The first time I ever had a cake presented to me in such a fashion was at Hinoki and the Bird. I wanted to recreate that same Devil’s Food Cake for years, and now I’ve finally done…. after they had already removed it from their menu. Oh well, at least it’s mine, and only mine….
Tag: pastry
Cutie Honey Raspberry Cake
I wanted to prepare a dessert that I could enjoy with a cup of tea while staring out into the city, quietly judging everyone. For some reason, I like to do that. I don’t know why. I guess being an 100% Judging type per Myers-Briggs does that for you. But being a judgmental bitch aside,…
Citron Othello: black and white lemon mousse cake
The idea behind this cake came from a very unusual silicon mold I purchased from Amazon. I knew that just from the triangular prism shape of the final cake, that each slice would be a little tear drop-triangle-chestnut-looking thing. I thought it would be cute if I made some mousse cakes that were visual plays…
Strawberry cheesecake tiramisu
This dessert is an oldie but a goodie for me. Tiramisu is an Italian classic, typically made with whipped mascarpone cheese and coffee-amaretto soaked ladyfingers, topped with cocoa powder. The coffee and alcohol are there to give you a little “pick me up”, but I wanted to have that same effect with just strawberries. For…
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…
Sweet potato mont blanc
Mont blanc is traditionally a French dessert, featuring a puree of chestnut piped over whipped cream and topped with powdered sugar to resemble a snow-capped mountain; fun fact, mont blanc is French for white mountain. This dessert is popular in both France and Japan, and other varieties use sweet potatoes, shiro an or azuki beans…
Christmas is dawning: a plated dessert
The concept for this dessert originally came from watching The Next Iron Chef: Superchefs, all the way back in 2011. Chef Elizabeth Falkner created this really cool chocolate devil’s food cake with peppermint snow, inspired by Christmas, and I wanted to do something that was a nod to that, since I finally have the tapioca…
Raspberry and Frangipane Tart
Challenging yourself is fun…from time to time. For me, a challenge is doing something that practices technique, and hinges on perfect execution so that you cannot hide behind the bells and whistles that you should all know that I am capable and comfortable with doing. Granted, a tart is not hard. They just take a…
Blueberry dreams: a plated concept
This dessert came about when I was watching a shoujo anime, “Kobato” and I was inspired by a character named Ioryogi, being this outwardly cute blue dog creature, and his love of baumkuchen, a circular German layered cake that resembles the rings or layers of a tree. Normally, baumkuchen is made on a spit roast…
Honey-craisin cotton cheesecake
The idea of doing a cotton cheesecake came from when I visited my friend, Lauren, and we were trying to make these for her menu at LimeRed, in Boston. I tried to make a cream cheese chiffon cake, hoping that it would work instead of a cotton cheesecake, something she struggled greatly with making, but…
Black sesame-matcha cheesecake doughnut cream
I came across the inspiration for this concept on Instagram, where I saw a chef make a double decker cake doughnut that was pressed into a mousse then glazed in a mirror glaze. I believe it was called a tiger doughnut, because of the pattern on it. For my own version of it, I decided…
Passionfruit Souffle
Passionfruit is easily one of my favorite ingredients of all time. My dad has fond memories of eating a ton of them in Taiwan, mostly because they grow quite frequently there. For me, it is a reminder of my heritage and I just love the sweet-tart flavor of the pulp coupled with the crunch of…
Thick Mint Bars
These were obviously inspired by the popular Girls Scout Cookie, the Thin Mint. A thin, dark chocolate cookie with a minty chocolate glaze. They’re delicious, to say the least. Since Girl Scout Cookies are not available year-round (while they do have knock-offs available, it’s just not the same), I figured I would try to recreate…
Banoffee Sticky Buns
I love banoffee pie. For those of you who do not know what that is, it’s a British dessert consisting of shortcrust pastry, fresh bananas, dulce de leche (caramelized condensed milk), grated dark chocolate, and whipped cream. It’s pretty decadent, like a lot of British desserts (trust me, that’s not a bad thing. I personally…
Chocoholic naked layer cake
Now I have been watching a lot of Christina Tosi’s cooking videos on Youtube lately, and I have seen so many people do the funfetti birthday cake. However, I personally do not want to do that. When I think of birthday cakes, I typically almost always have a fluffy, moist chocolate cake. Now to challenge…
Red velvet-raspberry entremet
Now you cannot deny the beauty of a mirror glaze cake. You can try, but you are just kidding yourself. Since my last attempt at a mirror glaze cake, I have decided to have at it with another one, this time, a raspberry infused red velvet entremet. The design was actually inspired by my friend,…
Lapis Lazuli fruit tart
The inspiration behind this fruit tart came from the lapis lazuli gemstone. It is a naturally blue mineral studded with gold and white streaks. I wanted to also make this dessert an homage to my hometown of Palos Verdes, where wild fennel grows, and that’s where the inspiration to use fennel pollen came from. I…
Fruity ube layer cake with ube mini doughnuts
I’m too lazy to write a foreword for this, so I will keep it very short, sweet, and to the point. This cake was inspired by Momofuku Milk Bar, and I wanted to incorporate tropical ingredients, so that’s where the coconut, banana, and ube came from. I used blackberries as well, because they add a…
Khanom buang: Thai street crepes
Khanom buang are Thai crepes, which can be either sweet or savory, and are typically found in stalls served as street food. The first time I ever heard about Thai street crepes was actually watching Iron Chef America, Battle Tamarind. The challenger, Hong Thaimee, was making these with her dessert, although she prepared a baked version….
Banana (milk) pudding with misugaru wafers
This recipe is inspired by my dear friend, Ellie. She is one of the smartest, wisest, and funniest Korean Americans I have ever met, and she also makes a mean banana pudding. Seriously, she could put Magnolia Bakery out of business. However, Ellie recently moved to New York, aka the home of Magnolia Bakery, so…
Freddy's Harajuku 