sometimes i think its nice to revisit some of the old recipes i made before. this is a japanese strawberry shortcake where the genoise sponge is colored pink and soaked with a rose-flavored syrup. the 1st time i made this cake was in 2007 when i was still pretty inexperienced and definitely less meticulous in baking. i remember using non-dairy whipped topping for the cake which is pretty shocking to come to think of it. i shudder at the thought of vegetable fat now so there's absolutely no yucky non-dairy cream, creamer, margarine or shortening in my desserts (actually i haven't been using them for many years).

mother's day falls on the 13th which is just two days from now and i made this cake for the mothers in my maternal family (mom, grandma & aunt). i wanted something feminine and pretty hence i added some heart-shaped chocolate decor and tinted them pink. think it would be even better if i had some chocolate transfer sheets on hand.

not too long ago i came across this french magazine called yummy magazine and almost miss it for good coz the cover wasn't anything much. it resembled a supermarket periodical or an university publication but when i downloaded it, i fell in love with it rightaway, never mind my french vocabulary is limited to just some food words. the magazine had an easy-to-read layout, nice whimsical fonts and good recipes. i was attracted to the deep purple cassis (blackcurrant) macarons on the cover of the #6 issue, which was the christmas issue and wasted no time in trying these out.

i've always thought theres only a kind of ichigo daifuku (strawberry mochi) out there, that is the one wrapped with anko. lately i've been seeing a few variations, some wrapped with matcha, some sweet potato. even this shiro-an (white bean paste) version is becoming quite a common sight, or maybe it was all along common but i didn't realize it. with a huge batch of shiro-an stashed away in the freezer and some leftover strawberries, this is a perfect dessert to make. since the mochi uses microwave method, it only takes about a minute and a half to do so its very quick.