Spring is finally here! I hope you’re enjoying the warmer weather of the season like I do. Today, I’ve a whimsical and super fun recipe prepared for you to welcome Spring! Check out this Mixed Fruit Jelly Cake (櫻花雜果大菜糕) recipe. It’s gorgeous, refreshing, and definitely a perfect treat for your tea party or any typical afternoon tea! It’s gorgeous enough for gatherings and simple enough to prepare even on a weekday!
This is a 2-layers dessert, the bottom layer is a Sakura (Cherry Blossom) milk jelly layer. I used Sakura paste to flavor this layer and enhanced the color with my homemade beet root natural food coloring. I’ll list the ingredients and link to the beet root color recipe at the end of the post for your convenience. In this recipe, I used some milk in the Sakura layer. You can substitute with soy milk or almond milk for a vegan version.
The top layer of this dessert is a simple clear jelly. But before I added the jelly, I arranged some mixed fruits in between the 2 layers. I used strawberries, blueberries, green grapes and tangerines for a variety of colors and flavors. You can simply choose any fresh fruit that you enjoy.
If you’ve already watched my video tutorial, you’ll see the Jelly cake mold that I used for this recipe. It’s originally made for creating “sushi cake”! Of course I couldn’t help but used it to make a dessert dish with this mold first! However, I think a sushi in cake form would be something different and just as refreshing and delicious too! What do you think? Interested to see a tutorial on that? Simply leave me a message on this post to let me know and you might get your wish granted!
I hope you enjoy today’s recipe and tutorial. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more fun and easy recipe next week!
We’ve been enjoying the warmer weather of Spring here in Southern California. Well, it’s actually more like Summer temperatures! It’s nice to see some sunshine rather than rain storms for sure. Today, I have a fun and adorable recipe to share with you to welcome Spring! Check out these Easter Bunny Vanilla Bean Cupcakes! Yes, they sure are perfect for the Easter celebrations as well.
Check out my video tutorial above if you haven’t done so. I’ll walk you through, step-by-step, on how to make these cuties, including the Bunny Butt White Chocolate decorations on top of these cupcakes. They are filled with Oreo cookie crumbs inside! Just the white chocolate alone makes a delicious treat.
The base is a Vanilla Bean Cupcake that I made from scratch. These cupcakes are surprisingly easy to prepare and they turned out fluffy, light, and moist! Best of all, this recipe makes exactly 12 cupcakes! You can easily double or triple the recipe if you’re making them for a party.
These cupcakes are topped with a Sweet Vanilla Bean Frosting. I piped the frosting with a Wilton Grass piping tip to mimic the fluffy fur of the bunnies. I’ll list the tools that I used at the end of the post for your reference. If you have a sweet tooth, this is a wonderful smooth and sweet frosting that you’re going to love. But if you prefer a not-too-sweet frosting, you can actually use my Swiss Meringue Vanilla Bean Buttercream recipe instead. Click here to check out that recipe if you’re interested.
See how light and fluffy the cupcakes and frosting turned out!? Each bite is packed with vanilla goodness. You’ll be amazed by how combining a few simple ingredients can turn out to be something so scrumptious!
Here’s the inside look of the Oreo filled white chocolate bunny (see picture above). As I said, it’s super cute and delicious on its own. But they sure make the most adorable topper for these cupcakes.
I hope you enjoy today’s recipe and tutorial! Stay tuned for more fun and festive recipe next week!
Easter Bunny Vanilla Bean Cupcakes: Makes 12 cupcakes Ingredients for the Oreo Filled Bunny Butt White Chocolate:
6 ounces of white chocolate
6 Oreo Cookies, finely crushed
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon pink luster dust
To Prepare the Bunny Butt Chocolate:
Temper and melt the white chocolate (https://goo.gl/Tevin2). Fill the bunny candy mold with a teaspoon of melted chocolate. With the back of a spoon, spread the melted chocolate to coat the mold.
You only want a thin layer of chocolate, carefully spoon out any excess. Let it set at room temperature for a few minutes. Apply a second coating of chocolate into the cavities of the mold.
When chocolate is completely set. Fill each cavity with half a teaspoon of crusted Oreo. Top the Oreo with remaining white chocolate and let chocolate set completely. Invert the mold and the chocolate should come out easily.
In a small dish, mix the lemon extract and luster dust with a small cake decorating brush. Paint the paws of the bunny chocolate with the pink luster dust mixture. Store in air tight container until ready to use.
