Dijonnaise de Chocolat

So this is probably the most random thing to admit to, but I grew up on shoujou anime(aka CardCaptor Sakura, a pinch of Sailor Moon, and Mirumo De Pon to name the main ones I watched), and there was an anime I was exposed to called “Yumeiro Patissiere”, which was a baking anime. I had…

Gluten-Free Levain Cookies

So I am fully aware of my penchant for making giant cookies. I just happen to own a really large ice cream scoop, so with that comes really large scoops of ice cream and cookie dough! So when I would visit New York, once of the most iconic bakeries there was Levain. Known for their…

Blue(berry) Goat Cheesecakes

This recipe hilariously came about because I had leftover blueberry gelee cores(from my Jigglypuff recipe), leftover white chocolate shavings(from my lemon-white chocolate snowballs), leftover goat cheese(from my pumpkin toast recipe), and leftover shortbread dough(from my Oshawott cheesecakes). Before anyone asks, since all of these recipes were clearly posted months apart, yes, I do make content…

Oatmeal-chocolate chip scones

These scones came about because I dun goof’d on an oatmeal cookie recipe – I did not sub out enough flour when adding in the oats, resulting in what were supposed to be cookies not spreading as much, and developing a more biscuit/scone-like texture. I know with scones, there is usually a stigma with them…

Soft Matcha Cookies

Green tea shortbreads are something I usually make in the fall ever since I did a fundraiser with them in my sophomore year in college for the Taiwanese club. The combination of bitter, floral matcha against a sweet, buttery cookie is so pleasant and fun, and gives a similarly enjoyable experience to eating green tea…

Lemon-White Chocolate “Snowballs”

Back in my earlier days as a baker, I remember watching an episode of Cupcake Wars on the Food Network, and there was an episode in season 1 where a baker named Kara made these vanilla cupcakes with lemon curd, Italian meringue buttercream, and rolled in white chocolate sprinkles. The idea of super soft cake…

Passionfruit Mousse Cake

I was fortunate enough to be gifted fresh passionfruits from a family friend, and it was actually around that time that I wanted to make a mousse cake with them. Not necessarily a mirror glaze cake, but just a mousse with layers of chiffon cake embedded inside of it. A while ago, I made a…

Eevee Coffee Bundt Cakes

Eevee is my absolute favorite Pokemon. I just love a Pokemon that can become anything it wants when it grows up. Eevee can become a mermaid, a bolt of electricity, a living icicle, or even cover itself with ribbons! I adore all of the Eeveelutions(Umbreon is my favorite though), but Eevee itself just has a…

Pumpkin Butter Mochi Pie

So I had a lot of leftover pumpkin lying around after doing R&D on my calabaza en tacha clafoutis, so I had to figure out how to get rid of it. After blending it up into a puree, I found that the only thing I could feasibly do with pureed pumpkin(that was already sweetened) was…

Milkbar Buddy Honey Butter-Pear Crack Pie

Since Sam and I enjoyed doing our cake collab together so much, we figured we would venture into another Milkbar classic, this time being pies! Milkbar/crack pie is such a staple, and we wanted to do our own interpretation of it using some ingredients to bring in a more festive feel. Fun fact, the original…

Apple Crostata with Dutch Crust

I literally only came up with this recipe because I had a ton of apples I needed to use up. So. Many. Apples. And while I could have dumped all of my proverbial apple-eggs into one basket, and make one colossal apple dessert, that seems lame and kind of unoriginal. I would rather stretch out…

Calabaza en Tacha Clafoutis with Cajeta

I came up with this dessert when I was conceptualizing a dish for a gala for a nonprofit called Loveworks, based in Oklahoma City(shoutout to Gabriel Lewis for inviting me to help out with this event!). The dinner took place in November, so because of that, I wanted to focus on whatever was seasonal to…

Nutella-Cold Brew Cake

I made this cake mostly because I wanted to create a chocolate-forward cake. That and I wanted it to be a little playful and sophisticated, using black(Dutch-processed) cacao to add a fruitier cocoa flavor, as well as cold brew to intensify the chocolate flavor, and Nutella, because why not? Nutella makes everything better, unless you…

Pumpkin-Persimmon Mirror Glaze Cake

This recipe came about because I had a buttload of pumpkin-dulcey(blonde chocolate or roasted white chocolate) ganache that I left in my freezer for when fall rolled around. And the moment that it did, I went ahead and busted out my pumpkin-blonde chocolate ganache and made this cake with it and randomly a persimmon that…

Thai”-mato soup” Tea Panna Cotta

Back in college, I made a Thai tea panna cotta and served it in a bowl. And everyone thought it was tomato soup. That was literally how this recipe came about, was people thinking I made tomato soup instead of a dessert. I personally love the flavor and color of Thai tea, and since this…

“Gansito” Petit Gateau

My friend Frances once described gansito to me as “a Mexican Twinkie”. So that is what a gansito is, in broader terms. But more specifically, gansito is a vanilla snack cake with a layer of strawberry jam, a cream filling, and it is covered in chocolate. So it is like a Twinkie, but with strawberry…

Kir Royale Cakes

One of my favorite hobbies back when I was first learning about pastry was visiting bakeries and patisseries and buying their most intriguing or unique items. At Patisserie Chantilly in Lomita, CA, that item for me was their Kir Royale. Being 15 at the time, I had no clue what that was. But the cake…

Apple-Cajeta Phyllo Tart

I have made quite a few apple tarts. Mostly because I love buttery pastry and caramelized apples. Unlike other apple tarts, this recipe is deceptively simple, but does require a lot of technique to make. Namely because of the cajeta, and the phyllo. Cajeta is the Oaxacan cousin to dulce de leche, using goat’s milk…

Miso Caramel Pear Tarts

A long, long, LONG time ago, I made these caramel tarts with poached apples that I just adored. The caramel was taken to this super dark color that almost resembled chocolate, while the apples, I poached with brown sugar and seared them to give them this gorgeous caramelized finish. Since I made the plate lick…

Black Rose Entremet

It’s been a minute since I’ve last tackled an entremet, so I wanted to do another one, as I had a bunch of random components here and there that I knew I could use. I was making Turkish delight for Pinktober and realized that I had an entire piping bag of leftover ruby chocolate mousse…