winter yuki tokidoki unicorn birthday cake

For my daughter's 6th birthday this past December, I asked her what kind of cake she wanted. She told me that she wanted another unicorn cake, like the Tokidoki one that I made for her last year, except she wanted to pick a different unicorn this time. So we looked up Tokidoki unicorns, and as soon as she saw Yuki, a winter unicorn with snowflakes, she was smitten! (She's still really into Frozen, and she loved Yuki's snowflakes!)

Since we were going with the winter theme (winter bithday, winter unicorn), I decided she should have a minty chocolatey cake! So I made two 8-inch chocolate cakes (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!), filled with peppermint whipped cream. (I sliced each cake layer in half horizontally, giving me four cake layers and three layers of filling).

After filling and chilling the cake, I whipped up a batch of cream cheese buttercream (recipe also in my book!), and covered the top and sides of the cake with it. Then using a piping bag fitted with a medium star tip, I piped long vertical swirls of frosting along the sides of the cake (the same technique that I used here, here, and here, inspired by a Nikole Herriott cake).

Then I was ready to pipe the unicorn. I used a toothpick to draw my outline, and then used a small round piping tip with black icing to trace over the outline.

Then I used a small star tip to fill in my unicorn! (For the snowflakes, I used a smaller round tip to pipe them over the piped stars).

To finish decorating the cake, I piped a birthday message in blue, and then I was done!

Stay tuned to see the winter cookie favors that I made, and cupcakes for her class party as well!

Happy Birthday, my sweet Melodie! We love you so much!!!

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!

tiramisu birthday cake with piped swirl ruffle sides

My last post was about this mocha pocky layer cake that I made last year for my mom's birthday, which started out as one cake, and then turned into a different cake altogether! For this year's cake, the same thing happened! I had this whole vision in my head - I knew I wanted to make a tiramisu cake, because out of all the cakes that I have made for my mom, she seems to have liked this Hello Kitty tiramisu the best (she prefers desserts that aren't too sweet, and she loves the flavor of coffee). For the design on the top, I pictured something similar to this lace cake that I had seen on Pinterest somewhere, except that I wanted to dust on cocoa powder instead of sugar. And for the sides, I wanted to try this pretty swirl ruffle piping that I had pinned on Pinterest about a year ago.

So I doubled my Hello Kitty tiramisu recipe to make two 8-inch vanilla cake layers and sliced them in half horizontally. Then I topped each cake layer with a light brushing of espresso syrup, a layer of espresso and Kahlua creamy whipped filling (made with cream cheese this time instead of mascarpone cheese), and then a dusting of cocoa powder before adding the next cake layer. Then I finished it off by using the same creamy filling to frost the top and sides of the cake.

Next I attempted to dust on my lace design with cocoa powder. Let's just say that it didn't come out too pretty. So I decided to dust the entire top with cocoa powder, and then try the lace design with powdered sugar. At first it seemed to work, although the design was very light...

.. but then before I knew it, the powdered sugar started to dissolve into the cocoa powder, until the lace design was not even recognizable. Boo :( Oh well, at least I would still have the pretty swirl ruffles piped on the sides.

But even that didn't come out as I had envisioned. I think I should have gone one more swirl higher than I did.

In any case, it still looked like tiramisu, although a tad plain. So I decided to sprinkle some sugar pearls on the top, to pretty it up a little.

Right before the party, the cake was still looking a little plain, so at the suggestion of my husband I threw on some light green cymbidium orchids (although I didn't have time to properly photograph it).

To my delight, my mom loved the cake! I think I may have to make tiramisu cake for her every year!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!