Ingredients for the Vanilla Cupcakes:
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
a pinch of kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon plain yogurt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste To Prepare the Vanilla Cupcakes:Preheat your oven to 350F. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
In a large measuring cup, add milk, oil, butter, yogurt, egg, and vanilla bean paste. Whisk until well combined. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Turn mixer on low speed and mix for a minute to combine.
Add the milk mixture into the stand mixer in a slow and steady stream. Scrape the sides and bottle of the bowl and mix for another 20 seconds.
With a large ice cream scoop, fill each cupcake liner 3/4 of the way. Bake for 20-25 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack completely before frosting. Ingredients for the Fluffy Vanilla Bean Frosting:12 tablespoons softened unsalted butter (room temperature)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste To Prepare the Fluffy Vanilla Bean Frosting:In a large bowl, sift powdered sugar and set aside.
In the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter for 5 minutes until fluffy and pale.
Add half of the powdered sugar and whisk well. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the remaining half of the powdered sugar. Add milk and vanilla bean paste. Continue beating the frosting for another 5 minutes or until light, smooth, and fluffy. To Assemble:
Place frosting into a large piping bag fitted with the Wilton #233 grass icing tip. Fill the pastry bag with frosting and pipe frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. Top with decorated bunny chocolate and bunny ears tooth picks. Enjoy!
St. Patrick’s Day is only a week away! Today, I want to share a fun and easy recipe with you. Check out these Crispy Matcha Green Tea Waffles (香脆綠茶窩夫)! I love the natural green hue from the matcha powder and the festive shape of the waffles!
The waffle batter is quite simple to prepare. Check out my video tutorial above if you haven’t done so. The key to make a beautiful waffle is to use room temperature ingredients so that your batter will be nicely incorporated. It’s okay to have a few small lumps in your batter. Because if you over-mixed your batter, your waffles might turn out chewy, and there’s no way to fix it!
You can serve these waffles for breakfast, snacks, or afternoon tea. The green tea flavor in this particular recipe is not overly strong. If you want a more pungent matcha aroma, you can add up to 1 tablespoon more of matcha powder in your batter. I personally don’t want the matcha flavor to be too strong though, especially when I am also dusting additional matcha powder on top when I serve them. No matter if you like the aroma light or strong, serving these waffles with the warm maple syrup is a must! The slightly earthy flavor from maple syrup compliments the green tea aroma nicely.
As you can see from my video, I recently order this waffle maker online. The shape of the whole waffle reminds me of the shamrock. Alternatively, you can cut them into smaller heart shapes! Best of all, the machine is easy to use and the waffles came out nice and crispy! Check out the link at the end of this post to find out where to get yours! What special treats are you making for St. Patrick’s Day? Leave a comment below to let me know. I can’t wait to hear from you!
Have you ever tried Coffee (flavored) Jelly? It’s a popular treat in Asia Countries, especially during the warmer seasons of Spring and Summer. The very first time I had it was years ago when I traveled to Japan. By following my video tutorial and recipe, you can easily make it at home now! Much easier than flaying across the globe, isn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy travelling!
This Coffee Jelly is a light and refreshing treat to prepare for parties and/or everyday enjoyment. I like my homemade version because I can control the sweetness in my dessert and use the coffee beans that I love. I usually like my coffee dark, strong, and with low acidity level. After all these years of drinking coffee in the morning (probably the only way to really wake my mind up), I realized grinding the coffee beans right before brewing yields the best earthy and rich aroma from the beans. If you’re not doing that yet, I really encourage you to invest in a coffee grinder and grind up the beans right before brewing! It’s totally worth the time and efforts!
As always, I don’t like my dessert overly sweet. Therefore, the sweetness in this Coffee Jelly recipe is only minimal. If you prefer a sweeter taste, you can add a little bit more sugar to adjust it to your own preference. Or even add a splash of agave before serving.
In today’s video tutorial (see the link above), I demonstrated 2 ways of serving this Coffee Jelly treat. One is in the small individual serving glass, topped with freshly whipped cream, a coffee bean, and a spring of mint for garnish. It’s gorgeous enough to serve for parties and gatherings, but extremely easy to prepare. It’s such a delightful dessert that serves the duty of both after meal coffee and dessert at the same time!
The second way to serve this Coffee Jelly is to chill the mixture in a container, cut it up into small cubes, and add a splash of evaporated milk to serve. I personally prefer the later version because I always love a little creaminess in my coffee. Notice the pinch of salt that I added in this recipe? This will help balance the flavor and to offset the acidity in your coffee. I hope you enjoy today’s recipe and tutorial. Stay tuned for more fun a delicious recipe next week!
