vegan boba milk tea cake, a collaboration with twrl milk tea

Wow, has it really been a year and a half since my last post? I could blame it on the global pandemic I guess, but really even despite that craziness, life has just gotten so busy! Anyway, it's time for me to get back to posting, I have so much content! And I'm so excited to share my latest project and collaboration with Twrl milk tea! 

Twrl is 100% women-founded and a minority-owned beverage company right here in the bay area. Their milk teas are ready-to-drink, plant-based, made with organic fair-trade tea, dairy and allergen free. So if you're looking for milk tea on the go and something plant based, check them out!

I found out about Twrl through my old high school friend Olivia. (Actually, we go way back to elementary school! But we lost touch after high school and only recently reconnected.) She was curating a limited edition box of goodies to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Moon Festival, and proceeds would benefit the nonprofit organization Project EMplify and would feature AAPI-founded brands. I offered to contribute royal icing cookies decorated to look like mooncakes (will post on that later but you can see what they looked like here). After our collaboration, we decided that I could do another collaboration and actually bake something with Twrl milk tea. And thus, this cake was born!

For the cake, we decided it had to be vegan, since Twrl milk tea itself is plant-based. So I decided to do a take on my go-to vanilla cake (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book), make it vegan, and incorporate Twrl milk tea as the liquid! Twrl currently comes in three flavors - Original Black Tea, Supreme Jasmine, and Hojicha roasted green tea. I chose to use the Jasmine flavor because I loved the floral notes, and thought it would really stand out and be delicious in a cake like this.

So I baked my vegan milk tea cakes in four 4-inch round cake pans, and once they were cool I sliced each cake in half horizontally to give me 8 cake layers. Next up, the filling.

I usually like to fill my cakes with homemade whipped cream, but since this filling had to be vegan, I decided to do a vegan pastry cream instead, using an entire can of the Jasmine milk tea. Since I didn't want the pastry cream to spill over the sides of the cake (I learned that the hard way here), I knew I would need to pipe a ring of buttercream to contain the pastry cream.

Lately I have loved the taste and texture of Swiss meringue buttercream (recipe also in my book), and since Swiss mergingue buttercream is made with egg whites, I made it vegan by using aquafaba instead (the liquid that comes in a can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans). I had recently been experimenting with aquafaba because my toddler niece is allergic to egg whites, so my previous aquafaba trials came in handy here! And instead of butter, I turned to vegan butter (there are lots of brands out there but I used Earth Balance organic whipped buttery spread). 

After all the cake layers were stacked and filled, I covered the top and sides with my vegan buttercream, chilled it in the fridge for 30 minutes, and then did a second coat of buttercream. Next, I made eyes and a smile out of fondant, and attached them to my cake with a bit of the buttercream. Then I colored a few scoops of the buttercream using black and brown gel-based food coloring, as well as a few tablespoons of sifted dark cocoa powder to reduce the amount of food coloring used. Using a medium round tip, I piped little "boba tapioca balls" along the bottom of my cake. And finally, I topped the cake with a large boba straw placed at an angle.

Isn't it a cutie?!

You can find the recipe on the Twrl website! Also, if you are interested in trying their milk teas. Use the discount code IHEART on their site. Valid 10/20/21-10/27/21. Enjoy!

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A post shared by Michele Chock (@iheartbaking)

coffee chiffon cake with dark chocolate sail sculpture

I love to make birthday cakes for my friends, and at one point last year I became obsessed with making chocolate sculptures to decorate my birthday cakes with! I had seen it all over Instagram and fell in love with the way they added such artistry to cakes, in such a free-form and abstract way. 

The first of many chocolate sculpture cakes that I ended up making throughout the year, this one was for my friend Hsing, who I met at work years and years ago. At the time we were the only females on our team, and although we are no longer at the same company, we still make it a point to meet for lunches several times throughout the year.

I typically make chiffon cakes for Hsing, since she she likes the type of light and airy cake that you can commonly find at Asian bakeries. This time I decided to make a coffee chiffon cake, filled and frosted with espresso whipped cream.

I typically do a crumb coat of frosting, then let it chill in the fridge for at least a half our, before adding a second coat of frosting and smoothing it out completely with an offset spatula.

While the assembled and frosted cake chilled in the fridge, I got started on making the topper. In a double boiler, I melted dark chocolate with a bit of coconut oil, and then poured it out onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone liner. Then I positioned the silicone liner insde of a glass bowl, using binder clips to secure it in a way that would provide an interesting shape to the chocolate.

