Cake Baking 102: Coffee Shop Cakes & Desserts

Set the oven to 170 degrees and line the muffin tray with 15 cm square baking paper, pressed to fit for a snug, lift-ready castella liner.

Learn to make honey pastry cream by whisking egg yolk, honey, cornstarch, and sugar. Temper with hot milk and vanilla paste, cook until thick, then fold in butter and chill.

Combine egg yolk, egg, butter, honey, oil, salt, vanilla paste, and cake flour to form a honey-tossed batter. Melt butter to 80%, whisk until smooth, set aside, and boil water.

Learn to make soft medium meringue by whisking egg whites with lemon juice and adding sugar in three parts, then fold gently into batter and bake in a water bath.

Bake a soft, fluffy castella filled with silky pastry cream and honey, then finish by dusting icing sugar and testing doneness with a straw before serving at home.

Line and prepare cake tin for chocolate banana muffins, and learn how flour, sugar, bananas, chocolate, eggs, butter, oil, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda create rise and texture.

Chop dark chocolate (58%+), sieve dry ingredients, then blend butter, oil, egg, brown sugar, and mashed bananas; fold in 80% chocolate and bake at 175 degrees for 30 minutes.

Bake fluffy, moist banana muffins, apply simple decoration techniques, and cool for about 20 minutes to reveal natural sweetness from ripe bananas and dark chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees, prepare a star-shaped parchment lining for a cake ring with foil and spray, and ensure the paper rises above the ring for easy release.

Beat room-temperature cream cheese with sugar and eggs, then fold in cream, vanilla paste, lemon zest, and juice to form a smooth batter for baking at 220 then 210 degrees.

Create salted caramel sauce by simmering sugar with water, monitoring color, then add butter and cream with sea salt. Chill and enjoy with cheesecake, finished with softly whipped cream.

Plate a cheesecake with a caramelized top and creamy center by testing doneness with a skewer, cooling fully, and slicing with a hot knife; finish with salted caramel for contrast.

Create a biscuit crumble base for a six-inch cheesecake by melting butter, crushing biscuits, mixing them with the butter, and pressing the mixture into the cake ring before freezing.

Create a smooth cream cheese mousse by softening cream cheese, beating with sugar, folding in mascarpone and whipped cream, tempering gelatin with lemon juice, and chilling for four hours.

Create a creamy mango mousse by cooking mango with sugar and lemon juice, soaking gelatin leaves, then folding whipped cream into a smooth mango puree, set in a mold.

Learn to make a passionfruit glaze with sugar, cornstarch, and gelatin, cook to a thickened glaze, then cool to 32–34 degrees and pour over a set mango mousse cake.

Decorate the mango cheesecake with fresh edible flowers and herbs, place large garnishes at the edges for volume, and slice after dipping a sharp knife in hot water.