Hello Kitty Coconut Cake

I made this Hello Kitty cake this morning for my niece's birthday party tomorrow. I used Betty Crocker white cake mix, 2 containers of white icing, 2 bags of shredded sweetened coconut, food coloring, red colored sugar, and 2 straws.

I baked the cake in a regular old 13x9 pan and let it cool completely. I lined the edges of the cake board with parchment paper and turned the cake pan upside down onto it. I then cut the cake into an oval shape and saved 2 of the corners for the ears. My cake actually cracked and split when I put it on the cake board, so I just filled it in with icing! Secure the ears where you want them with the straws, cut them down short if need be. You could also use coffee stirrers or toothpicks, or whatever you have lying around.

Ice the cake once it is COMPLETELY COOLED. Make sure to ice the sides, it make be kind of hard to do, just take your time and dont be afraid to get dirty and use your fingers. Once the cake is iced, sprinkle the coconut all over the top and pat it down lightly so that it will stick to the icing. The way I did the side was to grab finger fulls of the icing and push it up against the sides, whatever falls down, use your fingers to push back up against the sides.

I divided the icing into 3 separate bowls and colored one orange, one red, and one black. (To make black you do equal parts red and green food coloring till you get the shade you want.) Once you have them all mixed I put them in the freezer for about 5 minutes to make the icing a little easier to handle. Once they set in the freezer snip the corners off of the ziplock bags and turn them inside out and spoon the icing into the bag. do small ovals for the eyes and nose and obviously lines for the whiskers. The bow is kinda tricky. I made the middle part of the bow first and then did the rest. I actually kinda messed it up so I covered it in red sugar crystals to hide it, lol. Overall I think it looks pretty snazzy! :)