Black Sesame Cherry Scones

I find my moments of recipe creation so strange sometimes. I might go through Instagram and see what flavors inspire me, surf Pinterest to see what trends are happening... but chance are if I try to force it, it's actually extremely difficult and I get recipe block (which is the most frustrating thing ever). Recently, I'll have these moments of creative breakthrough in the most unexpected times.

I was speaking in front of the Los Cerritos District Women's Club Alumnae about my new found baking life but also wanted to provide these wonderful ladies with some baked goods. For this, I knew I wanted to make something that could be done in the same morning of being served. Low and behold, A SCONE is the perfect baked good that is delicious, impressive and made in the same day! Keep in mind there is some freezing time required and the longer the better but you can do a minimum 1hr before you bake and they'll still come out great. 

I've had some left over dried cherries from my hand pie making day and then I chose to pair it with black sesame because there's an earthy/nuttiness to that ingredient that would pair perfectly with the tartness of the cherries.  I also really feel black sesame is SO under utilized in the baking world!  When using cherries, I make sure to plump them up a bit in some water for 10 minutes so they aren't just a bunch of dry bits in here. I would also consider using dried currants or blueberries which I can see being sooo delish with black sesame. 

I'm not even a big scone eater but loveee this recipe! It's really great softness on the inside and crisp outside. Hope you guys love them too! 

Tips:
- Remember to handle the dough as little as possible. Don't want to over exercise the gluten in the flour. 
- Use cold, cold butter and cold liquids!  If you even have time to refrigerate your dry ingredients, do it!  COLD EVERYTHING is the key to fluffy and flakey scones! 
-  Freeze your cut scones for at least 1-2 hours before applying your wash and baking. You want these babies practically frozen before going into the oven. 

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Black Sesame Cherry Scones
Adapted from King Arthur / Makes 10-12 scones depending on how you slice them

Scone Ingredients: 

  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
  • 1/3 cup sugar 
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt 
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder 
  • 2 tablespoons roasted black sesame
  • 1 tablespoon roasted black sesame powder 
  • 1/2 cup cold butter, diced into cubes 
  • 1 cup dried dark cherries, soaked
  • 2 large eggs, room temp
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream 
  • 1/4 cup whole milk

Topping Ingredients: 

  • 2 teaspoons whole milk 
  • 2 teaspoons heavy whipping cream 
  • 2 tablespoons sparkling white sugar 

1. Prep your cherries by covering with water and letting them soak for 10 minutes. Grind your black sesame into powder if needed. Prep 1 large baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly dusted with flour then set aside. 

2. In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, black sesame powder and black sesame. Whisk together to incorporate. If you have time, place the flour mixture into the fridge for at least 20-30 minutes to chill. If you don't have time you can skip this step just work quickly. 

3. Add in diced butter to the flour and rub the bits of butter with the flour until it becomes a very rough and crumbly mixture. There should still be bits of butter showing. 

3. Remove cherries from the water and lightly pat with paper towel just to remove the excess water. Fold them into the flour and butter mixture. 

4. In a medium bowl, add eggs and beat with a whisk. Add in whole milk, heavy cream and vanilla to the eggs and whisk together. Add the liquids into the flour mixture starting with 2/3 of your liquid. So add in most of it but not all of it since it may not all be needed. Mix in the dry ingredients with the liquid with your hands just until it's incorporated but still feels a bit dry. (This is very messy so be prepared!) 

5. Take the dough and scrape onto the baking sheet with parchment paper. Add more flour as needed if it's too wet to handle. Separate the dough and using the heel of your palm shape into two discs next to each other. Each disc should be about 3/4 of an inch thick.

6.  Using a bench scrapper, cut each disc into 5-6 wedges then pull them apart so they sit at least 1 inch away from each other. Place into the freezer uncovered for minimum of 1.5 hours before baking and up to 1 month. 

7. Preheat oven to 425 F. When oven is ready, remove scones from the freezer and apply a quick cream/milk wash. Sprinkle with sparkling sugar. 

