Another Birthday Cake

The first cheesecake I've ever made from scratch. Hurray!

My friend and I kept checking the recipe because it was also her first time making cheesecake. Turned out to be pretty simple and easy. At first I thought we would screw up because I don't have pans big enough to make a water bath (bain marie? I forgot what the jargon term for water bath in baking is) for a 9" pan that we bought.

We tried using Edible Markers to draw but it didn't work - probably because the markers are water soluble and cheesecake is just full of fats. 

I drew an outline of Hello Kitty on a piece of clean paper and made a paper stencil using cutter. After the stencil was done, I placed it on top of the cake and then I sifted hot cocoa powder (because I don't have baking cocoa - I don't bake) on the stencil. Removing the paper stencil from the cake was quite a challenge - we don't want the unwanted cocoa powder on the paper to fall on the "blank" parts of the cake.

Quite a while ago I bought a pair of mini pin-set (I'd like to call it forceps better) to make bento. I used that forceps, so we avoided the risk of damaging the cake should we use our fingers instead.

I forgot to make the eyes but I think it went pretty well!

For the eyes, I just made a small oval hole on a piece of paper and then poured some cocoa powder on the hole using a spoon.

And then... my friend and I, being slightly 'mean', decided to color the ribbon using chili pepper or sauce because our birthday girl can't take spicy food. When I was making the spicy sugar paste, I felt a little bad for making her eat something so spicy, so I added more and more sugar to mask it. I used tons of granulated sugar, Sriracha sauce and cayenne pepper. And for a final touch, I added red food coloring diluted in water.

Ta-daaah!!

My friend took a shot of me doing the artwork. LOL.