Ever since I bought a taiyaki pan, I only ever used it once. And not even to make traditional taiyaki batter! Hilariously, back in college, I did make taiyaki a few times when I borrowed a classmate’s pan. However, I did not own a pan of my own until 2023, and even then, I totally…
Tag: pastry cream
Milky Oolong-Strawberry Tarts
I have become fully obsessed with milky oolong, which is an alkalized oolong tea that tastes like those creamy milk nougats you might find in Asian grocery stores. I find that milky oolong is the perfect ingredient to pair with strawberries, as one is sweet and buttery, and the other is tangy and tart. I…
White Rabbit and Salted Egg Mimosa Cake
Easter is one of those holidays I literally never understood. I never grew up in a household that celebrated it beyond Easter Egg hunts and getting sick from eating chocolate rabbits and jellybeans, so whenever people talk about how it is this whole commitment that they had to spend with their families, I did not…
Ginger-Pear Shortcake
Shortcake can have a lot of meanings. In America, a shortcake is a sweetened biscuit with cream and fruit, typically strawberries. In Asia, namely Japan, a shortcake is a light spongecake, but with the same accompaniments of cream and fruit. I wanted to make a pear shortcake with this gorgeous snow-white aesthetic just to capture…
White Chocolate Mille Feuille
This recipe came about because I was randomly in the mood to make puff pastry from scratch. There are just those random days where I want a challenge, and making puff pastry is definitely one of those. Puff pastry is a kind of laminated dough, meaning you are folding butter and dough together to create…
Oreo Mille Crepe Cake
I have been wanting to make this specific recipe since May of 2023. But back then, I was still on a two-month sugar fast, and I learned very quickly that May is an exhausting month to try to do anything – between Mother’s Day and my dad’s birthday, there’s already a lot of cakes that…
Burnt Honey Bee Sting Cake
Bee sting cake, or bienenstichkuchen as it is referred to in Germany, is a dessert consisting of a yeast leavened dough, similar to a brioche, topped with a caramelized almond topping, and filled with pastry cream. I wanted to do a take on it, as a nod to my winters spent in the German Christmas…
Caramel Apple Naked Cake
This cake was a special request from my dear friend, Justina. She wanted an apple pie-inspired Milkbar naked cake for her birthday, and I just wanted to make sure it was 100% to her liking. She wanted there to be doughy, buttery bits, caramelized chunks of apples, and some sort of creamy component, all of…
Banana-Custard Phyllo Pita
I came up with this recipe because I was craving something banana pudding/banana cream pie-esque, but with super flaky, laminated pastry, like puff pastry or a croissant. The thought of crispy dough, custard, and cooked down bananas just sounded really good to me in the moment, so I figured, why not make that a reality?…
Strawberry-Rhubarb-Corn Tart
I feel like I have done variations on strawberry-rhubarb-corn tartlets in the past, but this one really takes the cake(or pie/tart?). Mostly because of the technique that went into making it. I wanted to make sure that strawberry, rhubarb, and corn were each used in two different preparations in this recipe – ironically, the tart…
White Sesame Tropezienne
Tropezienne has always been one of my sister’s favorites. Fluffy brioche that is brushed with a simple syrup, finished with pastry cream/lemon curd and fresh berries. Basically a shortcake using brioche instead of a biscuit or cake is the simplest way of explaining it. Ever since she had it in France and told me about…
Cinnamon Tequila Apple Mille Feuille
So I was fortunate enough to be gifted with a bottle of cinnamon tequila from the lovely Sheetal from Masterchef season 1, from her company, Spice Note Tequila, which features spice-infused tequilas! I actually love baking with alcohol, despite not being an alcoholic or even that much of a drinker(featherweight problems I guess), so I…
Strawberry-White Chocolate Tart
Whenever I think of my earlier childhood, I recall going to the local Asian bakery section in the Japanese supermarket and getting fruit tarts. Buttery pastry, silky, custard pastry cream, fresh fruit on top, a simple combination, but really delicious and addictive. With strawberry tarts in particular, they take what I love about fruit tarts,…
Pistachio and EVOO Mimosa Cake
Mimosa cakes have steadily become one of my favorite kinds of cakes to bake over the past 4 years. Mostly because I love cutting up cake into cubes, in case you haven’t already figure that out. For this specific recipe, I wanted to utilize yuzu as well, just to add something tart and bright to…
Vanilla Bean Boston Cream Pie
When I think about Boston Cream Pie, I just think about college. Going to school in a city full of history like Boston, I cannot help but think of that aforementioned classic American dessert. Layers of fluffy vanilla cake, a vanilla pastry cream, and chocolate ganache. Depending on the rendition, there are also almonds encrusting…
Princess (Mirror Glaze) Cake
This is my petit gateau(mini cake) take on the Swedish Prinsesstarta(Princess Cake). The Princess Cake usually consists of layers of vanilla cake with a vanilla custard/pastry cream and a raspberry jam, finished with fondant and/or marizpan. Now I could do fondant or marzipan, but those just don’t really taste good to me, nor do I…
Double decker buttermilk Fraisier cake
I do love myself a good fraisier cake, or a fraisier dessert of any kind, honestly! For those unfamiliar with the term, a fraisier cake is just a strawberry cake, usually featuring two layers of vanilla sponge with strawberries surrounding it and a vanilla cream between the layers. I have made a couple in the…
Great white way vanilla cake
So this cake was actually ordered and the request was for a plain vanilla cake. The thing is, I don’t like plain vanilla cake. That’s boring. So I wanted to do something a little more refined, and I went with a vanilla chiffon cake with pastry cream, French buttercream, and tempered white chocolate curls. I…
Starting your day: a religieuse
I was trying to figure out some creative ways to use pate choux, and then I thought about making breakfast cream puffs. I wanted to use bacon, blueberry, and maple, to emulate pancakes, and from there, I just thought about how I could use them in fun or inventive ways in pate choux. So I…
Duo of eclairs: ruby chocolate-apple and chocolate “Inca gold”
I just wanted to make really artsy eclairs, so I opted for two flavors, being a ruby chocolate-apple and a chocolate “Inca gold”. For the ruby chocolate eclairs, they are glazed in ruby chocolate and garnished with shards, while the inside is an apple butter pastry cream. I wanted to keep this one aesthetically pleasing,…
Freddy's Harajuku 