rainbow sprinkle birthday cake with beaded border

In addition to the whale birthday cake that I made for my friend Irene's son, I also made this larger cake for the guests! It's practically a tradition that I make her a nectarine and cream cake, so that's what we decided on again! And this time, I was able to use fresh nectarines straight from the nectarine tree in our backyard!

I baked up two 10-inch round vanilla cakes (recipe in my book!), and sliced each cake in half horizontally to give me four layers. Then I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream, and sliced nectarines. Then I covered the whole thing with vanilla buttercream.

After a crumb coat, a quick chill in the fridge, and then a final smooth coat, I was ready to decorate!

To get the number "2" in the middle of the cake (see here for more examples of my rainbow sprinkles cakes), I drew it on waxed paper, cut it out, and placed it on in the middle of the cake. Then I piped a beaded border around the perimeter, and then added my sprinkles while the frosting was still sticky. I let the cake chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes, and then I was able to peel off the waxed paper "2", and voila! A number "2" surrounded by sprinkles!

Here's a shot of the inside of the cake!

Happy Birthday Aaron!

tiered peaches and cream layer cake with handmade gold fondant letter toppers

In addition to the blue bunting smash cake and Korean hanbok cookies that I made for baby Aaron's first birthday, I also made this tiered monogrammed cake for the party! Irene had wanted a white tiered cake topped with Aaron's initials in gold letters.

For the fondant letters, I started making them about a week in advance, to give them time to dry in time. I rolled out white fondant to about 1/8 inch thick, and then used a ruler and a pizza cutter to cut out long strips of fondant, with I used to form my letters.

Next I used this gold edible cake paint, or "cake graffiti", to spray my letters a pretty gold color.

I ended up spraying multiple coats, to get a nice deep gold color.

For the cake itself, Irene wanted the same cake that I had made for her baby shower - a fluffy vanilla cake filled with fresh nectarines and homemade whipped cream. So I baked up my favorite vanilla cake (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book) in two 8-inch cake pans, and then doubled the recipe to bake a larger set of layers in two 10-inch cake pans. 

Once cooled, I sliced each cake layer in half horizontally, giving me four 8-inch layers, and four 10-inch layers. Then I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream and fresh sliced nectarines.

Here's the 8-inch cake being assembled, and then frosted with cream cheese buttercream.

And here's the 10-inch cake being assembled.

After chilling both layers, I stacked them (with bamboo skewers inside to hold the top layer in place, see this tiered circus carnival cake for a picture of what I do with the skewers). Then, the final touch was placing the gold fondant letters on top (secured with a bit of frosting on the bottom of each letter).

I loved how the lettering turned out!

At the party, Irene did such a great job on setting up the Korean "dol" table! And look how cute the Korean hanbok cookies that I made look plated on gold trays next to the tiered cake!

Here's a quick photo collage of the party.

And a precious photo of the family :)

Happy Birthday, baby Aaron! Your party was spectacular!

rainbow fruits layer cake with freshly whipped cream and heart cookie topper

Out of my three kids, my youngest baby is the best eater. Besides rice and pasta, he especially loves to eat all kinds of fruits. So for his second birthday this past February, I decided to make him a rainbow fruits layer cake, inspired by this rainbow fruits cookie cake I found on Pinterest!

I wanted to make a really light cake so that the fruits could stand out, so I chose to use the same cake recipe as the strawberry cream cake that I made a few years ago. It had been very light and airy, and really let the filling stand out. So I baked three 8-inch cakes, each of which I sliced in half horizontally to give me six layers (although I only ended up using five of the layers).

For the rainbow of fruits, I chose to use red strawberries, orange/yellow nectarines, green kiwis, and blue/violet blueberries. Each cake layer got a healthy dose of whipped cream, then fruit, then more whipped cream on top, before adding the next cake layer on top of that.

I ended up making A LOT of freshly whipped cream for this cake - one big batch to fill all of the layers, and one big batch to cover the entire cake. I flavored my whipped cream with vanilla extract, but I think a bit of almond extract would go nicely with the cake and fruits as well.

