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!

hello kitty baked alaska ice cream bombe

For my birthday, the past few years I've made myself a Hello Kitty cake of some sort (see here and here). So this year, I decided to make a baked alaska / ice cream bombe, but in the shape of Hello Kitty, of course! I knew that there would be many components to make the cake (two different flavors of homemade ice cream, chocolate cake, and meringue frosting), so I started making the ice creams a week in advance. (By the way, while this cake itself is not in my new book, "The Hello Kitty Baking Book", the recipes for most of the components are in it - minus the almond ice cream. And instead of coffee oreo ice cream, the book does have a recipe for cookies-n-cream ice cream).

Anyway, things got so busy that I wasn't able to make the rest of the components in time for my actual birthday! Which was fine, since we didn't celebrate with my family until a week later, as my brother was out of town.

I wanted to create a take on the flavors of my favorite childhood ice cream flavor, mocha almond fudge!, So for the outside layer, I made a coffee oreo ice cream, which I churned and then froze in an 8-inch metal bowl (with another bowl on top to make the shape for the next ice cream layer). And for the inside layer, I made an almond-scented ice cream (made with imitation almond extract, because my daughter is allergic to all nuts), which I churned the next day and then poured into the hollow of the coffee oreo ice cream. (Note - to replace the crunch you would normally get from the almonds in mocha almond fudge, I used oreo cookie crumbs in my coffee ice cream layer).

For the cake layer, I made an 8-inch chocolate cake (the cake recipe itself is in my new book), which I also froze after wrapping it tightly in two layers of saran wrap and a large ziplock freezer bag. And when it was time to assemble, I unwrapped everything and placed the ice cream layers upside down onto my cake layer.

Next came the meringue (recipe also in my book!), which basically is a meringue made from gently-cooked egg whites and sugar,whipped up to form a frothy marshmallow-like frosting (this can be used as a frosting, or as the basis for meringue cookies baked at low heat in the oven).

I used an offset spatula to frost the meringue all over the cake, and then used a piping bag fitted with a small tip to pipe Hello Kitty's details on top. Then I let it set in the freezer until it was time to serve!

Right before serving, I used a kitchen blow torch (the same kind that you use for creme brulee) to brown the meringue all over. (Note, if you don't have a kitchen blow torch, you can also brown the meringue in your oven, on broiler setting, for a few minutes).

I made especially sure to brown Hello Kitty's details so that they would stand out against the rest of the white meringue.

When I had envisioned this cake in my head, I wasn't so sure how it would turn out looking. But I LOVED it. It looked like a giant Hello Kitty toasted marshmallow. :) Wheeee!

And the inside! I absolutely loved the combination of the coffee oreo ice cream and the almond ice cream! And even better with the moist chocolate cake and fluffy marshmallow-y frosting!

This is such an elegant and delicious make-ahead dessert, and you could even use store-bought ice cream to make things easier. I think it would be great at any dinner party, definitely a crowd pleaser!

Happy belated birthday to all those April babies out there!

the perfect baking book for hello kitty lovers

Sometime last fall, I briefly mentioned that I've been super busy with a "baking project" that I was dying to tell you about. Well, it's official now...

I wrote a book. A Hello Kitty book. A Hello Kitty baking book. I still can't believe it!!!

The book won't be released until September (just in time for Hello Kitty's 40th birthday!), but you can already pre-order it from Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and IndieBound!

If you've ever visited my blog before, you probably already know that I've been a longtime Hello Kitty lover. So as you can probably guess, I am crazy excited that I had the chance to not only write a baking book, but one filled with Hello Kitty desserts - my favorite type of dessert to make! The book is a fun collection of all the Hello Kitty desserts that I've baked and blogged about over the years, includes new recipes and desserts, and brand-new photos of every dessert! I've created recipes for simple desserts, and more complicated desserts that require multiple components, as well as variations for other Sanrio characters and other flavors if you choose.

Stay tuned for sneak peeks, web extras, and information on book-related events!

I still have to pinch myself sometimes to make sure I'm not dreaming!

easter egg rainbow jello

I made these rainbow jello Easter eggs for Melodie's class party this year, and they were definitely an improvement from the last time I made them two years ago! (Last trime I tried to make pastel colors, but they didn't turn out so great! I much prefer standard rainbow colors like with this seven-layer jello).

Last time I scored this egg-shaped jello mold for free with the purchase of three boxes of jello, and while I scoured my grocery store for the same deal this time, I could not even find any molds for sale at all! Bummer, this meant that I could only make six jello eggs at a time, and I needed to make enough for 18 kids!

By 4am, I was done. But I had only made 12 eggs, so I chose to make the rest of the jello in a 9x9 inch pan.

Next time I'll remember to start earlier! Either that, or order another couple of egg-shaped jello molds in advance!

They were worth it though; the teachers and kids (especially Melodie) loved them!

Happy Easter!

*** Update: You can now find the recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!

matcha green tea rose cake with whipped cream frosting

Two years ago I made my coworker Kim this matcha green tea Hello Kitty tiramisu cake (I didn't have a chance to make her a cake last year, since I was on maternity leave with my third baby at the time!), and since I know she loves anything green tea, I decided to make her another green tea cake this year!

This time I decided on a green tea chiffon cake that I've made in the past (see here and here), except that I wanted to decorate it with piped roses. This is one of my favorite ways to frost cakes, and I've done it many times (purple, purple ombre, white red velvet cheesecake, orange pumpkin spice, pink ombre), but the orirginal tutorial can be found here at I Am Baker. :)

For the chiffon cake, I began by separating my eggs and whipping the egg whites until stiff peaks formed.

Then in a separate bowl, I mixed the egg yolks, oil, and sugar, before adding cake flour, matcha green tea powder, baking powder, and salt.

Finally I gently folded in my whipped egg whites, for a fluffy green tea batter. Then I divided the batter between two 8-inch pans (ungreased, and simply lined with parchment paper).

I baked them at 350F for 20 minutes, and let them cool (with the pans upside down, in order to help keep the volume of the chiffon cake).

While they were cooling, I made a batch of freshly whipped cream, lightly sweetened with confectioner's sugar, and then added a paste of green tea powder mixed with hot water. I used this to fill and frost my cooled cake layers.

After smoothing out the top and sides of the cake with an offset spatula, I was ready to pipe my roses using a Wilton 1M tip.

I had intended on piping roses on the top of the cake as well, but I ran out of the whipped cream mixture! So roses on only the sides would have to do!

I brought the cake to work the next day, and we scheduled a "fake meeting" so that we could surprise Kim with the birthday cake!

Happy Birthday, Kim! Hope you enjoyed the cake!

hello kitty matcha green tea tiramisu cake

My coworker Kim loves anything green tea, and while I wasn't able to make her a cake last year (since I was on maternity leave from work), I made her this Hello Kitty shaped green tea cake the year before. (Yes, this post is two years late!)

I made pretty much the same components that I had made for this Hello Kitty tiramisu cake, such as the same vanilla cake, and the same method of cutting out the Hello Kitty shape and layering the components.

Except that I made a matcha green tea syrup of the espresso syrup.

Which also meant making the green tea mascarpone filling instead of an espresso mascarpone filling.

After adding a second set of vanilla cake, green tea syrup, and mascarpone layers, I dusted the top with green tea powder (instead of cocoa powder).

Then I let it set overnight before unmolding it.

While the cake had great green tea flavor, I think it would have been better had I used the green tea chiffon cake that I made here and here. The more green tea flavor, the better!

Stay tuned to see the cake that I made for Kim this year!