I saw a jumble of thoughts unravel into half-finished sentences in my head then suffocated the mental delete button before they could even materialize into black spots of digital data juxtaposed against the bright white of the wordpress editor. “Going back to basics…”, “I’ve not updated this blog in 5 months but hey how’s it […]
Author: Amanda
summer again // white chocolate cheese terrine
It’s not yet officially summer but it sure feels like it already – and I’m utterly living for it.
brownie but better // dark chocolate cherry cake
Oddly, I felt like typing up a rather lengthy side story a few hours ago but now I would rather just talk about this cake, which would take just a moment really because there are not many words needed.
flowers make everything look better // vanilla kiwi tarts
So as you can tell from the very innovative title, today’s post is going to be all about waxing lyrical about the beauty of edible flowers and how they elevate a rather plain appearance to something that looks a thousand times more gorgeous.
information overload // matcha mixed berries muffins
Looking back, I’ve always favoured a minimalist approach to pictures, both mine and others’. Usually that entails having an unadorned white background and containing very few elements aside from the ones in focus. I guess it’s because these pictures stand out in a society so cluttered with information that it would reach its breaking point […]
favorites // caramel mousse banana cake with salted caramel espresso sauce
There are some things that are just unwaveringly delicious – the combination of coffee and caramel, caramel and banana… this banana bread recipe specifically.
we live and we learn // mocha cream cheese ombré cake
Lately I’ve been thinking, reflecting, assessing in overdrive. I feel like I rotated an imaginary hourglass more times than I should – I gave myself too much time to accomplish too little. And yet when I look back on my writing, on my pictures, on memories of past actions till this very moment, I cringe […]
when life hands you cookies // brownie cupcakes with whipped ganache frosting
In the logical mind of a baker, when one is gifted cute cookies, one does not simply eat them – there is an unspoken sense of duty to maximise their existence by using them as finishing touches to cupcakes only so worthy.
cloudy day baking // mixed berries cream cheese coffee cake
Every once in a while I would step into my living room in mid-afternoon when the sun is customarily at its warmest and brightest only to find it tinged in muted grey, as though the heavy clouds outside that were about to give way to a million rain droplets floated their way indoors. Last Saturday […]
sugar, spice and everything nice // apple vanilla bean cheesecake
Nope not out of flowers yet. Not even close.
order amongst chaos // matcha flower cookies
There is something about the pattern of repetition that attracts the human eye. I present my case.
reflection // pistachio ice cream (sans ice cream maker)
After a bit more than two decades of existing on planet Earth, making a list of things to accomplish during the next 364 days on the first of January every year has long passed the stage of being tired to being a source of casual amusement and now, non-existence. Not so much because rules are […]
merry christmas // wreath tart
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! Just casually sharing this year’s Christmas dessert on the 28th of December – a fruit tart imitating a wreath, an idea I found on Instagram a while back – because as I like to believe, Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a frame of mind. Tragically, the […]
setting sun // fig and cinnamon honey scones
These wintry days, at 3pm my living room is already awash with orange-y gold rays that are occasionally mixed with a tinge of pink, if I’m lucky. It’s a gorgeous sight, but now I have a precious few hours to work with before the sun retires for the day during which the lighting seems to […]
cool lava // chocolate tea creme brûlée cocoa tartlets
It’s finally a week till Christmas! The holiday of presents wrapped with sheer sparkly ribbons, when strings of lights illuminate the streets in festive hues wherever you go, of familiar tunes sung by the most angelic voices, trees with their forest green branches decked out in glittery elaborate baubles of red, gold, and silver, and […]
contrasts // fig and cream cheese cocoa tarts
I quickly scrolled though my recent blog posts lately and I realised to myself that it must seem like I am oddly constantly busy, although I assure you that that is not exactly the case, since I had a two-month summer break over August and September yet I didn’t bake at all. It keeps happening […]
first figs // fig and pear charlotte
So we said goodbye to summer a while back, and fall is fast fading away. In fact as I type, it’s a cool six degrees outside. Granted it’s also 11:37 PM. But it would be hard to deny that the winter cold is quickly creeping up on us and so I decided that I could […]
uniformity // matcha white chocolate financiers
Here is my attempt to bring back the lava cake trend. I kid. Or at least in part.
parallel // lemon blueberry layer cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting
I wish I could offer more in the way of prose but it’s exam season and the clock is ticking so I hope that the pictures are sufficiently descriptive. In essence, five years ago on my previous blog I made a strawberry white chocolate layer cake that was extremely well received for reasons I still […]
summer yellow // lemon pistachio madeleines
These seasonal references just won’t stop but I guess it’s hard to when your baking choices draw so much inspiration from what’s currently available in the supermarkets. Summer flavours don’t necessarily stop at citrus – there are so many other fruits without that telltale tartness that are also strong summer contenders – but if there […]
keep calm and // pistachio chocolate crepe cake
Not that I mean to start off the post negatively, but making crepe cakes are more suited to be a wintertime activity – if you get my drift – which makes the flavour profile of this cake very befitting if I do say so myself.
pretty things // pistachio cherry macarons
A quick post – regrettably – for a busy week. But next week there’ll be time to breathe, so there will be cake. And lots of it.
macro // jasmine macarons x mango coconut pudding
I got a new macro lens! Innovative title I know but that’s sort of the secondary focus of this post (after the dessert itself) because all these pictures are taken with the new lens. It’s strangely challenging to adjust to – the angle at which I have to shoot from is so different from when […]
summer awaits // coconut kiwi swiss roll
It wasn’t my intention to proceed into the realm of summer themed bakes just yet seeing that we still have two weeks of spring left, but kiwis are in season after all, and surely coconut and then rum follows after.
locating light // viennese sablé sandwiches with cinnamon rum raisin buttercream
Contrary to what the title might suggest, there is no deep philosophical meaning behind my attempt to locate a pleasant source of light for photography, although I could certainly contrive one, but perhaps on another day apart from this Friday night on which my frazzled brain is proving more unreliable by the second.
twenty one // baileys mocha cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and chocolate baileys glaze
So over two weeks ago marked the first day of the 21st year I have been inhaling oxygen on planet Earth. Brilliant.
the little details // strawberry cheese caramelised almond tart
I never knew that exploring the fruit section of a supermarket could be such fun until I came to Tokyo, and so full of surprises too. Sometimes you’ll find row upon row of apples sectioned by variety, which amounts to no less than five, and sometimes you’ll find these – baby strawberries of a vibrant […]
new beginnings // marble chocolate strawberry cake
In a time of a conspicuous shift towards social media as a preferred outlet for the disseminating and digesting of information, I deliberated for weeks on end on the plausible returns of starting a new blog. But here I am, with this site, so I guess the verdict is that it is a non-issue. Blogging has always been something […]