funfetti birthday cupcakes with whipped cream frosting

In addition to the funfetti birthday cake and funfetti ice cream that I made for Micah's first birthday celebration, I also made these funfetti cupcakes for him to celebrate at school (well, daycare!). I used the same recipe as I did for the cake, and instead baked them in cupcake tins at 350F for 20 minutes.

For the frosting, I made the same blue-tinted whipped cream frosting as I did for the cake, and used a Wilton 1M open-star tip to pipe rosettes on top of each cupcake.

Then, to match the cake, I sprinkled the same multicolored round confetti sprinkles all over the top!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - this boy loves cake! He wolfed his cupcake down in a matter of minutes, as he did his slice of birthday cake the day before!

I also had enough batter leftover to make a few mini cupcakes as well! They were small enough to eat in just one bite - Yum!

funfetti cookies-n-cream ice cream

To go along with the blue funfetti cake that I made for my youngest son Micah's first birthday, I decided to make cookies-n-cream ice cream. But this wasn't just any cookies-n-cream ice cream ... I wanted to add lots of sprinkles to it, for a festive birthday feel that matched the confetti cake. And, when I went to the store to pick up Oreos, I found these - birthday cake Oreos! With funfetti in the Oreo filling! How perfect!

So I made my custard base as usual - I mixed egg yolks with sugar, tempered them with a hot cream and milk mixture, and then cooked it all over the stove until the mixture thickens. Then I strained it, added vanilla extract, and let it cool before churning (I typically let it cool overnight in the fridge). 

During the last 5 minutes of churning, I added a cup of chopped birthday cake Oreos, and finally a few handfuls of rainbow sprinkles. Once everything was all mixed in, I poured it into a container to let it set in the freezer overnight.

While I didn't totally love the birthday cake Oreos by itself (I prefer the original Oreos better), I absolutely LOVED it when paired with the ice cream. It added the perfect amount of "birthday cake" taste to the ice cream. And it was the perfect compliment to the funfetti birthday cake! I'll definitely be making this again!

chocolate mint layer cake for st. patrick's day

It's been almost a year since I made this St. Patrick's Day cake, and I'm only now getting around to blogging about it! Oh well, at least it's just in time for this year's St. Patrick's Day!

I didn't have much time to make the cake, as I had just given birth to my third baby a month earlier (and I was still nursing every 2 hours so I had to work in small half-hour chunks of time throughout the day), so I chose my favorite chocolate cake recipe which can be made in one bowl. I baked it up in two 8-inch pans, and while they were cooling I whipped up a quick batch of peppermint whipped cream (with a few drops of coloring to tint it green).

Then I sliced my cake layers in half horizontally (giving me four cake layers), and filled and frosted the layers with the peppermint whipped cream.

Decorating it had to be simple as I only had small spurts of time, so I piped a simple shell border, and a quick four-leaf clover in the center.

I thought it still looked rather plain, so I sprinkled some green and white confetti sprinkles over the shell borders.

With our corned beef and cabbage dinner that night, we had green beer and decorated with festive paper napkins...

... and ate yummy cake for dessert!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

tiramisu birthday cake with piped swirl ruffle sides

My last post was about this mocha pocky layer cake that I made last year for my mom's birthday, which started out as one cake, and then turned into a different cake altogether! For this year's cake, the same thing happened! I had this whole vision in my head - I knew I wanted to make a tiramisu cake, because out of all the cakes that I have made for my mom, she seems to have liked this Hello Kitty tiramisu the best (she prefers desserts that aren't too sweet, and she loves the flavor of coffee). For the design on the top, I pictured something similar to this lace cake that I had seen on Pinterest somewhere, except that I wanted to dust on cocoa powder instead of sugar. And for the sides, I wanted to try this pretty swirl ruffle piping that I had pinned on Pinterest about a year ago.

So I doubled my Hello Kitty tiramisu recipe to make two 8-inch vanilla cake layers and sliced them in half horizontally. Then I topped each cake layer with a light brushing of espresso syrup, a layer of espresso and Kahlua creamy whipped filling (made with cream cheese this time instead of mascarpone cheese), and then a dusting of cocoa powder before adding the next cake layer. Then I finished it off by using the same creamy filling to frost the top and sides of the cake.