Once the chocolate had cooled, I removed the binder clips and carefully removed the silicone liner, giving me a chocolate sculpture!

I secured it to the top of the cake with a bit of the espresso whipped cream, and then it was done!

I love the simplicity of this type of decorative cake topper, plus it's edible!

Hope you had a Happy Birthday, Hsing!

boss baby first birthday cake

Along with "Inside Out" smash cake that I made for my friend Stephanie, I also made this "Boss Baby" smash cake for her son Jayden! Since her son totally looks like Boss Baby, she wanted to use a Funko Pop Boss Baby doll as the cake topper!

For Jayden's cake, we decided on vanilla cake simply filled with whipped cream, since he was just turning one and she wanted something semi-plain for him. So I baked up two 6-inch vanilla cakes (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!), allowed them to cool, and then sliced them i half horizontally to give me four cake layers. Then I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream. Since I was making two cakes, I totally forgot to take pictures of the cake stacking process, except for this one picture that I posted on Instagram (of the two cakes).

Once the cake was assembled, I covered it with cream cheese buttercream, and then using a medium round tip I piped a blue beaded border along the top and bottom of the cake.

Then I let it chill in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, I was ready to decorate! I started by piping Jayden's name on the front of the cake, as well as "Boss Baby" on the top of the cake (as requested by Stephanie!)

And then I was ready to add the cake topper!

It's ridiculous because it looks exactly like Jayden! (See the second to the last picture!)

Happy Birthday, Jayden! Hope you enjoyed your cake!

inside out cake

Some time ago, I made a "Tangled" Rapunzel cake for my friend Monica, and we used a Funko Pop Rapunzel doll as the cake topper. A few months later, my friend Stephanie asked me to make her daughter an "Inside Out" birthday smash cake, using a Funko Pop doll as well! Her daughter Riley's favorite character from the movie was "Disgust", so we chose that as the cake topper!

Since Disgust's colors were purple and green, she requested that layers of cake matched those colors, and so I baked up two 6-inch vanilla cakes, one tinted with violet and the other tinted with leaf green. (You can find the vanilla cake recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!) Then I sliced each cake in half horizontally, giving me four cake layers.

Next I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberries, alternating the purple and green cake layers.

Once the cake was assembled, I covered it with cream cheese buttercream (I do this in two steps - first a quick crumb coat, then chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, and then I add a second smooth coat of frosting, smoothing it out with a large offset spatula). Then I divided the remaning frosting, tinted them with red, yellow, blue, and green, and using a medium round tip, I piped a rainbow beaded border on the top and bottom of the cake.

After letting the cake chill in the refrigerator overnight, I was ready to finish decorating the next morning. First I piped Riley's name on the front of the cake ...

And then I added the cake topper. Since the base of the topper was pretty narrow, I couldn't find a good way secure it to the top of the cake, so I ended up melting some white chocolate, poured a dollop onto a silicone baking liner, and pressed the bottom of the topper into it while it was still melted. The once it hardened, it made a great flat and secure base for the topper to stay on the cake!

I just love these Funko Pop dolls! They are so adorable and they make great cake toppers!

I also made a second smash cake for Stephanie's son Jayden, because she was having one big party to celebrate both of her kids' birthdays! (More on that in my next post!)

Happy Birthday, Riley! Hope you enjoyed your cake!

succulent floral wreath cake

In continuing my obsession with making wreath cakes, I made a succulent version for my best friend Sue's birthday last March. And because when we were in high school, our favorite cake was always a mocha cake that my mom used to get for me, I decided to make her another coffee chiffon cake!

I started by baking my coffee chiffon in four 6-inch cake pans, and once they were cooled I filled them with espresso whipped cream. Then I covered the tops and sides of the cake with (non-espresso) whipped cream.

After smoothing it out with an offset spatula, I piped a ring on the top of the cake, as a way to prop up my pre-made buttercream succulent flowers. (You can read more on how I pipe my buttercream flowers here!)

Then I added the succulent flowers one by one, and filled in the gaps by piping buttercream leaves.

I thought it turned out rather pretty! Especially since I love succulents!

We celebrated her birthday by going out for hot pot, which was so much fun and so delicious!

Happy Birthday Sue!




Stay tuned to see what I ended up making for her this year!