It’s almost Christmas and I can’t even believe it! Where has December even gone?! Most years I feel like I end up having the opportunity to meet up with a lot of friends in December at parties and such so I have plentiful excuses to make holiday-themed treats to share, but this year I feel like I’ve done nothing but work, and the only treats I made and distributed were the gingerbread rum “Sandy Claus” cake pops I uploaded last week. That just didn’t seem like enough to me and I was searching for an excuse to make at least one more simple thing, so when one of my coworkers was lamenting that she had never seen marzipan for sale in Japan and she missed it at Christmastime, that gave me the idea to try to make it myself. Marzipan is a popular European confection made from ground almonds and sugar with a texture a bit like Japanese “an” (sweet bean paste). It is typically colored and formed into the shape of fruit, flowers, plants, and the like to be used as decorations like on bûche de Noël (yule log) cakes, used inside of other sweets like chocolates or stollen (German fruit cake), or rolled out and used in place of icing to cover cakes. While it is by no means strictly a Christmas treat (especially in Europe), it’s used in so many Christmas treats that it has a Christmas image at least in the US and can even be purchased premade. However, it is really very easy to make even here in Japan, and is cute and tasty enough to be eaten on its own when shaped into these little mushrooms and dipped in chocolate, so if you’re looking for a simple yet cute last minute holiday treat that doesn’t even require an oven, give these a try★[Continue Reading/続きを読む]
Gingerbread Rum “Sandy Claus” Cake Pops
I don’t know about you, but I am the kind of person that loves all of the creepy baking, DIY, and costuming fun of the Halloween season so much that I never want it to end and always spend a good part of November in a disappointed, uninspired funk. In fact, I couldn’t even get myself in the mood to bake or post any recipes for the entirety of November 2015. However, December is finally upon. Meaning it’s almost Christmas. Meaning it is once again seasonally appropriate to make The Nightmare Before Christmas-themed baked goods! These spooky little cake pops are filled with Christmas-y gingerbread cake festively spiked with spiced rum frosting and dressed up as Jack Skellington’s rendition of “Sandy Claus,” so if you too like a little Halloween in your Christmas, whip up a batch of these and get to “making Christmas” Halloween Town style★
Spooky Skull and Bewitching Black Candy Apples
Happy Halloween! Unfortunately, work kept me too busy to do nearly as much Halloween baking as I had wanted to this year, but I wanted to make at least one more quick treat to celebrate my favorite season, so I made and decorated some spooky candy apples. These pack quite a visual punch yet are so simple to make that even people who don’t like or aren’t good at baking could easily make them up before donning their costumes on All Hallow’s Eve, so if you’re looking for a last-minute Halloween treat to whip up that doesn’t even require an oven, give these a try★
Margarita Skull Cakes
Long time no blog! What has it been? 5+ months?! I apologize for the long absence, but between my trip to Germany back in May, training a new team at work, moving to a new (and much larger!) apartment at the beginning of August, and multiple overseas business trips this autumn, I have hardly had any time at all to bake, let a lone blog about it. To be honest, things haven’t really calmed down all that much on the day job front, but October is already upon us and it would be a complete waste to let my beloved Halloween season go by without baking up some spooks. Luckily, one of my spooky-inclined friends has a mid-October birthday, giving me the perfect opportunity to break in my new mini skull cake pan and kick-off the Halloween baking season in style. The tequila and lime flavors I decided to go with for these margarita-inspired cakes may be a bit of a departure from the usual pumpkin-y, spicy fall flavors, but the bright flavor of lime with a tequila kick is a refreshing treat any time of year, so I definitely recommend these margarita skulls to anyone looking to make something a little different this Halloween★[Continue Reading/続きを読む]
Matcha Cupcakes with Sakura Liqueur Frosting and Filling
Taking a shot at macaron-making was certainly a good experience, but they are definitely more difficult to make with less room for experimentation in terms of ingredients than my go-to cupcakes. As such, when I received an invitation to my friend’s house party I knew it was time to go back to my old stand-by the mini “cocktail cupcake” as those require minimal fuss and the possibilities for experimentation and creative recipe customization are nearly endless. Said house party was being held to celebrate his 2,000th day (5.5 years) living in Japan as well as birthday, so I figured it would be thematically appropriate to make a cupcake inspired by Japanese flavors and went with matcha green tea cupcakes filled with sakura liqueur pastry cream and topped with sakura liqueur butter cream frosting. The result was the beauty of contrast in cupcake form: the less-sweet flavor of the matcha cupcakes paired nicely with the fruity sweetness of the sakura liqueur frosting and pastry cream, not to mention the natural green of the cupcakes made for a beautiful contrast with the vibrant pink icing. These were by far my best-received cupcakes to date, so do yourself a favor and give this feast for your eyes and your stomach a try for yourself★[Continue Reading/続きを読む]
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