Kiddo's 5th birthday - My Little Pony Cake

Kiddo just turned 5 and I planned a small party for her.  She requested for a My Little Pony rainbow cake and of coz I had to fulfil my little girl's wish. 

So I came up with this idea, thinking that it will definitely cut down on preparation time without compromising on taste and how the cake will look.

So the idea I had was to bake the rainbow layers using Betty Crocker white cake mix and then frost the cake with the Best Ever Cream Cheese Buttercream recipe from Wicked Good Kitchen which I have tried and loved.  However, I added way lesser sugar coz my family prefers desserts that are not overly sweet.  I would then decorate the cake withMy Little Pony figurines that we bought from Toys R Us and top it with cake bunting flaggies which I see lots of online.  

HOWEVER, two nights before the party, as I was preparing the rainbow cake layers using the cake mix, Kiddo squealed at the sight of pastel coloured layers but at the same time turned her nose up and remarked that the cake smelled like play dough.  I thought so too myself, but couldn't put a finger to it.  I asked Kiddo if she would like to try a small piece of the cake and she declined firmly.  I took a small bite of the cake and was rather turned off by how over the top sweet it was and how artificial the vanilla taste was.  *Urgh*... I wrapped up the layers, parked them in the freezer and called it a night.

I had a bad bad feeling as I went to bed... Knowing that with Kiddo's heightened taste buds and sense of smell, I knew that she wouldn't eat the cake no matter how pretty it will look.  So I got out of bed to look for a white cake recipe.  

The recipe that I followed was the Heavenly White Cake Recipe from allrecipes.com 

I am glad I decided to bake the cake from scratch coz it turned out really pretty without the off putting smell of play dough that came with the cake mix that I first used.  The texture of the cake that I made wasn't fabulous though, it was rather dense.  Coz I had to mix in the colours while folding in the meringue mixture which must have caused lots of bubbles to pop. 

So, here's how the cake looks like with all the ideas put together. 

We spruced up the place a little with these pompoms which both the kids and adults loved.

As for food, I prepared Curried Yong Tau Foo... 

Cold tea...

Pumpkin soup....

And we ordered lots of pizza! 

Here's how the inside of the rainbow cake... Kiddo and I both agreed on a less vibrant, pastel rainbow layers. 

The kids loved the cake, but the adults found it much too dense which I totally agree.  Well, I'll still call this a success since the cake turned out the way that I envisioned it to look! (",) 

The first cake that I baked for Kiddo was when she was 3.  

This My Little Pony rainbow cake is the second cake that I've baked for her birthday.   

I wonder what kinda cake she will ask for next year ... I hope I'd be able to fulfil her wish too for her next cake request. 

Talk to you ladies soon!

Pumpkin Cubes - Easy Pumpkin Recipes

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

The pumpkin cubes that I bake is always a hit with kids and adults alike.  Some kids turn up their noses at the mention of pumpkin but once they start popping these cubes into their mouths, they come backing asking for more (",) 

The first time I baked these pumpkin squares, I followed the  Pumpkin Bars recipe from Food Network.

It was atrociously SWEET!  Well, to be fair, not everyone has a sweet tooth... so I decided to cut, cut, cut down on the amount of sugar since pumpkin is already sweet on its own.   I also added chocolate chips coz I think it'll go well with the pumpkin.  So here's my take on the pumpkin bars.  I cut mine up into cubes so I'll call mine 'Pumpkin Cubes' instead.

I make my own pumpkin puree so, if you are interested to DIY, click here.

Cubes

Wet Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 can of pumpkin puree (appx 2 cups)

Mix the wet ingredients together.   

Dry Ingredients 

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

Mix dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients.

I did all the whisking and mixing with a whisk instead of an electric mixer.

• 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Once the wet and dry ingredients are nicely mixed, fold the semi sweet chocolate chips into the mixture.  Pour mixture into a baking pan (13 x 10 inch).

Set oven to 180 Degrees Celsius and bake for about 30 minutes.

Once the pumpkin mixture is in the oven, you can start prepping the icing.

Icing

• 250g cream cheese (soften) 
• 1/2 cup butter (soften)
• 1 cup confectioner' sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon powder

I used a handheld mixer for the icing.  Mix everything together at low speed until combined. 

Set the icing in the refrigerator while waiting for the pumpkin mixture to bake. 

Once the pumpkin mixture is baked, allow to cool for at least 30 mins. 

I shaved off the sides and started cutting it up into cubes.

Start pipping the frosting on each cube (",)

Kim the opportunistic pooch waiting around as usual... I gave her some roasted pumpkins.. though (",)

Mashed pumpkin for my pumpkin recipes

  Here's a short entry on how I prepare my pumpkin puree. 

I usually use a whole pumpkin and keep half of for pancakes or waffles.  The types of pumpkins I use depends on what is available in stores.  I use both the local as well as the Japanese pumpkins.  Both are good in my opinion.  

So, I wash and remove the skin from the pumpkin and cut them up into small chunks.  Set the oven at 200 degrees Celsius and pop the pumpkin chunks in there for about 20 mins.  

I used to use a blender to puree the pumpkin but I find that a fork does the job as well.  So I have been manually mashing up the pumpkins instead of pureeing them in a blender.  I prefer using the fork coz I like my 'puree' to have texture and bite to it instead of being too smooth. 

So, here's the end of this simple pumpkin puree entry (",) 

Click on the titles for pumpkin recipes that I've tried out:

• Pumpkin Squares
• Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting