
Member Reviews

A decently comprehensive guide on Asian baking. The pictures were gorgeous and recipes easy to follow! I'm looking forward to trying the garlic milk buns!!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

The recipes in this book are so good. It's also one of the most aesthetically pleasing cookbooks I have ever seen. As someone who doesn't bake very often, some of the recipes were kind of difficult to grasp, but they could be conquered with practice.

This cookbook can have my whole Asian American baker heart. It combines two of my favorite things: culture and baking! In the introduction, Kat mentioned that growing up, she never thought that Asians baked. Me too, but now I love how we have a little community at SAB that disproves just that. And now we have a cookbook filled with all the Asian recipes that we grew up with! I love how there was an ingredient list detailing what each essential ingredient in Asian cuisine were. It's like all I'll ever need! This is just a glimpse of the recipes: Black Sesame Mochi Beignets, Asian Bakery Fresh Cream Cake (been looking for a recipe for this!), and Spicy Gochujang Flourless Chocolate Cake 😋

Really interesting ingredients and recipes. I can't wait to try some of them in my kitchen. Anyone who has an interest in Asian baking should get this book!

This is a wonderful book with all these recipes inside to make and stun your friends with what turns out. I love milk bread so look forward to making that and a lot of other foods shown in this book. The recipes are well written and understandable by cooks of all levels and the photos make the food very appealing to myself and other lovers of food out there.

Review of Modern Asian Baking at Home by Kat Lieu
Kat Lieu is a baker who has enjoyed Asian/Asian American treats all her life. Like many home cooks, she wanted to recreate the wonderful baked goods that you can find in Asian bakeries; however, she struggled with finding these recipes. This prompted Kat to found Subtle Asian Baking, a group of baking enthusiasts dedicated to sharing Asian/Asian American baking, encouraging others in their baking, and advancing the flavors and presentation of the baked goods. This cookbook grew out of SAB.
The title of the book reflects the modern take on many of these traditional recipes. For example, the super easy milk bread recipe is a quick recipe that does not include the Tangzhong; however, the bread itself tastes great and is genuinely easy to make. While ube and pandan have been used in Asia, these flavors may be new to many non-Asian individuals.
The author starts by including some instruction on basic techniques and some basic recipes. Before writing this review, I tried one recipe from each section. Honestly, the beauty of the photos made me want to try most of the recipes.
While the flavors are very authentic and tasty, some recipes might require previous experience to identify places where the recipe might need adjustment. For example, the milk bread recipe described above needed more moisture, and for the scallion pancake, a baker might want to separate the dough into 3 pieces and then roll out into rectangles, rather than rolling the whole dough and separating. (This would allow the dough to be handled less and result in a more tender pancake.) Also, the matcha miso cookies were pillowy and easy to make but just ok in terms of flavor. Note that some recipes may require special equipment and others may require special ingredients.
One nice feature is that some recipes like the Chinese bakery swiss roll cake have a substitution or an alternate way to flavor the cake. I made this cake with the matcha adjustment; however, since I have made roll cakes in the past, I knew that the baking time was closer to 12 minutes and took the roll out of the oven much earlier. The cake was moist and fluffy, and the whipped cream filling was just right. The look also mimicked the ones found in a bakery. Look for the little pink hint bubbles. (I would like to have seen even more suggestions.)
I also tried the almond cookies (not as good as my recipe of many years), the chia pudding, and the pink drink. The chia pudding didn’t set up but this has to do with many factors. Chia seeds are a natural product without controls and therefore more or less chia may be needed (and a slight alteration in procedure). The method for the pink drink is easy and can be adjusted. For example, I just used coconut milk for the Yakult and the drink tasted great. While there are many more recipes I’d like to try, the small sample yielded mixed results. An adventurous home cook may enjoy the challenge of the flavors and techniques and a very experienced pastry person will find interesting bakes as well.

