Hello Kitty Cake

This week I made a Hello Kitty Birthday Cake for a friend of a friend's little girl.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out, since it was my first time making a gum paste figurine.  I tried and tried to find a tutorial on how to make a Hello Kitty one, but it seems to be a trend for cake artists to simply film YouTube videos of their finished cake!  Since after about 3 minutes of panning around and around the same cake, I was no closer to having a Hello Kitty completed, I set out and figured it out on my own.  I was quite pleased with the results.  I even made a mini fondant cupcake of her own.

The actual cake is chocolate filled with a light chocolate mousse and topped with a pink swiss meringue buttercream.  I am still nervous about and in the process of mastering writing on cakes, so you can see I mussed up the top a bit in the process.

I'm baking up some more Cinco De Mayo themed treats this weekend...stay tuned for Dulce de Leche Macarons.

Ombre Margarita Layer Cake

Have you ever seen this shower curtain from Anthropologie?  

It's called the Flamenco shower curtain and I fell in love with it at first sight.  Alas, I have yet to have purchased anything from Anthropologie at full price and, to my disappointment, our apartment shower has a single glass door and no need for a curtain.  


This cake is margarita flavored- margarita cake layers filled with an orange lime curd and topped with a slightly salty swiss meringue buttercream.  I thought this design would fit the flavor perfectly.  


For the Margarita Cake Layers (makes 3 7-inch layer cakes) 
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature 
2 cups, plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar 
4 large eggs, plus 1 white at room temperature 
3 tbsp lime zest 
3 tbsp orange zest 
3 cups GF flour (3/4 cup white rice flour, 1 cup sweet rice flour,  3/4 cup potato starch, 1/2 cup sorghum flour) 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon kosher salt 
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice 
2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice 
3/4 cup sour cream, room temperature 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease three pans and line each with a circle of parchment paper.


Sift baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flours together.  Set aside.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs and egg white one at a time.  Mix until fully combined.  Add lime zest, orange zest, and vanilla extract.  


Add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix, alternating with sour cream.  Mix until fully combined, but do not overmix.  Pour batter evenly into each pan, smoothing the top.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cake springs back to touch. 

For the Lime Orange Curd Adapted from Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Curd Recipe

• 3 limes
• 1 medium sized orange
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 extra-large eggs
• 1/4 cup, plus 2 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest of 3 limes and one orange. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is fine and incorporated into the sugar.

Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the orange and lime juice and salt. Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and cool.  Refrigerator until fully cold and thickened.  

For the Margarita Simple Syrup:

3 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tsp Triple Sec or Cointreau Liquor 

3 tsp good quality Tequila (I used Milagro)

1/4 cup sugar

Combine sugar and liquids into small sauce pan.  Heat until sugar is fully dissolved. Cool and set aside.

For the Salted Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

5 egg whites

3 3/4 sticks butter, unsalted

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp Triple Sec or Cointreau Liquor

3 tsp Tequila

3 tbsp lime juice

Heat water in a saucepan until simmering.  Combine egg whites, kosher salt, and sugar in the metal bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer. Create a "double boiler" by placing mixing bowl inside pan with simmering water.  Whisk continuously until mixture reaches 160 degrees on a candy thermometer.  

Place bowl back onto stand mixer and mix egg whites/sugar with whisk attachment until fully cooled and thick.  While the mixer is running, cut butter into small cubes.  After mixture is cooled, add butter little by little, mixing well after each addition.  

Once butter is fully incorporated, switch to a paddle attachment and mix for another 2-3 minutes.  Add  vanilla, Triple Sec, Tequila, and lime juice.  Mix until fully incorporated.

To Assemble:

Once cake layers are fully cooled, brush each with simple syrup and divide curd evenly between two middle cake layers.  Refrigerate cake for an hour, or place in the freezer for 15 minutes prior to frosting.  Lightly frost entire cake with white swiss meringue buttercream.  Set aside a bit of white swiss meringue buttercream for frosting top of cake.

Using a toothpick, add a very small amount of Wilton "Leaf Green" gel food coloring (or another comparable shade of green).  Mix using stand mixer until desired light green color is reached. Fit a pastry bag with a coupler and petal tip.  Holding pastry bag perp straight down, with the narrow part of the petal tip facing you, make a side by side motion to create ruffles.  Once the light green ruffles have been formed around the cake, create the aqua shade.  Add a bit of blue food coloring until desired color is reached.  Repeat another layer of ruffles under the first, using the same motion.  Add a bit more blue and green food coloring until darker aqua color is achieved.  Do last layer of ruffles, finishing at the bottom of the cake.  

