So in the rare instances where Bri and I get to hang out, cooking is always one of the things we do together. We wanted to bake a cake together, and it just made sense to do mini lunchbox cakes, since then we could have more cakes that way. One particular trend I have been…
Tag: sugar
Banana Cream Puffs
These cute little puffs were my homage to banana cream pie, being comprised of a ripened banana custard, a mascarpone cream, and pate choux(cream puffs) with craquelin(thin sugar cookie). If anyone were to say that they love banana, these puffs are a great option, because that banana custard is natural banana flavor on steroids! What…
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…
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…
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…
Passionfruit Mousse Cake
I was fortunate enough to be gifted fresh passionfruits from a family friend, and it was actually around that time that I wanted to make a mousse cake with them. Not necessarily a mirror glaze cake, but just a mousse with layers of chiffon cake embedded inside of it. A while ago, I made a…
Pumpkin Butter Mochi Pie
So I had a lot of leftover pumpkin lying around after doing R&D on my calabaza en tacha clafoutis, so I had to figure out how to get rid of it. After blending it up into a puree, I found that the only thing I could feasibly do with pureed pumpkin(that was already sweetened) was…
Apple Mont Blanc
So my fellow AAPI pastry friends (Dara Yu and Jess Wang) and I wanted to challenge ourselves to make a fun holiday dessert using apples, just in time for Thanksgiving. While I have also done a pie collab with my dear friend Sam, in case you are not a pie lover, this recipe is here…
Bond Forger Marshmallows
So I got into Spy x Family back when I had COVID in June(I call June 2022 the lost month for that very season), and I instantly fell in love with the characters. From Anya being a meme-tastic derp to Yor being comically overpowered but well-meaning to Loid trying to be a good father and…
Pumpkin-Persimmon Mirror Glaze Cake
This recipe came about because I had a buttload of pumpkin-dulcey(blonde chocolate or roasted white chocolate) ganache that I left in my freezer for when fall rolled around. And the moment that it did, I went ahead and busted out my pumpkin-blonde chocolate ganache and made this cake with it and randomly a persimmon that…
Apple-Cajeta Phyllo Tart
I have made quite a few apple tarts. Mostly because I love buttery pastry and caramelized apples. Unlike other apple tarts, this recipe is deceptively simple, but does require a lot of technique to make. Namely because of the cajeta, and the phyllo. Cajeta is the Oaxacan cousin to dulce de leche, using goat’s milk…
Milk Tea Hot Chocolate
I have been making this miso-hojicha milk tea in a variety of desserts, on and off, for 2 years now. Needless to say, I have been trying to make miso-hojicha sugar happen with as much vigor as Gretchen Wieners from Mean Girls has with the word “fetch”. Also, side note, but did anyone else not…
Chocolate-Hazelnut Hot Milk Hedgehogs
A while back, I posted a recipe on making these cute little Mont Blanc hedgehogs. So, I wanted to revisit that, now that I have discovered the beauty that is edible paint, and I wanted to make this chocolate and hazelnut version! Whenever I think of chocolate and hazelnut together, I remember when my sister…
Pear and Gjetost Tarte Tatin
Tarte tatin. Back in high school, I used to LOVE tarte tatin. The idea of caramelized fruit wrapped in a flaky dough, what’s there not to love? Well except in my case where I’ve been traumatized by it across 2 seasons of Masterchef. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s my one huge blindspot…
Funfetti Chiffon Cake with Milk Candy French Buttercream
I have already made a funfetti cake or two before, but I wanted to do an entirely different take on them with a more subtle and minimalistic approach. I wanted this almost completely buttercream-covered cake with just a slight sprinkle(all puns intended) of color on top, and then when you cut into it, there are…
Buckeye Layer Cake
Depending on what part of the world you are in, you may or may not know what a buckeye is. If you happen to be from Ohio, you’ll definitely know buckeye, as they are basically the state’s official dessert! Peanut butter fudge balls partially dipped in chocolate to resemble the nut of a buckeye tree,…
Peach Bellini Pate Choux
These pate choux, in a lot of ways, are an homage to my Masterchef bestie, Bri. Peaches just because her family has a peach orchard in Texas, prosecco because I know she loves her sparkling wines(fun fact, a bellini is a drink made from peaches and prosecco), and the usage of molecular caviar as it…
Hojicha lava bundt cakes
During the pandemic, one of my absolute favorite “inventions” was this roasted miso and hojicha sugar, made by toasting sencha green tea leaves and miso paste in the oven, then blitzing them with sugar to form a fine powder. That powder is delicious as a coating for a doughnut(which is what it was originally intended…
Milky Way Yokan
I love Tanabata. For those unfamiliar with it, Tanabata is a Japanese holiday where they have a star festival, celebrating all things wishes! It is held to commemorate the one day in the year(July 7th) where two lovers, Orihime and Hikoboshi, who were separated by the Milky Way can see each other. Tags with wishes…
Pineapple Cake Madeleines 2.0
I did attempt to make pineapple cake madeleines before, and while I was relatively happy with the batter portion, I felt like the pineapple was not where I wanted it to be. While whole chunks of pineapple reinforce the flavor of the fruit in the end product, it was not quite enough like the jammy…
Freddy's Harajuku 