Birthday time!!

Happy Birthday to my little bub!! One already! This year has gone so fast!!

So my cake turned out really brilliantly...haha...well in the end it did.......

I kinda had a few issues with the first attempt of the cake. It rose up beautifully....nice and round and high...that was until I turned it out onto the cooling rack - that's when disaster struck and it fell into about 5 different pieces! As you can imagine my heart sunk! I had to start again! I even got up early, wrote myself a list, had the cake in the oven by 8.30 am. I thought I was on top of things..... Then I couldn't do anything until my hubby got back from the shop with more eggs. So what else to do? Well get creative with my disaster of course!! I turned it into cake balls!

 

So I just rolled the cake into balls - hoping like crazy that they would stay together. Then I coated them in pink icing and rolled them into pink and white coconut!

 

They were a big hit at the party! No body would ever have been any wiser except for my clever boys showing everyone the photos of my disaster - they thought it was hilarious!

 

 



So once the cake was made onto the rest of the party preparations! Putting up the bunting, and the rest of the food. Making party food is always heaps of fun - the fairy bread, popcorn, fruit kebabs - YUM. I always like to have fruit on offer. It really does surprise you that the fruit plate is generally one of the first to be eaten! I was working in a kindy last year, and made a point of always having a plate of fruit at class parties. Watermelon, strawberries and grapes are always popular!

And due to such hot day yesterday, we had some bottles of water as well as soft drink and fruit juice.

In the end our little girls party was great. Even with the heat, the disaster cake and the stress of party planning, we had a really fun day!

Happy Birthday Bub!

Positive Thinking

So about half way through last year I learnt a really great thing about myself. I realised that I can do anything!! I believe it's from the power of positive thinking!

The moment I had this realisation was after making my 7yr old his Avengers Birthday cake. (See my post "Happy Birthday" from August 2012.) This was quite a challenge as I used Fondant for the first time and I really wasn't sure how I wanted the cake to look. But the cake turned out awesome!

After that I thought - if I put my mind to something I really do think I can do it! Unfortunately my big swollen head was soon deflated in October when my son turned 5 and decided he wanted a "Trashy's" garbage truck cake - no that didn't surprise me that this little character of mine wanted a garbage truck for his cake! SIMPLE I though - but no that was a huge FAIL!!!! Notice there is no post about his birthday cake!!

But following my new motto, I transformed his failed truck into a "trash pack" monster. Yes quite a transformation - but it worked and it made me feel better!

Since then I have had quite a few little accomplishments. I keep telling myself that I CAN do it.

So this brings me too my latest challenge. My bub is turning 1! I really want to do her an owl cake. I've researched a few ideas on the net. I had a bit of that fondant from October left in the pantry so I thought I would try to do an owl. I had to zap it in the microwave first to soften it - but in my defence it was still quite crumbly and dry (with hard chunks)

What do you think??
The consensus in our house was that it looks like a bear. Hmmm.

So this morning I went down to the shop - got myself some more fondant and have tried again. This is attempt number 2.

 

 

I'm quite pleased with these little babies. See I CAN do it!! Yay!!!

 

Now I just have to work out the rest of what the cake will look like! - I have until the party Sunday - so not too much pressure!!

Really Easy Orange Cake!

Yes I am playing with my new Bellini again!!

Heres a really easy recipe that I've adjusted that I found on the "Bellini Addicts" facebook page. (It can easily be changed to do without a Bellini)

 

Easy Orange Cake!

 

1 whole orange cut into quarters (or blended if not using a food processor)

180g butter

3 eggs

80g sugar (orignial recipe said 200g - but you really dont need that much)

300g Self raising flour (I use 200g white, 100g wholemeal)

 

Preheat oven to 180deg

Cream the orange and butter together ( to be paste-like) Bellini mix 7sec, speed 8

Add the remaining ingredients and mix until its a cake batter - Bellini 20sec, speed 4

 

Spoon into patty pans, cook 20 mins on 180 deg.

 

 



Happy Birthday!!!!

Wow! Seven years ago today, my oldest boy came into this world! Time really has gone so quickly!!
It's amazing to think what he has accomplished in those 7 years. He's learnt to walk, talk, read, and write. He's going to school, plays soccer, has friends of his own.
He had a party yesterday. This set me a new challenge. He wanted an Avengers cake. Captain America is his favourite. So the challenge was on. I was going to use Fondant for the first time! I've seen it used hundreds of times on the cake shows on Telly, so that's all the lessons I need!! Haha!!
Actually I think I did a pretty good job. Not bad for my first attempt. (I was informed however that the shield was not right, and even after I re-made it, it still didn't pass the 7yr old test-too bad!)