8. Bake in heated oven for 20-23 minutes. The thicker the scone the longer they'll take. Rotate the pan at least once when 75% of the time has passed. Scones are done baking with the outside is golden brown and can lift off the pan. 

9. Remove scones from the oven and cool for 1 minute on the pan. Transfer over to a cooling rack and serve immediately! These puppies are the best straight from the oven or if you want to save them make sure you reheat before eating.  

 

Reggae Birthday!

What a fun cake to make for a past colleague who wanted to have a reggae themed party with all their loved ones! For this cake I decided to go all SMBC and only fondant/gumpaste toppers and accent as needed. 

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Seeing all the colors made it super festive and fun to work with. The original plan was to have a little teddy bear for the cake topper but then was asked to make it after their family dog Doris! I love love when clients are able to add their own requests for design since it helps me make it extra special for them. :) I was given some photos of her but then I pretty much used any and all photos I could find on IG to piece together the rest of the details. 

I also opted for no-fondant smash cake and used chocolate SMBC for the drum accents. First time piping lines with a wilton tip #3 and the key was not letting the tip/icing touch the cake. Pipe the icing out slightly off the cake and let it FALL on the cake. Still need a bit more practice but was happy with my first attempt. 

Here is the finished cake in all it's glory! Inside is a vanilla almond cake with fresh raspberry swiss meringue buttercream. Happy Birthday Asa!! 

 

Ode to the Air Jordan 3

This week I was asked to create a cake for the ultimate basketball / sneakerhead guy. One of my past colleagues came to me and said she wanted a special birthday cake for her boyfriend, then sent me pics of his favorite pair of shoes.... the Nike Retro Jordan 3's! (This also happens to be Kelvin's favorite shoe too!)  

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It's so fun to work with people to create delicious cake ideas that embody what they love!! She also mentioned that he loves basketball (just like Kelvin, haha) so from there I came up with this super clean, fun cake featuring he signature grey/black trim, a red jumpman and a mini basketball topper. 

Here are the original sketches for the cake when I wanted to make a little mini-guy but in the end we decided a more general b-ball theme would be best. Also decided on the second sketch to go with using the jumpman as the "T" which I thought was a fun way to incorporate him. 

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Here is the final cake that I passed off for birthday celebrations! I'm pretty happy with it considering this was all just ingredients a day ago. Hehe. Happy Birthday Justin!  (Sorry Kelvin, this cake isn't for you.) 

 

Kimchi Twists

One of my favorite things about living in LA is seriously all the readily available and authentic Korean food in K-town. It's no more than a 35 minute drive and then you're in heaven!! Don't get me wrong, Chinese food and flavors will always have my heart but I've been on a Korean food kick for the last 3 years that only seems to be growing and growing. If you ever want my favorites, message me and I'm happy to provide you with a healthy list of specialty stews, hand cut noodle places, the BEST k-bbq and of course tofu restaurants. 

When I found out I was on the show, I really wanted to showcase Korean flavors somewhere on the menu since it's such an influence on my pallet in the recent years. The savory hors devour challenge was perfect! Since then, I don't have a reason to make 36 tartlets for anyone so I adapted my recipe for just making these highly addictive and delicious kimchi twists! 

These are a great recipe for pairing with your cheese and charcuterie platters or just to have as little snack bites!! The kimchi takes on a new flavor when it's baked and rolled into all this amazing butter goodness. It's not overly KIMCHI in your face just as an FYI. It's more like an acidic, salty aftertaste. So so good! Give it a shot! 

Kimchi Twists
Makes about 3 dozen 4" twists or 15-20 long twists. 

Kimchi butter:

  • 226g of European butter, 8 oz - slightly softened but not fully soft
  • 1 cup of mat napa cabbage kimchi, pureed 
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Kimchi Dough: 

  • 2 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2/3 cup of ice water

Other: 

  • 1 egg 
  • 1-2 tablespoons of kimchi puree leftover juice 

Make the lean dough: 

1. In a small bowl, prepare ice cold water. In a medium stainless steel mixing bowl, mix flour and salt together. Add a couple of tablespoons of water at a time and fluff the dough with your fingers and keep your fingers loose using a scooping motion. Do not get any ice into the dough. 