If desired, use  remaining white buttercream to create top layer ruffles.  Create the ruffles by making a side by side motion, with the wide part of the tip facing you this time.   I also sprinkled some white sugar sprinkles onto the center, unruffled white portion of the cake.  It created a cute effect and nice texture (very margarita-y).

Mini Peanut Butter Fudge Mousse Cakes

Mr. Pixie Crust and I took a weekend trip with some friends for their birthday this Saturday and had a fun- packed weekend of wine tasting and other adventures. When we got back to L.A. yesterday, though, it was really nice to be home and relax the rest of the weekend. After taking a 3 hour nap on the couch, I whipped up these little guys. They are pretty rich and delicious. The best part is that they're super easy- after mixing up the filling, you simply leave them in the pan to set overnight.


For the Chocolate Crust: 
-6 oz gluten free chocolate wafers or sandwich cookies
-3 tbsp butter Grease mini cheesecake pan and set aside.

Place cookies in bowl of food processor and grind until they are a fine powder. Pour crushed cookies into a large bowl. Melt 3 tbsp butter and add to cookies. Stir until mixture is coated and moistened. Place a heaping 1/2 tbsp of crust into each cavity of pan and press into bottom of pan until smooth and even. Bake for 5-7 minutes at 350 degrees and allow to cool until room temperature.


For the Peanut Butter Mousse:
1/4 cup cold coffee
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar

Place coffee in a shallow microwave safe bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over it and set aside for five minute until gelatin blooms. Microwave bloomed gelatin mixture for 10 seconds and stir until no lumps remain. Set aside. Combine cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth. Set aside. Place heavy cream into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on high until medium peaks form. Set aside. Add one tablespoon of gelatin into peanut butter/cream cheese mixture at a time and gently fold to combine. Add heavy cream mixture and fold to combine. Place mixture in a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe into wells. Refrigerate overnight for best result. For smooth and even sides, use an offset spatula and run it along the edge of the removable bottom before lifting out.


Note The chocolate topping is extra chocolate swiss meringue buttercream I had on hand. I would recommend topping with a lightly sweetened whipped cream drizzled with melted chocolate or ganache.

Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

Gluten Free Sugar Cookies (Makes about 12-13 large sugar cookie cut-outs)
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 cup, plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup, plus 2 tbsp superfine sweet rice flour
1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp potato starch
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp oat flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar together in bowl of stand mixer. Add vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Pulse gluten free cooking oats until they are crushed into a fine powder. Add white rice flour and sweet rice flour and process for a minute or two. Add potato starch, baking powder and salt- pulse until well combined. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients to the butter/egg/sugar mixture. Once combined, scrape dough out of bowl and form into a ball onto a large piece of saran wrap. Cover fully with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To roll out shapes:
Cut refrigerated dough into two equal halves. Place one half onto a clean counter space dusted with sweet rice flour and place the other half back into the refrigerator. Dust a rolling pin with rice flour and roll dough into an even sized oval or circle (about 1/2 inch thick). Coat cookie cutters in flour and cut shapes out of dough. Cut and lift carefully, as the dough is more crumbly than traditional sugar cookie dough. Place cut out cookies onto parchment paper or silpat lined baking sheets. These cookies spread more than my favorite "with gluten" sugar cookie recipe, so I recommend popping the baking sheet in the freezer for about 10 minutes prior to baking. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until bottoms are slightly golden.


Royal Icing Recipe: Pasteurized egg whites from 2 large eggs 2 cups confectioner's sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract Using the whisk attachment for a stand mixer, beat whites and vanilla on medium speed until foamy. Reduce speed to low and add in sifted confectioner's sugar. Once all of the sugar is added, increase speed to high and beat until icing forms stiff peaks (6-7 minutes). Separate icing into as many bowls as you want colors. Color each icing as desired. Using a small round tip (wilton size 3 or 5 tip) fitted to a pastry bag, outline each cookie with the thick icing. Once all cookies are outlined, add a teaspoon of water to each bowl (and add more, if necessary) to thin the icing to "flood" the cookies. The icing should go on easily, but should not be runny. Allow cookies to dry overnight.

"Eat Me" Cake and Wilton Cake Decorating Class

Part of the reason I've been kind of absent from blogging lately is because I just finished the first Wilton Cake Decorating Course. It was only one night per week, but it was three hours in the evening after work and it included us having to bake at home for class.

