It is really rare where I get so happy and ecstatic about a dessert I make, simply because of how exciting and unique the end product is. This would be one of those desserts. Easily in my personal top 5 for best-looking desserts I have ever made, this bonsai tree came about because I had…
Tag: Chocolate
Fudgemallow Naked Cake
In a lot of ways, this cake is an homage to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Specifically, the chocolate bar that Charlie found the golden ticket in, which was a “Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight”. Now, I have never eaten a Wonka bar in my life. I always wanted to, and that actually may be a future project…
Hidden Rose Apple-Ruby Chocolate Eclairs
These Hidden Rose apple eclairs were the result of me buying way too many Hidden Rose apples, and needing a way to conveniently use them up. Hidden Rose apples are apples with naturally pink-colored flesh(not to be confused with the Pink Lady apples, which have a pink peel, but a regular yellow-white interior). They are…
“Chicken and Dumplings”: a plated dish
This dish is a revisited version of a recipe I made a few years ago, but as a more composed plated dish. The dish itself was what I made for a collaboration dinner at Mader Lao in Oklahoma, with my friends Gabriel and Dara(from season 12 of Masterchef!). I offered to do the entree, which…
Hot Chocolate-Stretchy Ice Cream Sundae
Even though I’m posting this recipe in January, I wanted to take hot chocolate, and turn it into something more California-friendly. Because let’s be real here, Southern California has two seasons: warm and slightly less warm. I personally love drinking hot chocolate in the winter – when I went to college in Boston, doing to…
Gluten-Free Chocolate Milkbar Birthday Cake
So back when I worked at Milkbar, my least favorite cake to assemble was the chocolate birthday cake. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love eating chocolate cake. However, when it came to assembling this one, it was tricky. At Milkbar, at least for their actual bakery operation, each layer of buttercream needs to be…
Graham Central Station Roll Cake
Whenever I would go to Handel’s Ice Cream, one of their flavors that I would get was Graham Central Station. Graham cracker ice cream with graham cracker bits and chocolate chunks. So like a reconfigured S’more, without the marshmallow. And trust me when I say this, I love S’mores. Back in high school, one way…
Cannoli Cupcakes
These cannoli cupcakes were my solution to buying far more ricotta than I needed. I purchased a tub of ricotta cheese with the intention of making pasta with it. But I ended up needing way less ricotta than what the commercially sold tubs provided, so I had to think about other things I could do…
Chocolate-stuffed Yellow Cupcakes with Cookie Butter Frosting
The thing about yellow cake with chocolate frosting is that it is a really nostalgic, Americana type of dessert. I personally don’t eat yellow cake that frequently, but it has been requested a lot from me, and I enjoy the challenge of making it! The thing about yellow cake is that it contains a lot…
Chocolate “Birthday” Cake
Originally this was supposed to be a birthday cake order for a client, but they cancelled after I already baked the cake, stacked it up, and was about to decorate it. My client wanted a cake large enough to feed a family of 10-12(which is honestly way beyond the usual portions I serve, since I…
French Vanilla Entremet
I came up with this recipe because I was drinking coffee on day, and added French vanilla creamer to it. And then it dawned on me, what exactly made this creamer French vanilla-flavored as opposed to just vanilla? After looking at several articles online, the general idea was that French vanilla refers to the French…
Chocolate and Cacao Chip Shortbreads
Back in college, I wanted to do a fun take on cookies and cream, and so I made a panna cotta with chocolate chip shortbreads. The shortbreads themselves were buttery and light, but the chocolate actually had this very enjoyable crunch to it after a batch of them had to sit through the cold Boston…
Oreo Langue de Chaats
Now I have been on a langue de chaat fix ever since I came back from Japan. I love how thin and light those tuile-like biscuits are(they are so feather-like that I almost don’t feel guilty eating 20 of them in one sitting), while the creamy filling is just melts on your tongue, and with…
Peanut Butter and Oreo Tartufo
Tartufo reminds me of when my friend, Amanda, and I went to Babbo Pizzeria and Enoteca(rest in peace) back in Boston. It was on the dessert menu, and we had 0 regrets in ordering it. Tartufo is an Italian dessert, translating to “truffle”. But in this case, it refers to a ball of ice cream,…
Stracciatella Layer Cake
Unless you’ve been to a place that sells Italian ice cream, you might be wondering what stracciatella is. In Italian, it translates to “little rags”. And in Lombardy, stracciatella is a kind of gelato, that is creamy vanilla with shards of chocolate running through it. In other regions of Italy, it could refer to a…
Chocolate Chip-Miso Caramel Bread Puddings
Dislike bread pudding for two main reasons – I grew up watching Chopped, and everyone made bread pudding/French toast in the dessert round, and my ex loves bread pudding. That being said, my dear friend Amanda(I have like 8 friends named Amanda, but one of them, just not the Amanda from Masterchef who I think…
Pumpkaboo Mousse Cake
Pumpkaboo is one of those Pokemon that made me fall in love with the otherwise incomplete games that were Pokemon X and Y. It is a cute little critter that resembles a Jack-o-Lantern, a bat, and a black cat, all in one, and it can come in 4 different sizes, with the super-sized one being…
Chocolate-Rose Quartz-Pistachio Cookies
So I have made a version of these rose quartz cookies in the past, but I wanted to revisit the original recipe I made during my time at Milkbar, which featured a chocolate cookie embedded with Turkish delight(also called loukoumi, and they are like these sugary, pink rose-flavored jellies). The Turkish delight, which are primarily…
Cold Brew-Oreo-Tofu Rare Cheesecake
More times than not, when I was making a tofu or yogurt-based mousse cake, I found that after it thaws, the cheesecake has a soggy crust that is sitting in a massive puddle of water. Trust me, I learned this lesson the hard way not once, not twice, but three times. At first, I thought…
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Muffins
I am actually surprised by how few times in my life I have made muffins. Back before I even started learning how to bake, my sister would make these banana-Nutella muffins all the time, so you would think that I would have taken my hand at something similar, but I guess I just haven’t felt…
Freddy's Harajuku 