Sweets

This is one of my favorite cakes.

You can really enjoy the orange flavor, and it’s perfect for orange lovers like us.

But to make this cake, I wanted to use organic oranges.

So when I got these in the package from fruitfarmfolks (you can find them on Instagram), I knew it was time.

I didn’t know what kind of orange, so I asked them.

They said these are “Phu Rue” orange, originally from Loei province (I love learning about the food I eat!).

As the name suggests, you use everything, including the peel.

Interestingly, you use almond meal and no flour for this cake, which results in a uniquely moist cake.

This was sooo good!

The orange flavor bursts in your mouth.

I used this recipe.

I’ve made the same cake before using a different pan – take a look here.

This time because the oranges I used had thinner (small amount) peel and there was more moisture compared to the navel orange I used (and the recipe calls for), I had to bake the cake much longer.

The look and the texture of the final result was a little different from my previous one, but it was nonetheless scrumptious.

I tried taking pictures in various spots, but this spot seems to get the best lighting.

I made a new batch of vegan butter for this too.

I have tweaked my favorite recipe, and finally I wrote down how I make my favorite version (softer/spreadable).

I knew this flavor combination of coffee and cardamom would be something I like, and I was not wrong.

Ground cardamom was something I needed to order from an online shop because I couldn’t find it at any stores, but again online shops came to my rescue.

My TWG Grand Wedding tea was a perfect beverage to enjoy with the donuts.

I used this recipe as the base for these donuts.

I didn’t have applesauce, so I grated a fresh apple myself.

The recipe said you could make 8 donuts, but for some reason I ended up only with six, which actually worked out just fine because I could only make 6 with my pan.

I had craving for an almond cake, and I was lucky to find a vegan recipe that looked promising.

It took me a while to get all the ingredients, but finally I was ready.

It’s a bit challenging to find so-called Western food in Bangkok, but if you look hard enough, you can find almost everything.

I had to order this pure almond extract online, but it’s okay.

Delivery is usually pretty fast.

The cake came out of the oven, looking very good.

I had a perfect tea to enjoy the cake with.

It was a gift from a friend.

I love TWG.

I was initially thinking about serving the cake with some kind of sauce or cream, but honestly, I didn’t need anything.

Or I should say I didn’t want anything.

This cake is so perfect that you want to enjoy it as is.

It has the perfect sweetness.

The texture is spot-on, moist but not dense.

It’s a must-try for anyone who likes almond flavored baked sweets.

It’s simple yet elegant and tastes like a cake from a fancy pastry shop.

Here is a link to the recipe.

Some of my favorite recipes are from this site.

I really appreciate the weather here in Bangkok, especially coming from Minnesota, where it’s -19C degrees currently!

Being able to enjoy the sunshine like this daily is good for my soul. 🙂

I like baking, and I think homemade sweets are the best (if I can say that myself :)).

But since there are only two people in our household, I hesitate to make a large amount unless I can freeze it.

Taiyaki is a good choice when you just want a little something for a snack.

It looks fancy, but it’s actually pretty easy to make (as long as you have filling ready) with this trusted Taiyaki pan which I brought from the U.S.

Traditionally, Taiyaki is filled with sweet “Azuki” bean paste, but since I had beautiful black beans from Happy Grocers, I used them, and it worked perfectly.

I was planning to have custard cream as well, so instead of making bean “paste”, I sweetened the beans but kept the shape of the beans to give a nice texture to the custard cream.

When we were at one of our favorite beverage places, Yuzu House, the other day, we saw this being sold on the counter.

I love yuzu, and this dried yuzu peel was full of flavor, slightly sweetened, and absolutely delicious.

(I will definitely buy more next time we go there.)

So I decided to add this to my Taiyaki to give a little twist.

There are so many different recipes for Taiyaki batter, but I like this recipe (Japanese) because it creates the crispy (vs. soft) texture; the recipe does not call for eggs, and that is probably one of the reasons for this particular texture.

The recipe calls for cake flour.

In my pantry I only keep all-purpose flour and bread flour, so I “made” cake flour by adding a little corn starch to my all-purpose flour.

Also, I used honey in place of mirin, which I don’t keep in my pantry either.

The ingredients are important, but pouring the batter “thin” is equally important to create the crispiness.

For the vegan custard cream I used my go-to recipe.

(I used oat milk and soy milk both (I didn’t have enough soy milk) this time, which is why the color is a little darker. It still tasted great though.)

I hope you can tell how crispy it is from this photo.

The extra edges are the best part!

And the filling was SO GOOD!

I LOVED the combination of creamy custard cream, sweet black beans, and slightly bitter but refreshing yuzu peels.

Hapy New Year!

Wishing everyone a healthy, joyful, and peaceful year. 🙏

Biscotti is one of my favorite snacks to make.

It looks fancy with the Italian name, and when you hear you have to bake it “twice” you may quickly assume it may be hard to make.

But it’s probably one of the easiest things to make.

I was craving for biscotti with nuts, and I was happy with the result.

The only thing that could have been better was almond extract.

Extracts in general is a bit challenging to find in Bangkok, but I recently found a baking specialty shop that sells pure almond extract.

I think it’s time for me to check out the shop.

I used this recipe (Japanese) as a base.

It was tasty (the right sweetness too), and I will use it again.

I brought a few baking pans from the U.S., and the brownie pan was one of them.

It took a while, but finally I got to use it in Bangkok.

This brand has several options of vegan chocolate, and we like it.

This was the first time I found this with hazelnuts, and I thought it would be fun to add this to brownies.

I always like nuts in brownies, and this hazelnut version was excellent.

I used my favorite vegan brownies recipe.

I didn’t follow the directions very well, but it still turned out great (except that this didn’t get the shiny top because of my skipping some steps, I’m sure).

I really enjoy eating it with a cup of black coffee.

But I might reduce the amount of sugar next time.

(It’s funny I didn’t think it was overly sweet before. Maybe it’s because the sweets we eat here in Bangkok is overall less sweet than the sweets in the U.S., and I got used to less sweet sweets?)

When everyone else is posting pictures of pumpkin food, this may look out of place this time of the year.

But it’s still hot in Bangkok, and I continue to crave for the flavors of tropical fruits.

I don’t have a green thumb, but my mint is doing very well.

It’s so nice to be able to use herbs that I grow myself.

Chopped fresh mint was added to the donut batter.

This is my donut pan from the U.S.

Yes, it traveled with me from Minnesota.

(They do sell donut pans here in Bangkok in case you are wondering.)

But there was a little issue with the pan.

It was a bit too big for my oven.

After trying different angles, I figured with this angle I was able to completely close the oven door.

I just needed another pan to support it at the bottom.

For the mango glaze I combined 100% mango powder, powdered sugar, and lemon juice.

This was sweet (but not too sweet), tart, and full of mango flavor.

So good!

The donuts did not get the brown color or the firm texture I wanted, unfortunately.

I suspect it might have resulted from… there was another pan below when baked, the oven was not fully pre-heated, or/and I didn’t mix the batter well enough.

They still tasted good though.