Next I attempted to dust on my lace design with cocoa powder. Let's just say that it didn't come out too pretty. So I decided to dust the entire top with cocoa powder, and then try the lace design with powdered sugar. At first it seemed to work, although the design was very light...

.. but then before I knew it, the powdered sugar started to dissolve into the cocoa powder, until the lace design was not even recognizable. Boo :( Oh well, at least I would still have the pretty swirl ruffles piped on the sides.

But even that didn't come out as I had envisioned. I think I should have gone one more swirl higher than I did.

In any case, it still looked like tiramisu, although a tad plain. So I decided to sprinkle some sugar pearls on the top, to pretty it up a little.

Right before the party, the cake was still looking a little plain, so at the suggestion of my husband I threw on some light green cymbidium orchids (although I didn't have time to properly photograph it).

To my delight, my mom loved the cake! I think I may have to make tiramisu cake for her every year!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

mocha pocky layer cake

For my mom's 70th birthday last year in March, I made this mocha cake decorated with chocolate Pocky (thin biscuit sticks dipped in chocolate). It actually just started out as a mocha cake - chocolate cake layers filled and frosted with espresso whipped cream - and since I had a 2-week old newborn at the time (plus a then 5-year old and 3-year old), I only had time to decorate it with a quickly piped shell border and chocolate sprinkles.

But then the chocolate sprinkles got out of hand. I couldn't stop! I added more, and more, and more, until it started looking like ... stubble. Very NOT attractive!

So the next day (the day of the dinner party), I sent my husband out to buy as many boxes of Pocky that he could find, because the only thing I could think to do was hide the chocolate sprinkle stubble.  And that's how Pocky saved the day!

I cut off the undipped ends of the Pocky sticks, and began to stick them along the sides of the cake, inserted into the bottom shell border. And slowly by slowly, my chocolate sprinkle stubble problem became a thing of the past.

And at the end of it all, I was left with a bowl of tasty snacks :)

The cake ended up tasting great, and the kids went around to all the adults asking for their Pocky sticks!

Stay tuned for this year's birthday cake for my Mom - I already know what I want to make!

mini heart individual cheesecakes for valentine's day

For Valentine's weekend this year, I decided to make these mini cheesecakes decorated with mini raspberry puree hearts! I've made similar cheesecakes in the past (see here for raspberry and here for blueberry), but I always gave them a marbled look with the fruit puree. This time, I was inspired by all the cute heart desserts and things on Pinterest (such as these adorable heart cookies at Annies Eats, or this gorgeous cheesecake decorated with mini hearts at Cooking Classy), so I decided to use the same technique to make little individual cheesecakes instead.

First I made a simple crust with chocolate graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. I placed a couple teaspoons of the crust mixture into each cup of a cupcake pan lined with paper liners, and gently patted down the crusts before baking them at 350F for about 7 minutes. Then while they were cooling, I got started on the filling.

The cheesecake filling was made with cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. So simple! Once it was all mixed well, I used an ice cream scoop to plop one scoop directly on top of the cooled crusts.

Next I made the raspberry puree. I threw a couple of handfuls of fresh raspberries into a food processor, tossed in some sugar, pureed it, and then strained it. I discarded the seeds and used the smooth puree to make the hearts.

Now for the fun part - I used a small spoon to dollop a few dots of the raspberry puree on top of the filling. 

And then I used a toothpick to "connect the dots" and draw a line through the center of each dot. And that's how you get the adorable mini hearts!

Once all the hearts were "drawn", I baked the cheesecakes in a water bath at 325F for about 25 minutes. When they were done, I let them come to room temperature, and then put them in the fridge to set overnight.

I like these best cold and straight out of the fridge, but you can also serve them at room temperature once they are set.

Happy belated Valentine's Day! Hope you had a great one!

*** Update: You can now find the recipe for mini cheesecakes in my new book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!