pastel hello kitty cookies, macarons, and bow cupcakes for a bridal shower dessert table

Way back in December of last year, I was contacted by a bride-to-be named Julieta, who had been following my blog and asked me about making goodies for her bridal shower dessert table.  When I found out that: a) she wanted Hello Kitty themed desserts, and b) she lives about 10 miles from me, I couldn't refuse!  At the time I was still pregnant with my third baby and due in February, but her bridal shower was set for April so I convinced myself that it would be fine, since my newborn would be about 2 months old by then.  But boy oh boy, when April rolled around, I was not prepared for the amount of work and lack of sleep that I was in for!

In the chunks of time that I had available for baking, I started with the cookies, since they could be made days in advance and would still be fresh.  We had decided on Hello Kitty cookies with pastel bows, as well as "J" and "D" monogram cookies after the bride and groom's names.  So I found all the cookie cutters that I would need, and baked up my favorite sugar cookie recipe.

For the Hello Kitty cookies, the steps were pretty much the same as the Hello Kitty cookies that I made last summer, except this time the bows would be pastel shades of mint, yellow, and peach.

As for the "J" and "D" cookies, she had decided on pastel mint and peach for the letters, with a white beaded border (just like the monogram cookies that I had made last year for my cousin's wedding favors).

Next up were Hello Kitty macarons, which could be made 2 days in advance, especially since the macarons needed "age" for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator to ensure the proper consistency.

See links here, here, and here for tutorials on making my Hello Kitty macarons.

Once the cookies and macarons were done, I only had one more dessert to make - mini cupcakes decorated with Hello Kitty bows!  These I made the night before her bridal shower.  I started with my favorite chocolate cake recipe, which I baked in mini muffin tins and liners.

For the frosting, I whipped up my favorite cream cheese frosting, and divided it in portions to be colored pastel mint, yellow, pink, and peach.  Then I used white frosting to outline my Hello Kitty bows, and filled them in with little dots of colored frosting, using a small round Wilton tip #3.

And then I was finally done.  After an entire week of juggling three kids and baking nonstop, I could finally rest.  Well, as much as one could rest with a 2-month old newborn, but that's another story.  It was all worth it though, because I loved how all the desserts looked together in the end!

Happy bridal shower, Julieta!  Hope you enjoyed the goodies!

*** Update:
You can now find my recipes for Hello Kitty Macarons, Hello Kitty Cookies, and Hello Kitty Mini Cupcakes in my new book, "The Hello Kitty Baking Book"! Enjoy!

my first wedding dessert table!

I'm so excited to finally reveal (in full) the wedding dessert table that I worked so hard on a couple of months ago!  Cherish, the bride, was such a joy to work with, and is seriously one of the sweetest and thoughtful people I have ever met!  She had envisioned a classic rustic wedding, and handmade many of the wedding details, down to the paper doily flower chandelier that hung above the dessert table.  Her wedding color scheme was greens and blues, so when I arrived the dessert table was laid out with a bright blue tablecloth, ready for me to decorate with goodies!

First up were my Hello Kitty macarons.  I decided to display these in gallon-sized giant glass jars so that we could see all the cute Hello Kitty faces peeking out, and also so that they would also stay fresh in the contained jars.

Next up were the potted plant chocolate puddings.  I had decided to display them on either side of the dessert table - one one side of the table they would be stacked on a two-tiered ruffled cake stand, and on the other side of the table I used a single tier white milk glass cake stand.

Next came football-shaped and tooth-shaped cookies, which I displayed on four long white rectangular platters, side by side.

And finally the mini s'mores cupcakes, which I served on a white square three-tiered pedestal cake stand, right in the center of the table.

To sum it all up, here is my initial sketch of what the dessert table setup would look like:

And this is how the dessert table ended up!

This was seriously one of the funnest and coolest things that I have ever taken part in, and I'm so glad that Cherish asked me to do it!  Thank you, Cherish!

