It's my birthday month! Hooray!
One of my favorite things about my birthday month is all the coupons that I get from all of my favorite stores! And of course, celebrating with my friends and family! But also one of my favorite things is that I get to make myself a cake, and I try to think of a different Hello Kitty design every year. Last year when it was time to make my birthday cake, I was really into make floral wreath cakes, so I thought it would be really cool to make a Hello Kitty floral wreath cake, where the wreath in essense becomes a crown wreath for Hello Kitty!
I love coffee chiffon cake, and I love Neapolitan cakes, so for the cake insides I decided to do a Neapolitan combination of coffee (instead of chocolate), vanilla, and strawberry chiffon cakes. And then I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream.
For the frosting, I chose to do a Swiss Meringue buttercream (you can find the recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!) because I wanted something light and not too sweet, and I didn't want it to melt too quickly like a whipped cream frosting does.
After covering the top and sides of the cake with a quick crumb coat, letting it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, and then doing a final smooth coat, it was ready to decorate!
I started by piping black frosting for the eyes and the whiskers, using a disposable pastry bag fitted with a small round tip, and then using a similar tip to pipe the nose with yellow frosting.
For the ears I attached fondant shapes that I had cut out ahead of time (you'll need to let it air dry for at least a day or two, so that the fondant is no longer floppy and will stand up on it's own). Since I knew I would be adding buttercream flowers, I piped a ring of whipped cream along the perimeter of the top of the cake, which helped to hold up the ears as well.
Then I added my buttercream flowers, which I had piped ahead of time and let harden in the freezer. (You can see more on this technique here). I chose to do a deep pink and white flowers, partly to match the inside of the cake, and partly because I like the color combo!
To finish it off, I piped dark green buttercream leaves (using this leaf tip) to fill in the gaps in between the flowers, and then it was done!
Doesn't Hello Kitty look so pretty with a floral wreath crown?!
And now, for the inside of the cake.
The cake was soft and airy and light, with just the perfect amount of sweetness.
Happy Birthday to me!
