Welcome back!  Today, we have a cake featuring an interesting fruit: the fig! Figs are typically eaten dried or in some processed form because they don't stay fresh for long, so making this dish out of fresh figs was quite nice. Once completed, the fig flavor blends in very well with the rest of the cake and creates a dessert that is flavorful but not overly rich. Fig Crème Fraîche Cake Makes a 9" cake Ingredients: 1/2 pound figs, quartered (if you have big figs, maybe 6-8 slices) 120 grams cake flour 50 grams almond flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 50 grams sugar 60 grams honey 120 grams crème fraîche 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier 1/2 cup melted butter Directions: In a bowl, sift in the dry ingredients (cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt). Mix this together. In another bowl, put in the sugar, honey, and crème fraîche, and mix them together.  One add a time, add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Add in the vanilla ...

Welcome back!  Today, we have an interesting French dessert: Far Breton! It hails from one of the most interesting regions of France, Brittany, which is known for its very distinct culture and language, as the residents descended from the British isles rather than the mainland. For Britons, "far", or actually "farz", refers to a flan-like dish. This version, which is traditional to the region, features plums soaked in alcohol, with armagnac being a popular choice. Far Breton Makes a 10" by 8" dish Ingredients: 3 eggs 1/3 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract A pinch of salt 2 cups milk 120 grams flour 4 tablespoons butter, melted 24 prunes 1/2 cup rum Directions: Prepare the prunes by soaking them in the rum. You'll want to leave them in the rum for 2 to 3 days for the flavor to get in. If you don't want the alcohol flavor, you can soak the prunes in hot water for maybe 30 minutes and they'll be soft enough. In a bowl, crack in the eggs and whis...

Welcome back!  Today, we have another variation on the financier ! This time, we're adding a little bit of matcha to add a spin on the flavor. However, unlike our previous Chocolate Financiers , the flavors of the matcha and the inherent almond flavor of the financier do blend, and actually complement each other quite well. It's an interesting fusion of French baking and Asian flavors. Matcha Financiers Makes 9 financiers Ingredients: 60 grams powdered sugar 30 grams almond flour 25 grams cake flour 5 grams matcha powder 1/8 teaspoon baking powder 2 large egg whites (about 60-65 grams) 50 grams brown butter 1 teaspoon honey Directions: Prepare the brown butter, following the instruction on the recipe here . Beat the egg whites until smooth. Add the honey into the egg mixture and mix until smooth. Sift the cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, matcha powder, and sugar into a bowl. While mixing, slowly pour the sifted dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Again, while mixing,...

Welcome back!  Today, we have another delicious cheesecake. Over the course of the blog, we've made a lot of different cheesecakes involving all different sorts of  variations. So this time, we decided to use a recipe adapted from the Japanese bakery Mr. Cheesecake, who released a recipe for their cheesecake. Their cheesecakes look heavenly, so of course, we had to try it ourselves! Gourmet Creamy Cheesecake Ingredients: 1 8-ounce box cream cheese 60 grams sugar 100 grams whipping cream 50 grams white chocolate 1/4 vanilla bean pod 2 egg yolks 230 grams plain Greek yogurt 9 grams lemon juice 20 grams corn starch Directions: Prepare the first mixture: In a double boiler, put the cream cheese and sugar together and mix until soft. Prepare the second mixture: In a pot, pour in the whipping cream and white chocolate.  Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape the seeds into the pot. Put the pod into the pot. Put this on the stove at low heat until bubbles start to form on the ed...