This cake was for my dad’s birthday, which I remembered just in time. With about an hour left in the day. I was just shocked because I never forget, but I guess October just crept in on me.
It’s hard baking for my parents, because they don’t actually like sweets and desserts. Last year while in Paris, I got some pastries from Pierre Hermé as my “birthday cake”, which I freaked out over the entire time eating it (as you can imagine)– scrutinizing and appreciating every component, every layer, every texture. I was so excited. Then my dad said something along the lines of, “this is good, but I’d rather eat lobster”. Um, excuse you dad, but lobsters are BORN delicious (sorry vegetarians/vegans)… these pastries had to be conceived, developed and refined, sourcing the best ingredients, until perfection was attained. Anyway, my point is, it’s really hard to impress my parents with sweet things.
Despite knowing he’d rather have lobster, I thought that at least I’ll make his cake with familiar flavours– matcha and black sesame.