I had some mixed feelings about it initially, but it ended up being a really fun and useful class- especially the last two sessions. For our final project, we had to bake and frost a cake at home and bring it into class to decorate with buttercream roses, a shell border, and a written message made from piped icing.

Since my cake colors turned out bright and eclectic, I decided to pay homage to Alice in Wonderland and pipe "Eat me" onto my cake.

It's not exactly a St. Patrick's Day cake, but at least it's green!

Salted Caramel Macarons

With how long it's been since my last post, you would think that I was away from the world baking entirely for the last two weeks, but not so! I've been doing a lot of baking lately, along with taking a Wilton cake decorating class, and having a really hectic schedule at my day job.

This past weekend, I helped with a ladies brunch by making lemon and strawberry macarons and mini lemon cupcakes.

I've been trying to make as many French Macarons as possible because I know that's the only way I'll feel I've mastered them. It is a huge encouragement that I can't remember the last time a batch didn't turn out- just some minor issues with uneven sized cookies, air bubbles, and occasional texture imperfection. The great part is that even when small things are not exactly as I would want them to be, they still taste amazing and people love them.

For the Macaron Shells (makes about 34 shells)

3/4 cup almond flour
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup superfine sugar
2 large egg whites, at room temperature and aged at least 24 hours
Gold gel food coloring

Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine almond flour and confectioner's sugar in food processor until smooth. Whisk egg whites using stand or hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Add food coloring. Sift one half almond flour mixture into egg whites and fold until almost incorporated. Add the other half of the mixture and fold until batter ribbons off of spatula.

Place batter in large pastry bag fitted with plain 1/2 inch round tip. Pipe evenly sized 1-inch circles onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Allow macarons to rest for at least 30 minutes prior to baking. Once you're ready to place in the oven, turn oven temperature down to 275 degrees. Bake macarons one sheet at a time for about 15 minutes until cookies are just set and no longer wiggle with touch. Once cooled, assemble with filling.

Salted Caramel Filling (by Pierre Herme, source: The Boy Who Bakes

200g Sugar

330g Whipping Cream

30g Salted Butter + 140g Softened Salted Butter

Add about 50g of sugar to a saucepan, let it melt, then add another 50g sugar. Continue three times until all 200g of sugar has been incorporated and melted.

Allow the sugar caramelize until it has turned a deep amber shade. Remove from the heat and add the 30g butter. Add the cream which will spatter and bubble and may seize up and harden but will melt in the next stage (mine did seize up, but sure enough, after a while of heating on the stove with the cream, it combined nicely). Put heat back on and continue cooking until mixture reaches 108 degrees on a candy thermometer. Set aside to cool (I put mine in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes, which helped a lot).

Beat the remaining butter for 8 to 10 minutes and then incorporate the caramel in 2 additions. Add this to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip and pipe into half of the shells and then sandwich another shell on top. Allow macarons to rest with filling at least overnight prior to eating/serving.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Roses

A beloved person in my life is going through a very hard ordeal right now. Sometimes when a person gets bad news about their health, the people close to them feel like nothing they can say or do will help them through.

This person I made these vanilla cupcakes for is a wonderfully funny and caring woman. She's also a huge supporter of my baking, which I've always appreciated. She requested vanilla cupcakes because they're her favorite. When you feel powerless in life, it's always nice to be able to do something that's within your means. I probably feel that way even more because I have deep seated control issues, but that's another story!

To my wonderful co-worker- I love you and look forward to fulfilling more cupcake requests!

For the Vanilla Cupcakes: (makes 20 cupcakes)

1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 stick butter, plus 2 tbsp canola oil
1 cup, plus 2 tbsp sugar
3 eggs, plus 1 white
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
Seeds from one vanilla bean (you can sub vanilla extract)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard cupcake tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter, oil and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add vanilla bean seeds. Add whole eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add egg white, and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

For the Vanilla Bean Buttercream:
3 sticks butter, unsalted
1/4 block cream cheese
1 vanilla bean (or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla bean seeds. Add confectioner's sugar and mix on low. Add heavy whipping cream and increase speed to medium.

To decorate:

I piped buttercream onto each cupcake using a french pastry tip. The roses were made by piping onto a pastry nail with swiss meringue buttercream dyed pink. Since swiss meringue buttercream has an egg white and butter base, it's a lot stiffer and easier to decorate with.