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Though you’d never guess it from the look of her colorful treats, Arlyn didn’t grow up cooking. As she describes it, going all-out for everyday meals wasn’t exactly her parents’ thing.

“Cooking was something that was mostly reserved for special occasions like holidays, birthdays, celebrations, that sort of thing,” she says. “It just wasn't worth the trouble to them. Most of our meals were just fast food or frozen Kids Cuisine dinners.”

Arlyn says her childhood was “dysfunctional,” and this detachment from food was just a small part of the picture. Despite an absence of physical affection and frequent “I love you”s at home, Arlyn let her undying love for Food Network and a strong sweet tooth sweep her away into the culinary world.

After years of working in food styling and production, writing about food, and developing recipes, Arlyn’s using her first cookbook to communicate her passion for cooking and baking, as well as carry on the legacy of Filipino food to ultimately find her place in it all.

“I think over the years, I have become sometimes a little uncomfortable to say some of the things I wish I could say out loud,” she says. “For me, food is the way for me to say those things without actually saying them.”

About The Recipes

Sugarcane: Sweet Recipes from My Half-Filipino Kitchen by Arlyn Osborne

Flipping through the recipes in Sugarcane, you may see a few ingredients that aren’t very common in Western cooking listed – like pandan, tamarind, ube, calamansi, star fruit, mochi, and rambutan – but there’s familiarity in each one of them.

Arlyn wrote Sugarcane for both people who are familiar with Filipino food, and those who are not. Either way, the recipes will guide you to greatness.

“I get that it can be a little intimidating for people to try out ingredients or desserts they've never heard of before, but I do think that people should know that if they're cooking from my cookbook, they’re going to be okay,” she says. “I think everyone’s going to feel that they're personified in each recipe a little bit.”

From The Book: Ube Coconut Cake

Arlyn’s Ube Coconut Cake recipe pulls inspiration from ube cake (the “crown jewel” when it comes to Filipino cake) and lucious coconut cakes from the American South. Ube halaya, which is essentially an ube jam, is the star of the coconut cake recipe, lending a gorgeous purple hue to the tender layers. Everything gets sandwiched in between and smothered in a sweet coconut icing *so* yummy, you’ll quickly see why Arlyn makes it every year for her birthday.

Ingredients for Ube Coconut Cake

Ube Cake

• 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup (186 g) ube halaya, at room temperature
• 2 ¼ cups (450 g) granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon ube paste
• 1 ½ cups (360 g) buttermilk
• 1 ½ cups (315 g) neutral oil

Coconut Frosting

• Two 16 oz. (454 g) containers sour cream
• 4 cups (800g) granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 14 cups (700g) unsweetened shredded coconut

How to Make Ube Coconut Cake

For the Ube Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease two 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
3. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with the whisk, add the ube halaya and beat until smooth. Add the sugar and beat on medium-high speed until combined but not creamed. The sugar should look moist, crumbly, and purple.
4. Add the eggs and ube paste and beat on medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the buttermilk and oil and beat until combined, about 30 seconds.
5. Sift in half of the flour mixture and whisk by hand until just combined. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
7. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Run a small offset spatula around the perimeter to loosen the edges. Invert the cakes onto the wire rack. Remove the parchment and invert again onto wire racks so they sit right side up. Let cool completely.

For the Coconut Frosting

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, add the sour cream, sugar, and salt. Beat on low speed until combined. Add a third of the coconut and beat on low speed until combined. Repeat two more times.

To assemble

1. Place one cake layer (top side up) on a cake plate. Top with 2 cups (450 g) of frosting and spread evenly. Top with the second cake layer (bottom side up).
2. Cover the top evenly with 2 ½ (560 g) cups of frosting. Use the remaining frosting for the sides. Wrapt the cake all over with plastic wrap so it touches the frosting directly and protects the cake from air. Refrigerate overnight. As it sits, both the cake layers and coconut shreds will soak up excess moisture from the frosting.
3. Let the cake sit out at room temperature for 1 hour to take the chill off before serving. Due to the nature of the frosting, it's best to use a serrated knife to “saw” through the cake into slices.

Kit Kat Easter Miniatures

We already love Kit Kats as-is, but something about the mini bite size and pastel wrappers make us want to grab a whole handful! Snack on this Easter candy during the fam's annual egg hunt, or save a few for a midnight snack.

Williams-Sonoma Easter Jelly Beans

Whether you get your jelly beans at Williams-Sonoma or anywhere else, their springtime colors and flavors are arguably their most beloved. This bag makes for a fruity and colorful treat. Our love for these citrusy flavors has only grown with time!

Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs

The orange and brown Reese's wrappers are definitely iconic, but there is something extra springlike about rainbow tie dye ones! Pass the bowl of Easter candy full of this pick, please.

Cadbury Milk Chocolate Crème Eggs

Cadbury crème eggs are an Easter candy staple as far as we're concerned. They're so tasty and ooey-gooey, we wouldn't blame you if you finished the whole bowl by yourself.

