unicorn cupcakes

Sometime last year, my friend Monica asked me to make unicorn cupcakes for her goddaughter. She wanted pastel swirl frosting, topped with little fondant unicorn horn toppers. We decided that I'd make chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and I bought gold cupcake liners to match the gold unicorn horns!

About a week in advance, I started making the fondant toppers, in order to give them time to dry out. I tinted my fondant with gold gel-based food coloring, and then brushed on gold luster dust to give it a shiny gold sheen. I also made little ears for the unicorns, using a petunia flower cookie cutter (similar to this one) and then cutting out the petals to make ears.

Then when it was time to bake the cupcakes, I made my favorite chocolate cupcake batter (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!), and baked them in my new shiny gold cupcakes liners. Once they were cool, I whipped up some cream cheese frosting (recipe also in my book!) and divided it into three portions. Then I tinted each portion with yellow, pink, and green (with a teeny bit of blue in it, to give it more of an aqua feel).

Then I fitted a pastry bag with a large star tip, and when filling the pastry bag, I filled it with all three colors of frosting, to give it that swirl effect.

These colors make me so happy!

Then it was time to add my fondant decorations. I placed a unicorn horn in the middle, with ears on either side.

 

 
Cute, right?

 
I hope Monica's goddaughter enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed making them! Happy Birthday!

boss baby first birthday cake

Along with "Inside Out" smash cake that I made for my friend Stephanie, I also made this "Boss Baby" smash cake for her son Jayden! Since her son totally looks like Boss Baby, she wanted to use a Funko Pop Boss Baby doll as the cake topper!

For Jayden's cake, we decided on vanilla cake simply filled with whipped cream, since he was just turning one and she wanted something semi-plain for him. So I baked up two 6-inch vanilla cakes (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!), allowed them to cool, and then sliced them i half horizontally to give me four cake layers. Then I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream. Since I was making two cakes, I totally forgot to take pictures of the cake stacking process, except for this one picture that I posted on Instagram (of the two cakes).

Once the cake was assembled, I covered it with cream cheese buttercream, and then using a medium round tip I piped a blue beaded border along the top and bottom of the cake.

Then I let it chill in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, I was ready to decorate! I started by piping Jayden's name on the front of the cake, as well as "Boss Baby" on the top of the cake (as requested by Stephanie!)

And then I was ready to add the cake topper!

It's ridiculous because it looks exactly like Jayden! (See the second to the last picture!)

Happy Birthday, Jayden! Hope you enjoyed your cake!

inside out cake

Some time ago, I made a "Tangled" Rapunzel cake for my friend Monica, and we used a Funko Pop Rapunzel doll as the cake topper. A few months later, my friend Stephanie asked me to make her daughter an "Inside Out" birthday smash cake, using a Funko Pop doll as well! Her daughter Riley's favorite character from the movie was "Disgust", so we chose that as the cake topper!

Since Disgust's colors were purple and green, she requested that layers of cake matched those colors, and so I baked up two 6-inch vanilla cakes, one tinted with violet and the other tinted with leaf green. (You can find the vanilla cake recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!) Then I sliced each cake in half horizontally, giving me four cake layers.

Next I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberries, alternating the purple and green cake layers.

Once the cake was assembled, I covered it with cream cheese buttercream (I do this in two steps - first a quick crumb coat, then chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, and then I add a second smooth coat of frosting, smoothing it out with a large offset spatula). Then I divided the remaning frosting, tinted them with red, yellow, blue, and green, and using a medium round tip, I piped a rainbow beaded border on the top and bottom of the cake.

After letting the cake chill in the refrigerator overnight, I was ready to finish decorating the next morning. First I piped Riley's name on the front of the cake ...

And then I added the cake topper. Since the base of the topper was pretty narrow, I couldn't find a good way secure it to the top of the cake, so I ended up melting some white chocolate, poured a dollop onto a silicone baking liner, and pressed the bottom of the topper into it while it was still melted. The once it hardened, it made a great flat and secure base for the topper to stay on the cake!

I just love these Funko Pop dolls! They are so adorable and they make great cake toppers!

I also made a second smash cake for Stephanie's son Jayden, because she was having one big party to celebrate both of her kids' birthdays! (More on that in my next post!)

Happy Birthday, Riley! Hope you enjoyed your cake!

succulent floral wreath cake

In continuing my obsession with making wreath cakes, I made a succulent version for my best friend Sue's birthday last March. And because when we were in high school, our favorite cake was always a mocha cake that my mom used to get for me, I decided to make her another coffee chiffon cake!

I started by baking my coffee chiffon in four 6-inch cake pans, and once they were cooled I filled them with espresso whipped cream. Then I covered the tops and sides of the cake with (non-espresso) whipped cream.

After smoothing it out with an offset spatula, I piped a ring on the top of the cake, as a way to prop up my pre-made buttercream succulent flowers. (You can read more on how I pipe my buttercream flowers here!)

Then I added the succulent flowers one by one, and filled in the gaps by piping buttercream leaves.

I thought it turned out rather pretty! Especially since I love succulents!

We celebrated her birthday by going out for hot pot, which was so much fun and so delicious!

Happy Birthday Sue!




Stay tuned to see what I ended up making for her this year!