This cake is somewhat my revisitation of the classic Milkbar Birthday Cake, but making it as light as a cloud. I still look back at my time at Milkbar fondly, just because it was a great vibe. Everyone was outgoing, friendly, and quirky, it always felt like we were a bunch of misfits and goofballs,…
Tag: pastry
Caramel Macchiato Bear Mousse Cake
Caramel macchiatos will always remind me of my old sister, Kim. When we worked together in D.C., she would always get them at Starbucks, and after I tried one myself, I understood the obsession. Sweet caramel cuts through the bitter coffee, while adding a light bitterness on its own, and the layer of milk or…
Raspberry-Pink Peppercorn Red Velvet Cake
This red velvet cake was inspired by that dreamy cake aesthetic that I’ve captured in the past with some of my other 6-inch cakes, like the hummingbird or scarecrow ones. There is just something very fun and satisfying on making a smaller 2-layer cake, and playing around with flavors, colors, and textures off of a…
Tonka-Strawberry-Goat Milk Sundae
Whenever I think of Valentine’s, the first thing that comes to mind are strawberries. What I adore about strawberries as an ingredient is that they add a bright red color, pleasant sweetness, and some tartness to contrast rich, creamy flavors and textures. However, and these have been rising in popularity especially over the past few…
Chocolate-Marshmallow Entremet
This was a fun cake to make. I wanted to make a dreamy chocolate mousse cake, featuring layers of black cacao chiffon soaked with hot chocolate, dark chocolate ganache, semi sweet potato mousse, slathered in a cascade of more dark chocolate ganache, and torched Swiss meringue marshmallow. It kind of looks like a snowscape meets…
Pomelo Entremet
I don’t love winter. I might be a winter baby(Capricorn, which might explain things to those of you who are religious about zodiac signs), but I never liked the cold. I tried that for four years living in Boston, and while I loved the shoulder seasons, winter was brutal, with me being Taiwan-born, and SoCal-raised….
Blood Orange Mimosa Cheesecakes
Even though I purchased these adorable cheese wedge molds over a year ago, I never really use them. So I figured, I needed to do something with them. I happened to purchase a bunch of blood oranges, and was trying to think of what to pair with those. And then it dawned on me –…
Chocolate-Sesame Ovalmaltine Cake
This recipe was really me trying to think of something fun and snackable to make, using chocolate, sesame, and Ovalmaltine(think Ovaltine, but as a crunchy, creamy spread!). Ironically enough, I wound up a semi-entremet-looking mousse cake instead. It reminds me of The Good Place when a character named Janet was randomly making things cacti instead…
Brie-Honey-Ginger-Pear Entremet
Whenever I think of the winter, I think of this honey-ginger poached pear tea that my mom would make for us. I have done some desserts inspired by this in the past, but this time around, I wanted to try using those ginger-honey poached pears as a garnish for another dessert. I figured with ginger…
Fennel-Almond-Blood Orange Panna Cotta
My friend Stephanie and I were having a pizza and pasta night(because she bought a pizza oven and I bought my pasta extruder), so we figured we would have a fun time just making pizza and pasta together! To finish up the dinner, I wanted to make an Italian dessert, just to tie in with…
Nutella Zebra Banana Bread
These banana breads were the end-result of me roasting several of them in the oven for hummingbird cake, only to realize that I roasted three times the needed amount. I didn’t want to store these, nor did I want to throw them away, so in the spirit of 2020 baking memories that I did not…
Matcha-Raspberry Cream Cake
Full disclaimer – this cake was a cake order for a 1 year old’s birthday party. The original cake order was actually for a 12-inch cake, which is why the raspberries look way smaller in proportion to the cake, and why I couldn’t really photograph the cake off the box(try moving a 12-inch cake made…
Persimmon Tang Yuan
Whenever I think of persimmons, I remember my earlier childhood – our backyard had white guava, white peach, and fuyu persimmon trees, so depending on the time of year, we had fresh fruit to eat! Persimmon in particular are an interesting fruit, because depending on their ripeness, their flavor and texture can completely change. With…
Rose Apple-Yuzu-Almond Crostata
This recipe came about because I purchased one too many hidden rose apples and I did not want it to go to waste. Hidden rose apples are a naturally pink-fleshed apple(not pink peel, like the actual color of the fruit is pink), and they are usually only available 2-3 months in the year. They have…
Polenta-Fennel-Yuzu Cake
So I was watching Next Gen Chef on Netflix and there was one contestant, Abby, who made a recipe very similar to this one for the first challenge, where the contestants had to work in teams to make a progressive tasting menu inspired by one of three famous CIA alumnus. Abby tackled the dessert making…
Icebox Cake Gingerbread House
For the holidays, I figured I just had to do something akin to a gingerbread house. Now I won’t like, I suck at decorating them. I admire those who can do all of the fancy isomalt or gelatin sheet window-pane tricks, because that requires a lot of precision, patience, and skill. But in my case,…
Yuzu Castella with Blueberries
This recipe kind of combines two of my old recipes, being my Blueberry Dreams baumkuchen and my yuzu castella strawberry shortcake. I love the combination of blueberries and citrus, since blueberries on their own have such a mild, sweet flavor, while tartness just adds a sharp contrast, keeping things interesting. Yuzu in particular is a…
Chocolate-Hazelnut Mille Feuille
I usually refrain from making puff pastry from scratch frequently, because it is such a time-consuming process. Chilling, resting, and rolling a butter-laden dough pretty much summarizes how you make puff pastry. Because you have to rest and chill the dough between rolling it out, it takes at least 90 minutes to make a laminated…
Pistachio-Cherry Shortbreads
These shortbreads were made with a love for Italian spumoni in mind. Spumoni is usually pistachio and cherry ice cream, so the combination of the two is something I absolutely adore. Pistachios are nutty, smoky, and salty, while cherries are sweet and tart. In the case of this recipe, I used pistachio flour, made by…
Matcha-Kinako Daisy Crown Shortbreads
I saw someone on Instagram making these cute ring-shaped shortbreads, comprised of smaller shapes that were arranged in essentially a crown/wreath shape. Aesthetically, I found that to be extremely pleasing, and also since it is a shortbread made of other shortbreads, that invited a lot of possibilities in terms of fun or different flavor combinations!…
Freddy's Harajuku 