My daughter is not very girly. Maybe she is growing up with her brother, her favourite toys are mostly her brother’s toys. She would want to have a Thomas the Train cake for her birthday.

It’s nothing wrong honestly. As a mother, I just want her to be a bit more HER! So I enrolled her to ballet, got her a tutu dress, and made her a Hello Kitty Cake for birthday.

And you know she wouldn’t care. Cause she doesn’t care. She loves everything!

Ingredients (5-inch 3-layer cake):
Vanilla Sponge Cake
3 large eggs, room temperature, separated
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup cake flour, sifted
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Black food colouring paste
Red food colouring paste
Yellow food colouring paste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom of a 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a bowl of a standing mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add 2 tablespoon sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Scrape the meringue in another bowl. Set aside.
In the same mixing bowl, beat egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar on high speed until thick and light in colour, about 5 minutes. Add vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Mix for another minute.
Sift flour and the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over top of egg yolk mixture, followed by folding in half of the meringue.
Fold the rest of the meringue into the batter until just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the top.
Bake for 25 minutes or until the cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a thin knife around the cake edge and place the cake on a wire rack to cool completely.
To prepare buttercream, beat butter for a few minutes in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add powdered sugar and turn your mixer on low, beat until the sugar incorporates with the butter. Add vanilla, heavy cream and lemon juice, beat on medium speed for another 3 minutes, or until buttercream becomes light and fluffy.
For black outline, scoop 1/4 cup white frosting and add black colouring, mix and add colouring one drop at a time until you get the deep black colour. Transfer the black frosting to a piping bag with a small round tip.
For ribbon, scoop 1/4 cup white frosting and add red colouring, mix and add colouring one drop at a time until you get the deep red colour. Transfer the red frosting to a piping bag with a small star tip.
For the nose, scoop one tablespoon of white frosting and add yellow colouring, mix and add colouring one drop at a time until you get the sharp yellow colour. Transfer yellow frosting to a piping bag with a small round tip.
To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on your serving plate and spread with 1/3 cup white frosting. Place another cake layer on top, and gently press down a little bit. Spread with another 1/3 cup white frosting. Place the last layer of cake on top, lightly coat the top and the sides of the cake with the white frosting.
Transfer the remaining white frosting to a piping bag with a small round tip.
Chill the cake in the refrigerator.
Outline Hello Kitty’s face in a 5-inch circle on a parchment paper. Place the image face up on the cake surface, and prick the outlines with a needle to leave tiny holes in the buttercream.
Pipe black frosting along the pricked outlines, and fill the eyes.
Fill the nose with yellow frosting.
Pipe red little stars to fill the ribbon.
Pipe white little stars to cover the rest of the face and the whole cake.
Cover and refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator an hour before serving.