its always nice to revisit old recipes. i remember this being the best out of so many panna cottas i've attempted and is also my hubby's favorite but ironically i always make the mango version far more frequently and only made this once. and despite the fact that december is not the strawberry season, i managed to snag a really sweet and aromatic punnet. rare consider that the berries we get are usually pretty sucky.

i know, you must be wondering whats up with the korean title. i recently watched this korean drama 'lie to me' and this korean cafe called a twosome place sponsored their cafe scenes and had the lead actress eating an ispahan-looking macaron in one of the scenes (episode 3, to be exact) and it made its appearance a few more times after that. being a self-confessed korean drama addict, i've not seen any mentions of macarons in the dramas so i was mildly surprised. yoon eun hye made it look so yummy i wanted to recreate it myself. basically, from the pic on the cafe's website, it looked like berries and whipped cream sandwiched between a pink and brown shell. to be frank, after all these years of macaron making, i've not tried sandwiching them with two different colored shells (i did KIV pierre herme's montebello macaron on my to-do list but i never got around making it), neither have i used whipped cream so i was really looking forward to it.

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.

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.

you know, daiso sells this whole series of japanese cooking & baking cookbooks (or rather, booklets) and despite not knowing a word of japanese, i went ahead and bought all of them. with 20 recipes per book at 2 bucks each, i think its a steal! i particularly like the one on chiffon cakes coz some of the recipes like spinach chiffon, genmaicha chiffon & red wine chiffon really appealed to me. i started by making the one i saw on the cover, a strawberry version.



overall the taste was pretty good and quite similar to the purple sweet potato chiffon i made. not airy like sponge but it has this denser, still fluffy cotton-like texture like a japanese souffle cheesecake. the use of lemon juice (probably to preserve the color of the cake) made it slightly sourish but i liked it.

unfortunately i didn't manage to capture the cross section as it was really dark and rainy the past few mornings but it looked just like a regular chiffon i made so you'll have to use your imagination. i was also too lazy to frost the cake with creme chantilly so i left it as it is but you could do that.

recipe source : chiffon cake booklet from daiso (book #4)

*recipe removed due to copyright restrictions.

i hope you're not tired of seeing yet another entremet on my blog! it was my friend's birthday last weekend so i made her a cake. i chose a simple one from one of my japanese pastry books and this is basically a white chocolate vanilla entremet with strawberry syrup-soaked almond biscuit sponge and macerated strawberries in spices.

ahh, just in time for some valentines day baking! i recently acquired yet another pierre herme's cookbook 'le livre des fours secs et moelleux de pierre herme'. its a chinese-translated japanese book which features some of the baked goods like madeleines, financiers and gateaux de voyages. of course, being a fan of the lychee, raspberry and rose combo, it goes without saying this would be the 1st thing i was gonna make from the book.

these are by far my utmost favorite cupcakes and i absolutely adore them! i think my cupcakes have turned out really well the past few attempts - from the donna hay's double choc cupcakes to magnolia red velvet and vanilla ones but this just tops it all in terms of taste and texture.

ever since taking a liking on macarons many years back, i started appreciating other meringue-based desserts like pavlova, tarte citron and marshmallows as well. this is the one i usually make when i want a sweet-tooth quick fix coz its so effortless and easy to make. this time round, i came across the idea of doing red marbled swirls from a food mag and was immediately taken to it. it makes the otherwise plain meringue look lively and whimsical.

i've practically been living on foodgawker and tastespotting 24/7 these days. beautiful food photos aside, i can't believe how much creative ideas and inspirations i've garnered from the site. i lost count of the photos i bookmarked and the recipes i wanted to try out "tentatively". i mean, how could you say no to stuff like strawberry yogurt-covered pretzels and very vibrant-looking red velvet cake made not with red food coloring but beet puree? and then i also came across this polka-dot strawberry milkshake which involves sticking cut marshmallows onto the side of the glasses to give it a polka-dot effect. totally creative and this is something that i wouldn't think of in a million years.

i just realized i don't make tarts or cookies as often as i would like mainly due to the weather. the dough gets soft and sticky really easily and i simply don't like going through the hassle of re-freezing & re-rolling the dough, but i decided i want some variety in the stuff i bake so i forsee i'll be making stuff like cookies, tarts & bread more often from now on.