fall leaf cutout apple pie

It's become tradition that I make apple pie for Thanksgiving (and Christmas!), so last year for Thanksgiving I decided to decorate my apple pie with leaf-shaped pie crust cutouts! I used this awesome leaf cookie cutter from Cookie Cutter Kingdom, and it worked out perfectly! (Note: I also used the same cutter to make these leaf cookies decorated with royal icing!)

After making my favorite all-butter pie crust (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!), I divided the dough in half and shaped each into a disc, then wrapped them in plastic wrap and let them rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Then I rolled them out to about 1/8" thick, and fit the first half into the bottom of my pie dish.

With the second half, I used the leaf cookie cutter to cut out my leaf shapes.

Then I placed the prepped pie dish and leaf cutouts in the fridge while I made the filling.

After peeling, cutting, and mixing my fresh apple filling (recipe also in my book!), I poured it into my chilled pie dish.

Next I used the leaf cutouts to decorate the top of my pie. I like to arrange them in a shingled pattern, but you could just throw them on randomly as well.

The leaf cutouts served two purposes, a) to add a pretty decorative touch to the pie, and b) the spaces between the cutouts serve as vents to let the steam out of the pie, this way you don't get a soggy pie!

After placing my final two cutouts in the center of the pie, it was almost ready to bake!

But before I put the pie in the oven, I applied a light coating of egg wash and sprinkled on some sanding sugar to give it some shine.

I baked it at 425F for 15 minutes to get the beginnings of a golden crust, and then turned the heat down to 350F and baked it for another 40-45 minutes.

And there you go, a beautiful fall leaf cutout apple pie - perfect for Thanksgiving or any other fall gathering or event! Enjoy!

floral wreath cake for mother's day

After making this Hello Kitty wreath cake for my birthday back in April, I became obsessed with wreath cakes. I was seeing them all over Instagram, with beautifully piped buttercream roses and peonies - they were all so pretty! And then, the talented I Am Baker came out with yet another wreath cake tutorial, this time using easy rosettes! I had to make one for Mother's Day!

I had also recently made a bananas and cream birthday cake, and it was such a delicious combo that I wanted to do it again for Mother's Day ... but this time with coffee chiffon cake! Yes, I know. Coffee and banana? What? But years ago I had made this cake using a banana cake recipe from David Lebovitz's book, "Ready for Dessert", and I was intrigued that the cake batter called for bananas and espresso. While in the end I couldn't really taste the espresso in the banana cake, it must have been a good flavor pairing if David Lebovitz put it together in a recipe, right?

So I baked up three 6-inch coffee chiffon cakes, and filled them with freshly whipped cream and sliced bananas. And then covered the entire thing with more whipped cream, smoothing it with an offset spatula.

For the rosettes, I tinted my whipped cream with soft pink food coloring and used a large star tip to pipe rosettes along the perimeter of my cake.

Then I added a bit more coloring to make a darker pink, and used a smaller star tip to pipe mini rosettes here and there on top of the large rosettes.

And finally I used a leaf tip to pipe little green leaves, for a pop of color.

I loved the finished look! And it was so easy! 

And if you're wondering about the coffee and banana combo, it was delicious, to my surprise!

Happy Mother's Day!

banana cream birthday cake with handmade fondant monkey topper

The first time I made something for Julieta, I made various Hello Kitty desserts for the dessert table at her bridal shower. I had never met her before, and she had found me through the blog. I was delighted to be making Hello Kitty dessert for a fellow Hello Kitty lover!

Before I knew it, Julieta was contacting me about making baseball cookies, this time for her baby shower! And then this past year, she asked me to make a monkey cake, this time for her son's first birthday party! How time flies! And how exciting it is to me that I got to make goodies for her for such major milestones!

A few weeks before the party, I started on making the fondant monkey, as it would need time to dry completely. I used Wilton fondant for this, tinted chocolate brown with a tiny bit of black to give it a deeper brown. I rolled out and shaped all the parts I would need, and used a bit of water to attach them together.

For the monkey's face, I tinted the fondant with ivory, rolled out a snout, and used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to create the part of the face around the eyes.

After adding an ivory tummy and feet, I used an edible marker to draw on the eyes and the nose.

Hey little guy, you're cute!

For the cake, Julieta wanted a bananas and cream cake. So when it was time to make the cake, I baked up two 10-inch round vanilla cakes (recipe from my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book), and sliced each cake in half horizontally to give me four cake layers. Then I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream and sliced bananas.





I ended up not using the fourth cake layer, as it would have ended up too tall of a cake! So I stopped at three layers.

The party colors would be yellow and light green, so I made bright yellow buttercream, and added a light green beaded border. Then I used a small round tip with chocolate brown frosting to pipe the baby's name.

And the final touch - the fondant monkey topper!

Hope the little guy enjoyed his monkey cake! Happy Birthday, Daniel!

mini apple pies

My favorite part about pie is the crust. Buttery, flakey, deliciously luscious pie crust. That said, my favorite thing about mini pies is that you get a) you get one all to yourself, and b) you get to eat more pie crust than you would with a regular slice of pie!

These mini pies use the same recipe as my regular apple pie, except you make half the recipe and end up with six individual pies instead of one big one. (Or, I suppose you could keep the recipe the same and end up with twelve individual pies, but I only have six mini tart tins so I went with half the recipe). 

Once your dough is made, formed into a disc, and has chilled in the fridge for at least half an hour, divide the disc into six equal pieces. Then roll out each one and carefully fit them into six individual mini tart tins.

Once the edges are trimmed, place your tart tins on a baking sheet. Be sure to keep the excess dough that was trimmed - form it into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap again, and put it back in the fridge.

Then assemble your fresh apple filling and divide it evenly into each dough-lined tart tin.

Note that I have diced the apples for the mini pies, but you could also keep the apples in slices as you would for a single pie.

Now you can bring out that disc of excess dough that you put in the fridge earlier. Roll it out into a rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick, and use a knife or a pizza cutter (I used a fluted pastry wheel) to cut out your lattice strips.

Arrange your strips (I like to use four on each mini pie) onto each pie in a decorative way, trimming any excess, and make sure to press the ends into the edges of the tart tins.

Then brush the tops with egg wash, sprinkle on some sanding sugar, and bake them at 350F for about 45 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Mmmmmmmmm.

These mini pies are perfect to bring to picnics and BBQs because they are easy to transport, don't require plates and forks (you can pick them up with your hands and eat them!), and can be made the morning of! You could also make them the night before, but the crust won't be quite as crisp.

Enjoy!