2. Continue until alternating adding water and scooping flour together until the flour comes together in large pieces and holds together when pressed.

3. Shape dough into a square and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. It’s ok if it is shaggy and not clean looking.

Make the kimchi butter:

1. Cream the butter in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for a couple minutes until light and fluffy. You don't want this to become completely whipped since you're just trying to break it down a bit. 

2. Take the kimchi and blend it with a food processor until fine. Strain out all the liquid from the puree and set aside. You will end up using some of this later. 

3. Add kimchi, salt and black pepper to butter and beat together until just incorporated. 

4. With a spatula, remove butter mixture from mixing bowl and place on a large piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap to form into a square block that is 4” by 4”. Wrap and put it into the fridge to chill for at least 30-45 minutes or till hard. 

Making Kimchi Dough:

1. Roll out the lean dough to approx. 7” x 7” square.

2. Remove the butter and place as a diamond on the square dough so it’s at a 90 degree angle. Wrap the corners of the dough over the butter so they meet in the middle. Then pinch to seal and flip over so the seams are on the bottom. 

3. Next you will be preparing this similarly to how you make puff pastry. Complete First and Second Turns. Flour the surface lightly and flip the dough with butter over so the seams are facing the counter. Roll out to be a rectangle approx 12 inches by 6 inches wide. Fold it in thirds by the top third over the bottom third and bottom over the top third.

4. NOTE: Dough may be very wet because of the kimchi so just add flour at every spot that starts leaking or if butter breaks through skin. Make sure counter is properly floured at all times. Rotate the dough so it looks like a book then roll it out again into a rectangle of 12 x 6” and fold again. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Mark down that you’ve done 2 turns.

5. Complete Third & Fourth Turn: Repeat same rolling out and folding dough two more times. If any butter pops out cover it with a little flour.

6. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Mark down that you’ve done 4 turns.

7. Complete Fifth and Sixth Turns: Repeat same rolling out and folding dough two more times. If any butter pops out cover it with a little flour. Dough should be smooth and easy to roll out.

8. Chill for 1 hour in plastic wrap.

Baking the Kimchi Twists:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 F / 218 C. Prepare baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

2. Roll out the pastry dough so the dough is between 1/4 and 1/8 inches thick. Then cut out desired shapes/size strips using a floured pizza cutter. 

3. Prepare your egg wash by mixing 1-2 tablespoons of kimchi juice to your beaten egg. Place kimchi strips on the baking sheets by twisting and then lightly pressing the ends down on the sheet. Brush each twist with your kimchi egg wash. Don't cover too much with the egg wash, just brush lightly. 

4. Place cut pastry back into the freezer to chill/firm slightly for 5-10 minutes. Bake for 15-25 minutes at 375 F and plan to flip the twists at least once half way through baking. 

5. Cool baked twists completely on a cooling rack then enjoy!! Keep in an airtight container if storing for 5 days. 

 

New Kids on the Block Cake

I'm always excited for new challenges with cake commissions whenever I get a brief from someone. This time, it was New Kids on the Block!! I will say I was way more of a BSB fan since I was too young to appreciate NKOTB but it did prep me for the long teen years where I was a dedicated BSB and N'Sync fan. 

I remember I had a Jordan Knight doll cause I liked that he had black hair and could be matched up with my Barbies vs. having blonde Ken dolls. I was such a rebel at 5yrs old. (HA.) Of course we all sang along.... "Ooohh oh ohhh oh oh.. THE RIGHT STUFF!"

The most difficult part of this design was finding what outfits I can use to differentiate these guys and make it semi-apparent who each of them are. There's Jordan, Joey and Donny... the other two guys I can honestly say no one remembers them, right? They were the most difficult and I kinda just found some photos of them wearing similar-ish colors as these. :-/

This lovely NKOTB cake was chocolate with an OREO swiss meringue buttercream. So so so delish... and kinda like eating an Oreo Mc Flurry cream cake :D.