Weight Training Cake

For a weight training class for runners. It was Mango Mousse Cake, with swiss meringue buttercream for the running tracks, and fondant for the runner and weighs.

Running Club Cake

For my local running club, BURN, 7th anniversary party. It was 1/2 sheet Matcha Chiffon Cake with red bean buttercream filling, and decorated with swiss meringue buttercream. The figures were made with fondant, grass and trail were made with Graham Cracker. 

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

I followed this recipe and used beet root powder instead of food color. The cookies were not as red as I expected. For a truly "red" velvet cookies, maybe this need more beet root powder or some food color. This definitely need some more experiments.

Ingredients

All purpose flout - 3 cups

Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup

Baking soda - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter - 1 cup, softened to room temperature
light or dark brown sugar - 1 and 1/2 cups, packed

Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup 
Egg - 2 large, at room temperature ( used egg replacer)
Milk or buttermilk - 2 TBSP

Pure vanilla extract - 4 tsp
Beet powder - 3 TBSP
Semi-sweet chocolate chips - 2 cups, plus a few extra for after baking

Yield about 40 cookies

Steps

1. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, beet powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed. Beat in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined and creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Once mixed, add the food coloring and beat until combined. Turn the mixer off and pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until a very soft dough is formed. On low speed, beat in the chocolate chips. The dough will be sticky.

3. Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (and up to 3 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow dough to sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. 

5. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Scoop 1.5 Tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Place 9 balls onto each baking sheet. Bake each batch for 13 minutes. The cookies may have only spread slightly, that’s ok. Simply press down on the warm cookies to slightly flatten, which helps form crinkles. If desired for looks, stick a few chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies.

6. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. (See step 3.) Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Click here for my tips and tricks on freezing cookie dough.

Roblox Avatar Cake

 For a Roblox fan's birthday with his own avatar. It is 1/4 sheet chocolate cake with swiss meringue buttercream. 

Mugwort Sticky Rice Ball (Green Rice Ball, 青团)

This is a traditional food to be consumed around Qingming festival, also known as Chinese Ancestors' Day. The rice ball is tinted green by mugwort. Mugwort is a flowering plant native to northern Europe, Asia, and parts of North America. The sage-colored plant is thought to prevent or treat health conditions like anxiety, digestion problems. The green color and refreshing taste is perfect to celebrate spring time.

Ingredients

Wheat starch (澄粉)- 90g

Boiling water - 150g

Glutinous rice flour (糯米粉) - 300g

Sugar - 45g

Oil - 15g, traditionally used lard

Mugwort Paste (艾草泥) - 270g

Red bean paste - 500g

Steps

1. I picked some Mugwort on a hike, only kept the young leaves, no stems. I collected about 75g worth. 

2.  Add washed Mugwort in a pot of boiling water, add 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, and cook for about 3 min; then soak in cold water for about 5 minutes; after rinse a few times, blend the grass into paste using Vitamix. Add some water if needed. I ended up with about 270g of green paste. 

3. In a small bowl, add 150g boiling water into 90g of wheat starch, mix until paste turns half translucent. Cover and set aside. 

4. In another mixing bowl, mix glutinous rice water with sugar and oil, add green paste, and mix with a chopstick. Finally add the half cooked wheat starch, and knead into a dough. Cover and set aside to rest.

5. Portion the red bean paste into 28g each, and dough into 45g each. Make the rice ball by wrapping filling inside the dough. Steam on high heat for about 10 minutes. 

6. Coat the rice balls with olive oil while they are hot. You can wrap each ball with shrink wrap and it will keep fresh for 3 days in room temperature. Or you can freeze them for up to 1 month.