Hello Kitty Chiffon Cupcakes and Cake pops

It's been a Hello Kitty week for me!!

I made Hello Kitty chiffon cupcakes to thank for daughter's teachers at the party, as well as some wrapped up as cake pops as take-home presents!

Which do you like more? :) The teacher's all said they were too cute to eat!! :)

Some important points to note for making these Hello Kitty cakes. To make sure they stay white, the oven temperature must be low. I baked for the first 10 min at 160°C and then lowered to 150°C. In addition, the lowest rack must be used. I also reduced the vanilla extract in the recipe as it turns the batter brownish. More egg whites than egg yolks are also used in the recipe as it makes the batter whiter and less yellowish. You can also opt to use some white colouring to make the cake whiter but this is optional.

I tried to pipe on and bake in all the facial features including the black eyes, whiskers, nose and also the pink ribbons. However, I found it really tedious to make many small cake pops this way; the features were also too fine (batter could not be too thick), so most of the black features got stuck on the mould and didn't come out on the cake as intended. I ended up having to draw them on with charcoal paste (charcoal powder and water) using a toothpick and fine brush. So if you would like to attempt making these cute kitties, I would advise maybe just piping the pink ribbons and eyes, and drawing the rest on with charcoal paste or food markers (yellow and black). Or if you prefer, you can just draw everything on. A thing to note with food markers: they run after a day as chiffon cakes absorb moisture, so do make sure to draw them on on the day before serving and not in advance!

Hello Kitty Cupcakes/Cakepops
(makes 12 cupcakes, or one 6-inch Hello Kitty mould + 4 cupcakes)
3 egg yolks
20g sugar
39g vegetable oil
37 ml water
60g cake flour
4 ml vanilla extract
charcoal powder
pink food colouring

Meringue for piping pink ribbons and eyes
1 egg white
10g sugar
1/6 tsp cream of tartar

Meringue for cake
4 egg whites
45g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale yellow before stirring in oil and water.
3. Next add in sieved flour and whisk till no trace of flour found.
4. Piping batter: scoop over 2 tsp and add pink colouring for pink ribbons, and another 2 tsp and add 1/2 tsp charcoal powder.
5. Piping meringue: Whisk 1 egg white for meringue with cream of tartar and sugar till stiff peak. Scoop over 4-5 tbsp to the pink batter and black batter respectively. Fold in the meringue gently, taking care not to deflate the egg whites. Pipe into the features. Bake for 1.5 min.
6. Meringue for cake: Beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till stiff peak, mixing in caster sugar in 2 additions.
7. Fold in the meringue gently into the cake batter in 3 additions.
8. Scoop the cake batter into the Hello Kitty moulds to 80% full. Gently tap the moulds on table to remove air bubbles.
9. Bake the moulds for 10 min at 160°C then 10-15 min at 150°C.
10. Place the moulds on a cooling rack to cool and then unmould when cool by gently peeling them off.
11. Make charcoal paste by adding 1/2 tsp of charcoal powder in 10-15 ml boiled water. Use a toothpick and fine brush to draw the features on. Use a yellow food marker to draw the nose on. *You can attempt to pipe on everything for the big Hello Kitty mould as the features are less fine.
*For the big Hello Kitty, add 10 min to baking time at the end.

Happy birthday Christine!!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from the Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

With lots of love,
Susanne