And now, a few images from Cherish's classic rustic dream wedding!

Congratulations, Cherish and Steven!

mini s'mores cupcakes

This is last dessert in my series of posts on the goodies that I made for Cherish's wedding dessert table.  (In case you missed them, I also made Hello Kitty macarons, football and tooth cookies, and potted plant chocolate puddings).  Cherish had wanted some kind of cupcake on the dessert table, and since s'mores were one of the things in her "list of likes", we decided on mini s'mores cupcakes.

I ended up using an adaptation of a recipe that I had previously used, except I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe, and a different frosting recipe.  And since I was making mini cupcakes, I didn't think the graham cracker crust on the bottom would fit, so I just sprinkled crushed graham crackers on top of the batter before baking.

Once the mini cupcakes were baked and cooled, I made a marshmallow frosting (this time, a Swiss meringue frosting).  I used a large open star tip to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, and then used a creme brulee torch to lightly brown the frosting.

While I thought the cupcakes were was delicious and marshmallowy the night they made, by the next day (the day of the wedding) I bit into one and felt as if the frosting had become light as air.  That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but I had wanted the frosting to retrain it's gooey marshmallow texture.  So next time I think I'll try an Italian meringue frosting, as I've read it tends to be more stable than a Swiss meringue frosting.

And finally, a sneak peek into how I displayed these minis - on a beautiful three-tiered square pedestal cake stand!

Stay tuned for my summary post on the wedding dessert table!

*** Update: You can see a summary of the wedding dessert table here!

football cookies and tooth cookies

Along with the Hello Kitty macarons and potted plant chocolate puddings that I made for Cherish's wedding dessert table, I also made sugar cookies decorated with royal icing.  Since her groom loves football, she asked for football shaped cookies.  And she also asked for tooth shaped cookies, since she is a dental student!  She even sent football-shaped and tooth-shaped cookie cutters for me to use!  This bride thinks of everything!

Since I was making 75+ cookies total (I always make extra to allow for mess-ups!), I ended up making 3 batches of cookie dough, and 2 batches of royal icing.

After the cookies were baked and cooled, I started on the decorating.  For the football cookies, I first outlined my football by piping with brown stiff icing, and then filled it in with brown runny icing.  I let that dry for a few hours, and then used white royal icing to pipe the football laces on.

For the tooth cookies it was a similar process - I first piped an outline with white stiff icing, and then filled it in with white runny icing.

Once that was dry, I piped an additional white outline to finish it off.

And on the dessert table, I displayed the cookies on long white rectangular platters side by side.

Stay tuned for the next post on the last of the dessert table goodies!

potted plant chocolate puddings

In addition to the Hello Kitty macarons that I made for Cherish's wedding dessert table, I also made chocolate puddings that were topped with oreo crumbs and a mint spring, made to look like a miniature potted plant!  These adorable desserts were the bride's idea, and inspired by ones at Martha Stewart Weddings.

First up was the chocolate pudding itself, for which I used a combination of Guittard semisweet and Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips.  After cooking the pudding on the stove, it turned into a very smooth, decadent, and luxurious chocolate pudding indeed!

While the pudding was still warm, I carefully poured them into little shot glasses, which I then placed on large baking sheets to set in the fridge.

Then the next day (the morning of the wedding), I made my oreo crumbs in the food processor, and then covered the puddings with the freshly ground "dirt".  Finally, I placed a fresh mint sprig in each one, followed by a cute little wooden spoon (which can be found here).

Unfortunately by the time we drove to the wedding venue (which was 3 1/2 hours away), all of the mint sprigs had wilted!  But thanks to my genius hubby, who had bought potted mint plants that morning for "emergency use", we were able to replace all the wilted mint sprigs with freshly picked ones!

And here's the sneak peek at how I set these up on the dessert table!

Stay tuned for the rest of the dessert table goodies!

*** Update: click here to see the Hello Kitty macarons for the dessert table, and here to see the football cookies and tooth cookies!