Hello Kitty

My college roommate and good friend Kara was in town for the weekend and wanted to make a cake while she was here. It was a practice cake for a cake order she had in October, and she knows I'm always up for making a cake.

It worked out well for the both of us, as she got a good idea of how much fondant & buttercream she'd need to make and other decorative adjustments, and I got to make a new flavor cake I've been dying to try.

I don't bake much from scratch; my scratch cakes just don't come out quite right, so more often than not, I use enhanced cake mixes. But the cake I wanted to make was all scratch and was SO good. It was a pumpkin muffin recipe found on the Joy of Baking site which I tweaked a little to make a pumpkin chocolate chip cake. Combined with the maple cream cheese frosting, all I can say is YUM! So moist and delicious.

Here's the finished product:

Funnily, my daughter thought this cake was made to celebrate her birthday again and couldn't thank Grandma Rita Auntie Kara enough.

Helping Hello Kitty speak her mind...meow?