorgeous, bare glory. Ew, that sounded horrible and I regret saying that…

Fruity ube layer cake with ube mini doughnuts

I’m too lazy to write a foreword for this, so I will keep it very short, sweet, and to the point. This cake was inspired by Momofuku Milk Bar, and I wanted to incorporate tropical ingredients, so that’s where the coconut, banana, and ube came from. I used blackberries as well, because they add a…

Ham and cheese croquettes

These…were born from a mistake. Basically, I did not have enough rice to make arancini one summer ago, and I was craving fried food like a fat motherfucker. I had maybe 1/4 cup of rice, but I found potatoes in my fridge. So I decided, why the fuck not, let’s go with that shit and…

Strawberry-blood orange risotto

Just a heads up, this is not a dessert. If you thought that I was going to make some kind of sweet rice porridge and call it a risotto, then YOU’RE WRONG. This risotto, but all definition, is savory. Yes, I’m using fruit in my rice, but that’s besides the point. For all of you…

S’mores panna cotta: a plated dessert

This dessert came about two summers ago when I was really bored. And I mean REALLY bored. Although that summer, I learned how to do a lot of things, specifically in terms of plating beautiful desserts and tackling ingredients I have never used before. The inspiration for the dessert came from a couple different things….

Khanom buang: Thai street crepes

Khanom buang are Thai crepes, which can be either sweet or savory, and are typically found in stalls served as street food. The first time I ever heard about Thai street crepes was actually watching Iron Chef America, Battle Tamarind. The challenger, Hong Thaimee, was making these with her dessert, although she prepared a baked version….

Coffee crusted ribeye with steakhouse sides

What? Just because I bake and I make spongecakes doesn’t mean I can’t make a delicious steak dish. This particular dish, I actually made two years ago, to celebrate finishing summer school. The entire dish was a coffee crusted ribeye with mushroom jus, kale chips, garlic rubbed bone marrow, and mac n’ cheese. And yes,…