An absolutely n beautiful lush cookbook.Beautiful photography delicious sounding recipes ,just looking at the photos of the cakes makes me hungry.Perfect book to gift anyone who loves to bake or daydream about reading these Asian cakes.#netgalley #quatro

Kat Lieu has taken Asian baked classics and made them not only modern but simple with Modern Asian Baking at Home. Any chef will be able to master these recipes and thanks to Kat, more people will be able to enjoy the yummy beauty of Asian baking.

This cookbook is visually very pretty, I like how the recipes are laid out and described. The author adds plenty of “before you begin” info that seems really helpful as well as explanations of the universal types of ingredients (ie type of butter, milk, etc). While I was reading through, I immediately wanted to start baking! My favorites were the Ube Butter Mochi and the Lemony Matcha Macarons. I will definitely be trying these out!
Thank you to NetGalley and Kathleen Lieu for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you want to try out some baked goods that you only see in pictures on the internet, or think you can only try in traveling missions to Asia, this is a cookbook for you. Kat made all of the beautiful recipes approachable to you, in your home. Great if you are well versed in kitchen and you wanna try something new, but even if you don't have much cooking experience, you can only gain with this, cause it has tips and tricks at the start of the book. I love how this cookbook is so down to earth, and it has a great community that goes with it (Subtle Asian Baking Community- SAB). The author gives credits to all who inspired finished recipes and she is able to mention that she made mistakes in the kitchen too and some things maybe won't come out great on the first try. And for the end here are some recipes that piqued my interest the most:
Fluffy Japanese Souffle Pancakes, Dorayaki Pancakes with Anko Paste, Spicy Gochujang Flourless Chocolate Cake, Butter Basil Naan, and Milk Bread. I think milk bread is gonna be a regular thing now in my kitchen.
One thing I didn't like is the drink section, cause I wasn't personally interested in that.

With asian food becoming more popular, learning how to make them yourself may seem overwhelming. Modern Asian Baking At Home is here to help guide you in your endeavours in this wonderful cuisine.
Modern Asian Baking At Home has 7 different sections, which gives you a vast selection of recipes to try out. Basics and Confections, Sab’s Favourite Cookies and Pastries, Airy and Not-Too-Sweet Cakes, Bread and Yeasted Bakes, Treats Under One Moon and Holiday Bakes, Custards and Frozen, and Drinks are what sections the recipes are divided into.
My favourite recipes that I cannot wait to tryout are Quick Microwave Mochi, Monstrous Matcha Miso Cookies, and Hong Kong Dan Tat. Each recipe is very well laid out and described in a way that makes it very easy to follow, even if you have no experience with asian cuisine. Each recipe also includes a little description about what the baked good actually is, so if you have never heard of it at least you are able to understand what it is!
If you are interested in baking asian food, then Modern Asian Baking At Home is a great place for you to start.

I love Asian cuisine so I am happy to see a book about modern Asian baking at home. The recipes are all well explained and easy to follow and the photos are great to look at and be appetizing so you don't have other choices but to try those recipes.

As seen on tiktok! Lovely cookbook with all your favorite baked goods you may have felt too intimidated by. The recipes are written so well they seem like anyone could make them, and you should definitely try! Personally I made the mochi cheese puffs and the japanese cheesecake, and it was super easy and fun.

This was a stunning collection of recipes inspired by the subtle Asian baking group that emerged online. There are a variety of recipes from all different Asian countries that require different methods of cooking — baking, frying, steaming and even boiling. The emphasis here is the use of Asian ingredients and flavours such as black sesame, pandan, matcha and Ube.
I have already tried making the miso brownies and it was hands down amazing!! So soft and gooey.
I loved all the little tips and notes, and how it’s very easy to sub alternative milk and use tofu as an alternative to eggs if we want to make something vegan friendly. I’m a huge of fan of Kat’s recipes and religiously watch her videos online. A stunning collection indeed. Can’t wait to preorder a physical copy for myself!

Wonderful book of classic and modern Asian recipes! Pictures really stand out with the gorgeous colors of each treat.

