Sticky toffee or sticky date pudding is one of those desserts I grew to appreciate during my time in Boston. I once ordered this gingerbread sticky toffee pudding with brown butter, apples, and sage, and it was absolutely delicious! The combination of super soft, fluffy, brown sugary cake drowned in a rich butterscotch sauce was…
Tag: pastry
Raspberry Tea-ramisu Chiffon Sandwiches
Tiramisu is classically made with either ladyfingers or Savoiardi biscuits, soaked with coffee, layered with mascarpone cheese, and dusted with cocoa powder. It is such a classic Italian dessert, but I wanted to turn it on its head, and do a raspberry tea-ramisu. The logic here was two-fold: raspberries and coffee do not really go…
Strawberry Shortcake Chiffon Sandwiches
I can’t tell if I am late to the whole chiffon cake sandwich craze or not, but I can tell you that I am pretty obsessed with the concept! Aa chiffon cake is traditionally baked in a round cake pan with a little chimney running through it – the chimney allows for even air and…
Tofu Fraisier Rare Cheesecake
I have made rare cheesecake with tofu in the past, and fraisier cake in the past, so I figured, why not combine the two? The end result was quite straightforward, being a rare tofu cheesecake that was rippled with strawberry coulis, enrobed with slices of strawberries, and all on top of a crunchy-salty-sweet Triscuit crust….
Ruby Forest Petit Gateau
This is an homage to the black forest cake, which was my birthday cake for the first 14 years of my life. The reason why we would eat black forest cake was because we would celebrate my birthday in Taiwan, and the bakery in the Shida district where we would stay/live only made one kind…
Strawberry Madeleines
A while ago, my friend from Masterchef season 5, Ahran, and I decided to do a Facetime and Bake session, where we made madeleines. For my recipe, I went ahead with a strawberry madeleine, using strawberry puree in the batter, and then pressing the baked madeleines into tempered Strawberry Inspiration, in the madeleine pan, and…
Chinese Bakery Strawberry Cake
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…
Raspberry-Champagne Linzertorte “Hearts”
Linzertorte is a classic Austrian dessert that consists of a tart shell, an almond cake-like layer, and raspberry jam. I wanted to reinterpret that by embracing the almond and raspberry, while also introducing champagne to the mix! The end result were the little hearts that you see here. Special shout out to Shari or Spiced…
Persimmon Tea Cakes
I am fortunate in that a ton of my family friends own persimmon trees. While it is delightful to eat fresh persimmon in peak season at first, admittedly, when you are gifted with 5 pounds of it, you start getting… fatigued by the taste. These little tea cakes were my answer to needing a new…
Almond Tofu with Persimmon and Chrysanthemum
This dessert comes from a combination of various friendships, childhood memories, and a growing appreciation for my Taiwanese-Chinese-American upbringing. So I’m sure a good amount of people out there have zero clue what almond tofu is. Also called almond pudding, almond tofu is a Chinese dessert that consists of a sweet almond-flavored, milk-based jelly, similar…
Teddiursa Custard Buns
Teddiursa is a perfect demonstration for a cute Johto Pokemon….that turns into something less cute(I’m looking at you, Ursaring). These adorable little teddy bears with a crescent moon pattern have a simple enough shaped head for me to replicate it in pastry form! Truthfully,I had been putting off this recipe for a minute, just because…
Ube-Passionfruit-Coconut Cake
This recipe came about because I had ube paste, coconut milk, and fresh passionfruit, all of which I wanted to use, and preferably together. Ube(pronounced oo-beh) is a Filipino purple yam that is sweet and nutty in flavor. Almost like if you took a purple yam and toasted it with brown butter. Ube is a…
Mango Sticky Rice with coconut and pandan
Whenever I think of Southeast Asian desserts, mango sticky rice is probably at the top of my list for things that come to mind. Glutinous rice with ripe, fresh mango, and this salty coconut milk, the contrast and flavors are very different than what most people would associate with desserts. Some variations have toasted sesame…
(Shiny) Torchic Sundae
This recipe came about because I had way too many persimmons and I basically was desperate to get rid of them. So I figured, why not make an ice cream with them? Persimmons are sweet, almost creamy, and very jammy when ripe, which are nice characteristics to incorporate into an ice cream base. The skin…
Whipped Cheesecake with Brown Butter Carrot Cake: a plated dessert
This recipe came about because I was thinking what I could make with rainbow carrots, and I thought about a fun plated carrot cake meets a cheese platter. Whipped cheesecakes are always a favorite dessert of mine, because they are super easy to do. Cream cheese, gelatin, sugar, and there you have a silky textured…
Swablu Hummingbird Sundae
Back in 2002 when I played Pokemon Sapphire, a much younger Fred adored a Pokemon called Swablu. Swablu is a blue bird-like Pokemon with white, cloud-like wings. It is classified as the Cotton Bird Pokemon, and evolves into Altaria, which honestly looks like a bigger blue bird with cloud-wings, but is somehow a Dragon-type Pokemon….
Vegan Tea Scones
The first important factor is the thickness of your dough. You need to roll out the dough, keeping in mind that the height(thickness of the dough) to width(size of your cookie cutters) ratio needs to be pretty close to 1:2 for the scones to rise appropriately and proportionately. My first batch, I went 2:3 for…
Fidough Box Cake
I have made many cakes in sake cups before. I just love the minimalistic aesthetic of a small wooden cake and when you scoop into it, there’s cake! The concept of this recipe is definitely inspired by the tiramisu from Cafe Bora, but since there is no coffee/tea or alcohol being used, it felt wrong…
Vegan Scones with Strawberry-Basil Jam
This recipe came about because I had an opened can of coconut milk, a pint of strawberries, and a large amount of Thai basil that I needed to get rid of. So I figured, why not try my hand at making vegan scones? And serving them with a strawberry-basil jam? Worst comes to worst, I’ve…
Uber Fluffy Chocolate Layer Cake
This chocolate cake is the intersection of everything I could possibly want from a chocolate cake. The sponge is somehow both fudgy and rich, but light and springy with this almost honeycomb-like crumb structure that could only be achieved by whipping the living hell out of egg whites, and adding in just the right amount…
Freddy's Harajuku 