After I added the first three layers of fruit and whipped cream, it had gotten pretty late in the night, so I covered the whole thing with a big cake dome and placed it in the fridge overnight. Then the next morning, I got back to work caking.

That meant my last layer of whipped cream and fruits, and my final cake layer on top.

I think I could have almost left it like this, for the naked cake effect! But I decided to go ahead with my initial plan to frost the whole thing with freshly whipped cream.

So I covered the entire top and sides of the cake with whipped cream, in what I call a "messy coat".

And then smoothed the whole thing out with an offset spatula and rotating cake stand.

Since the cake turned out so tall, I wanted a really simple frosting design, so I did a quick swirl effect with an offset spatula.

Since Micah is a Valentine's baby (born the day after Valentine's Day), I added heart cookie pop as the cake topper. And to make it more festive, I sprinkled a bit of edible gold glitter stars around the perimeter of the cake.

And then it was done!

While I loved the look of the edible glitter stars, after sitting on the cake for a few hours they melted into little puddles of gold! (Not pictured). So right before the birthday dinner I sprinkled a few more stars on, just to hide the melted ones.

Here's a shot of the inside of the cake. All that fresh fruit!!!

I just wish I could have cut a cleaner slice! But with the softness of the cake, plus the height and all the soft whipped cream and chunks of fresh fruit, that combination just didn't allow me to cut a clean slice!

I really wanted the colors of the fruit to stand out more than this, but this will have to do. Maybe next time I would cut thicker slices of fruit.

Happy second birthday, my little Micah! Even though you are a toddler now, you will always be my baby!

baby shower peaches and cream layer cake with macarons and handmade fondant letter toppers

When my friend Irene asked me to make a cake for her baby shower, I said yes right away! Irene is not only super stylish, she is also a major foodie, and I was so flattered that she asked me! I met Irene through my friend Helen, also a stylish foodie, and what's really cool is that a few years ago Helen had asked me to make macaron and cookie favors for Irene's bridal shower, so I had a part in making goodies for Irene's bridal shower and baby shower!

Irene already had this cake by Herriott Grace in mind, and it was adorable so I couldn't wait to start on it. We decided on vanilla cake layered with fresh peaches and whipped cream, and covered with cream cheese buttercream. (Note: You can find a similar the recipe in my new book, "The Hello Kitty Baking Book", except with fresh strawberries insteaf of peaches!)

The first thing I started on was making the fondant letters, about a week before the baby shower, as I knew I would need to give them time to dry out.

For this I used store-bought fondant, which I colored, rolled out, cut, and shaped into letters (using these cookie cutters as guides).

Then a few days before the baby shower, I made the macarons, since they need at least 24 hours in the refrigerator to "set" properly. I followed the cake example and made them in pink, green, and white.

And filled them with a peachy cream cheese filling (flavored with peach preserves).

Then it was time for the cake. Homemade vanilla cake. Freshly whipped cream. Fresh sliced peaches. What a combination!

After filling and stacking the cake, I whipped up a cream cheese buttercream and tinted it mint green, and then covered the top and sides of the cake with using an offset spatula.

After smoothing out the top and sides, then came the fun part - piping the sides! I followed the cake example and used a star tip to pipe vertical ruffly swirls up along the sides of the cake. So simple and yet so pretty!

The final touch was stacking the macarons and the fondant letters. I used royal icing to attach each letter to a macaron, and then I used a thin floral wire to connect all the macarons together and hold them in place on top of the cake.

And then it was done! I think the letters were a tad too large for the cake, but I didn't care, it looked so cute!

Irene's baby shower ended up being so beautiful. The food was made by her good friend Sharon, who made delicious bulgogi sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches (both sandwiches on Acme bread), tossed herbed salad, and pesto pasta salad, as well as a delicious Meyer lemon fizzy drink! Everything was perfect, and everyone had a great time celebrating with Irene.

Happy Baby Shower, Irene!

*** Update:
To see more of my recipes and techniques, you can pre-order a copy of my new book, "The Hello Kitty Baking Book", due out in September!