My friend Ann would tell me time and time again about her favorite cake being a Chinese Bakery Strawberry Cake. Personally, I grew up on Taiwanese Bakery Black Forest Cake, but that’s an entire recipe for another time! I wanted to try my hand at a super soft and light spongecake with whipped cream and…
Tag: elderflower
Rhubarb-Elderflower Petit Gateaus
About 5 years ago(which is such a weird preface to say out loud because man, time FLIES), I made a dessert that featured rhubarb and elderflower. Ironically, it featured strawberries as well, so I opted to not even include rhubarb or elderflower in the name of the dessert. The cake itself featured elderflower mousse, and…
Strawberry-elderflower macarons
I love strawberry and elderflower anything. I think that this should be a more popular and recognized combination, just because it combines tart and sweet red fruit with floral, lychee-like elderflower for a balanced, pleasant combination. I had to use food coloring in these, as my usual go-to’s of pitaya powder and beetroot powder actually…
Curation: a plated dessert
So this dessert was inspired by a summer road trip going to the Flower Fields in Carlsbad and getting strawberry shortcake by the road! I wanted to take that memory and turn it into a dessert, which is what we have here. So we have an elderflower and pistachio mousse with a strawberry liquid core,…
Meyer Lemon-Elderflower-Meringue Beignets
I love a good beignet. Fluffy doughnuts are honestly my favorite thing ever for munching on, especially when they’re stuffed with something. In this case, I had a ton of Meyer lemons sitting in my fridge, and I wanted to use them up. Immediately, my mind went to lemon curd. And with lemon curd, you…
うつろい(utsuroi): a plated dessert
I really wanted this dessert to be the sister counterpart to “kakawari”, as it is based on yet another song by TrySail, and almost a given here, another theme song from Magia Record. The name roughly translates from Japanese to English as “waning” or “fading”, or an unfortunate kind of change. Since my other dessert…
かかわり(kakawari): a petit gateau
I have been re-watching a ton of the Madoka Magica franchise, including the new Magia Record series(oh god, I’m such a weeb), and a part of that includes listening to the tracks in the show/game, including ones sung by a girls group called TrySail. One of their songs, which is one of the theme songs…
Citrine: lemon-poppyseed cookies with elderflower-lemon crystals
Continuing on with my crystal cookies, I wanted to do a lemon-poppyseed cookie, a flavor combination I love, and I also wanted to do lemon crystals, which will be similarly made to Turkish delight. Since Turkish delight does traditionally use a flower to flavor it, being rose, I wanted to use elderflower instead, and use…
Vows in soft light: a layer cake
So this cake was my take on a wedding cake(might be jinxing myself here, but whatever, forever young, forever single). I just wanted to try making a multi-tiered cake, since the last one I made was a little lopsided, admittedly. Rather than tackling a 7 layer cake this time, I went with 6, 3 layers…
Summers in the black forest: a layer cake
Black forest cake reminds me of a ton of things. Most specifically, season 9 of MasterChef when Emily, who in my eyes was the strongest cook there, got sent home over one. Truthfully, seeing her go out on one is a general reason why I stay away from them. Seeing somebody who I personally would…
Sunny-Joy Lemon Tart
This was a signature dessert from the now-defunct baked goods delivery service I ran with my friend, Joy. The name was inspired by our two Chinese names, mine being “sun” and hers literally being “joy”. The tart itself was a pate brisee that had panko bread crumbs and goat milk powder in it, just to…
Mixed Berry Opera cake
I made this cake with my friend Adrienne just because I’m still trying to convince her to audition for season 11 of MasterChef and I wanted to see how quickly she can pick up arguably a tricky cake to make. Ever since my first Opera cake, I wanted to do another rendition, but using more…
Dianthus: a plated dessert
I really love baking with pate choux. But I tend not to make it as often due to mirror glaze cakes and naked layer cakes and doughnut creams all looking a lot prettier, so unfortunately, cream puffs do tend to take the back burner to my list of go-to desserts. That being said, when I…
Blossom cake: elderflower, lemon, and bee pollen
The flavors for this dessert are inspired by two things: my current boss, as it was her birthday when I made this, and the British royal wedding cake for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. My boss, who I shall leave anonymous, just out of respect for her privacy, is a very kind, loving person, who…
Fruitcake with citrus curd glaze
Continuing on my festive holiday baking spree, I wanted to create yet another classic, being fruitcake. Now, I’ve never made fruitcake before, nor have I ever even eaten one. I have seen them on TV and I recall these dense, molasses-y cakes embedded with a ton of fruit in them. So I went with that…
koi no tsubomi: elderflower-citrus anmitsu
This was a dessert inspired by Koda Kumi’s song of the same name; the meaning of it in Japanese literally translates to blossoms of love. When I first heard the song, it was from the Driving Hits 7 soundtrack, so it was remixed and sounded really foreboding and intense. I didn’t quite like it. But…
Blue skies, blue water mirror glaze cake
The inspiration for this cake was from a song by the same name. Go figure, that’s like half the shit I post here, and I love it because my music is so “out there” and not mainstream that you all would not know that unless I told you in the first place. Bitches. As you…
Strawberry-rhubarb tart
With rhubarb and strawberries being in season, it just made sense to try making a strawberry tart. It’s been a tradition that every summer, I try to perfect this tart using different methods. This summer, I decided to use an elderflower pate sucre, strawberry-rhubarb confiture, cornmeal frangipane, and cream cheese chantilly with elderflower glazed berries….
Elderflower Eton Mess Fruit Tart
I made this mostly for Pi Day, but also because I wanted to try making a rectangular fruit tart that does not look like an ass sandwich; the first time I purchased a rectangular fluted tart pan, it was back when I was still an accounting intern in DC. As my going away gift to…
Mikan-fennel-elderflower chiffon doughnuts
Unlike previous doughnut cream articles that I have written, this is a much more simplified dessert. Mostly for two reasons: 1., I didn’t have time to make proper doughnut creams of these flavor profiles since I was making these on a Thursday for a Friday meeting and 2. doughnut creams take one full day to…
Freddy's Harajuku 