I am so hungry! This cookbook is a gem - clear, concise recipes, lovely photography, and straight talk on how to make the delicious goods! I'm excited to try out the mochi recipes in particular - will my QQ cravings finally be met? Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Love this cookbook. It contains a really good mix of recipes from desserts to bread. There are recipes from the SAB community and the author. I like that the author gives you lots tips and ideas on adding/replacing ingredients. The photos are drool worthy. Just an fyi, this book is not for beginners. There is no handholding but what’s great is that some of the recipes can be found via Instagram or YouTube which will give you some guidance.
I haven’t made any recipes yet but will soon, like the Pandan Chiffon Cake, A’ha Ma’s fresh cream cake and the Japanese curry buns. Foods of my youth. Yum!

Review to come June 14th to blog/goodreads.
I received this book from Netgalley/publisher in exchange of an honest review.
I just couldn't resist this book! I love cooking/baking + I love Asian food (well, at least the look of them as I haven't the chance to eat many of them). So I just had to request this book!
In this book we get various sections and in each section we get some delicious recipes! From fluffy pancakes to curry bread to yummy drinks to desserts. There is something for everyone~ The recipes are well-written, clear to follow, good ingredients list on the side, pretty photography that you just want to lick because the food looks SO GOOD. I also loved the introductory texts before the recipe starts. Loved reading about family, about travelling, about friends, and feelings when eating things, but also how long it took the author to get it right. It just made it more personal and I love it when a cookbook/baking book does that.
The book made me quite hungry! So many good things. *hears stomach rumble while writing the review* Haha, even thinking about the book makes me hungry.
I am delighted that the author added grams + Celcius~ I am always a bit hesitant to read English cookbooks because often they put up cups and whatever else and Fahrenheit. We don't use those here and really, I am just not in any mood to Google and find out what the right things are. So a big thank you for adding these to the book so I can just cook.
I haven't tried out any of the recipes. I have no Asian supermarket/store near me, the nearest would be around 20 minutes with public transport and then another 10 minutes walking. Normally not that much of a problem, but with Corona... I am just not comfy with going in public transport, or visiting busy shopping streets. Maybe by the time this review goes up things will be fine, but for now, almost March, it is not. So yeah, without any stores near me that have rice flour, or miso, or mochi, just to name a few very important ingredients, I am not going to be able to make a lot of things. Plus, I also don't have all the items at home (no steamer for instance).
Plus, like with any cookbook, I won't be able to make all of them anyway. I am allergic to sesame and tofu/soy and nuts/peanuts, so quite a few recipes are off already. XD
But, I still had tons of fun reading this book and I definitely want to try out the recipes that I can eat. I need those fluffy pancakes in my life! I would recommend this book to everyone.

Truthfully, I'm not sure who the intended audience is. While I appreciated the pages introducing key Asian(-associated) ingredients, I was a little put off by the way they were framed as almost exotic and mystical; some of the recipe descriptions had a similar Western-centered lens, which is disappointing from a book with its roots in a community [originally, though admittedly not exclusively] for Asians and hyphenated Asians.
For the recipes themselves, I haven't actually tested any yet so I can't really speak to the quality of the instructions or whether they're a good match for my Asian-American palate. I did notice the language of the tip boxes, because for some reason it feels a little weird to have a cookbook direct me to "Please use vegan butter" if I want to adjust a recipe to be vegan. Some of them are pretty classic favorites with showy names (Night Market Scallion Pancakes, Simply Perfect Purin) and others seem like pretty typical cookbook staples with an "Asian twist" like miso, matcha, or mochi added (No-Knead Miso Focaccia, Dreamy Matcha Basque Cheesecake, Mochi Boba Milk Tea Ice Pops).
Which is not to say that they don't look good: the pictures are gorgeous, and I love the color palette and overall visual design of the book. But for all I know at this point, it could possibly be style over substance — we'll have to see.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fun recipe book!
Lieu shares recipes that are sweet and savory along with stories about growing up. The recipes are in both cups and grams. There are some fun ube recipes and lots of good desserts! There's also drink recipes included which is nice. The book covers a good breadth of Asian baking.
Overall a great find!