Marbled Sesame Cheesecake Brulee

So I was scouring the internet, and found this gorgeous rectangular cheesecake with a bruleed top, that was sold by the popular Japanese brand, Mr. Cheesecake. That store features these rectangular slabs of cheesecake with a caramelized top and a custard-like center – think like a more aesthetically pleasing basque cheesecake. What was cool was…

Asparagus-Sesame Gazpacho

I purchased some asparagus with no real idea on what I was going to do with them – usually when I think of asparagus, I think of it as a side to a steak or a piece of fish. I did make an asparagus and ricotta pita years ago with my friend Ann, but I…

Milk Tea-Sesame Semolina Cake

I came up with this recipe because I was craving semolina cake. This cake was initially inspired by the Middle Eastern semolina cake called basbousa – a dense semolina flour-based cake that is usually baked with ghee and tahini, which gives it this nutty, toasty flavor profile and a dense, rich texture, and the baked…

Persimmon-Osmanthus-Sesame Gateau

This is definitely one of those recipes where if you do not have patience, it will not come together. Some of my recipes employ processes that may take hours, even days to do. That applies in this case too. For starters, let’s talk about persimmon. Persimmon is an autumnal to winter fruit that comes in…

Butter Bear Pancakes with Kuromitsu

I was inspired to make these pancakes because of an Instagram post(and because I had to use up some eggs and some roasted white chocolate-sesame crunch before I left for my trip to Taiwan/Japan). The idea of these large, fluffy whole-pan pancakes, similar to the ones you can make in a rice cooker, just sounded…

Banana-Mixed Grains Tart

This recipe came about because I had a ton of super ripe bananas I needed to get rid of, and I wanted to get rid of these bananas in a somewhat extravagant fashion. I say somewhat because this tart has a decent amount of bells and whistles to it. Namely in the little craquelin choquettes…

Sesame Checkerboard Bunnies

I felt major FOMO when I saw so many of my fellow Asian bakers posting bunny-themed desserts during Lunar New Years(I was unfortunately in Texas during the week leading up to it with limited access to a kitchen, so I could not join in on the bunny dessert festivities nor did I have the foresight…

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…

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…

Milk tea-white sesame cake

I was asked to make a super last-minute cake for an order, and that’s how this recipe came out. Literally just because I was told “any flavor but it needs to be done by tomorrow”. So with that in mind, I somehow came up with this recipe. I had a lot of black tea leaves…

Lil Peep Egg Tarts

While I do not celebrate Easter in the religious sense, I can still appreciate the fact that the holiday is closely associated with rabbits and eggs. Those are cute things to make desserts from, and the latter if what inspired this dessert! Well, that and marshmallow peeps. Fun fact: I was originally going to do…