Chocolove Easter Truffle Assortment

This gourmet box o' chocolates is the perfect Easter basket filler. With a mix of 10 sweet truffles from the likes of Coconut Ganache in White Chocolate and Lychee, Apricot & Passion Fruit Gelees in Ruby Chocolate (and more), this pick kicks the Easter candy game up a notch when it comes to quality and unique flavors! Of course, it's still chocolate, so we love it all the same.

Easter M&M's

This jumbo bag of pastel M&M's is the perfect thing to keep the living room candy dish stocked, or to just stash in your room. Both sound like good ideas to us!

Tony's Chocolonely Easter Egg Carton

This chocolatey Easter candy comes complete with eggs and a carton to hold 'em! In addition to your standard milk chocolate eggs, this medley also includes dark chocolate, caramel, hazelnut, almond, and sea salt. Yum!

Hershey's Polka Dot Cookies 'n Creme Eggs

Little bits of colorful cookie turn these chocolate eggs into an extra-festive treat that the Easter bunny himself would approve of! There's a good crunch and some creaminess, so each bite is balanced and super satisfying.

Hershey's Easter Kisses Milk Chocolate with Vanilla Frosting Crème

Add a little something extra to your regular Hershey's Kiss experience with these vanilla frosting-filled bites. These would also make excellent Easter cookie toppers!

Sour Patch Kids Bunnies

Swap your usual Sour Patch Kids for these cute bunny shapes instead. You'll get the same burst of flavor, just cuter shapes! The kids will also adore them and get a kick out of their sour, then sweet quality.

Skittles Original Easter Jellybeans

Skittles and jelly beans never disappoint, and when you put them together, you just get double the fruity goodness. This is such a cute Easter candy to have since it's shaped like eggs!

Lindt Easter Mini Carrot

We love that this box is filled with individually-wrapped chocolate candies you can share with the whole fam! Plus, the carrot packaging is just too cute!

SmartSweets Berry Bunnies Easter Candy

Indulge in your fave Easter gummies with these adorable SmartSweets gummy bunnies, which only have 3 grams of sugar in the entire bag! They have a delightfully juicy berry taste for fun snacking. Berry not your thing? They also have some egg-shaped Easter gummies with a tropical twist.

Peeps Easter Milk Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Delights Chicks

These are the Peeps you know and love, just dipped in chocolate. Yes, please. Snack on a few as-is, or use this pack to make our stellar Peeps S'mores!

Compartés Chocolate Dipped Easter Bunny Peeps

Alternatively, if you prefer, you can find bunny-shaped Peeps dipped in chocolate, too! These quintessential marshmallow Easter treats are smothered in milk and dark chocolates to switch things up.

Endangered Species Chocolate Hello Spring Mix

These adorable butterfly, tulip, and bee-shaped chocolates make the ultimate semi-sweet snack when it comes to Easter candy, They recall the spring season in the tastiest way ever!

Lindt Easter Milk Chocolate Gold Bunny

You can't forget the chocolate bunny at Easter! As kids, we were always excited that Easter was an excuse to eat more chocolate than normal, bunny ears and all. If the bunny is hollow, the better.

Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bunnies

If you prefer to eat your chocolate bunny in smaller portions, these miniature bunnies from Hershey's are just as tasty!

Rory Gilmore Would Love "I Hate It Here" By Taylor Swift...

"I Hate It Here" totally showcases Taylor Swift's ability to express raw emotions, and it also perfectly captures Rory Gilmore's struggles during certain periods of her life. The lyrics reflect frustration and dissatisfaction we can all feel sometimes (I know I've definitely felt them), and while Rory and Taylor's dreams in and of themselves are different, they both want to leave their small towns to achieve them. Whether it's feeling overwhelmed by expectations or facing setbacks in her career in Gilmore Girls season 5, Rory has moments throughout the series where she feels a bit trapped.

But even more than the physical meaning of the song is the imaginary one. Taylor sings about creating worlds in her mind and diving into books to escape the mundane. Rory reads more than any fictional character I've ever seen before because she also craves that escapism! The lyrics of "I Hate It Here" resonate with Rory when she wants to live different lives, and it encapsulates the moments when she struggles or questions her decisions — relatable!

...And She'd Feel Attacked By "The Bolter" By Taylor Swift

TBH, I'm half convinced "The Bolter" is referencing Amy March (after all, Amy has been "reviled" by readers for hundreds of years, and she "almost drowned...in frigid water" like Taylor sings), which is just another literary reference Rory would pick up on.

In "The Bolter," Taylor Swift captures the essence of a woman constantly seeking adventure and change, just like Rory Gilmore, and it's all about the idea of a restless spirit. While the lyrics can be taken from a hypothetical standpoint (feeling trapped by relationships or other people's expectations), we can also talk about it literally considering Rory physically runs away from Jess.

Rory might desire love, but the idea of it also scares her — two facts that don't cancel each other out! Just like Taylor Swift, I think Rory's thrilled by the idea of escape simply because she's so risk averse in other areas of her life. Once again, I say, relatable!!

"The Bolter" and "I Hate It Here" are both incredibly engaging songs because they highlight just how complex we are as humans — both in the ways we relate to ourselves and other people. And they're just two Taylor Swift songs Rory would definitely add to her playlist.