A Matter of Choice

Due to a run of birthday's in our family the last month or so has been very full of cake, this is obviously no bad thing (especially as I'm pregnant and not yet thinking about dropping a couple of pounds!) It all started in  May with a Cars cake for Leo's friend and   Leo's two birthday cakes and last week we finished off with a cake for my friend Sam's birthday. I don't claim to be a very good cake decorator, the actual making of the cake is fine but I have no patience, not a lot of imagination and a very unsteady hand so usually I bake and Aaron decorates when it comes to 'novelty cakes'  However as he's been working so much I've been giving it a go! I was most worried about the No.6 Cars cake as it was a present but it seemed to go down very well, I got very stressed whilst rolling out the icing as its so warm that I find it hard to handle, Aaron actually rescued me with this one as it was so big that every time I picked up the icing to...

Bananas and recipes including them are a recently new discovery to me, I grew up detesting them but actually  'taught' myself to like them!  When I started going to Slimming World I decided it would be easier for me if I liked them as they were a very handy and reasonably filling snack and so I kept eating the occasional one and eventually they grew on me - to the point where I'd have one every morning without fail and I'd be most upset if we run out! After I'd hit my Slimming World target I continued to eat my new favourite fruit but realised I'd probably be able to improve it by putting it in a cake.   I've tried several different recipes now but this one for some reason is the best by far... 110g butter 110g sugar (can add some dark, but I didn't have any) 2 eggs 3 or 4 bananas (I used 4 and left one for the end so it was less mashed up) 225g SR Flour 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda 1 tsp cinanmon 140g raisins  (I used less than this as Leo ate ...

I'm usually quite good at finding a reason to make cakes, I mean you have the obvious birthday's, visitors coming or some other vague celebration but the other day I didn't even bother to create a reason. I was bored, hungry and really fancied something sweet, then I read that Jenny (Mummy Mishaps) had been playing with her new toy - a Cake Pop maker  and so suddenly decided I NEEDED cake. Bored of plain jam sponge cakes I dived for my new 'Cupcake recipe' book (well - it's not that new but I've only made 2 of the recipes so far!)  Unfortunately it appeared I didn't have the exact ingredients for any one of the 'different' cakes so for the first time ever I messed around with a sweet recipe (was always told you can do what you like to a savoury recipe but never mess with deserts!) That's the recipe.... and what they are supposed to look like. 125g soft tub margarine   (I used hard butter) 125g caster sugar          (I used granulate...

I love cake.... well who doesn't! I love to bake cakes but I'm not even vaguely artistic and to make matters worse have zero patience so generally not very good at even trying!  So in our house when it come to making special occasion cakes it become a team effort, I bake it and Aaron decorates it. Between us I think we've done well, there was the pumpkin cake , the ghost cake , Mickey Mouse for Leo's birthday among others. A couple of people said we should sell them but they as good as they are, they are not that good.... these however I think are brilliant... They are the work of my lovely Sister-in-law and her business partner who have recently started 'Ladies Who Cake'  They are based in Kent working from home and since they started earlier this year have been inundated with requests. You can find them on facebook at Ladies Who Cake This is NOT a sponsored post, I have received no payment, not even any cake for writing this, I just wa...

Last year I told you all about my first Halloween party  it was held by my friend Sam and it was great fun. Tomorrow we are going to do it all again so in a tradition we seem to have created for ourselves Aaron and I had a cake to make! Last year we made a 'Pumpkin cake' and so we've been debating what we could do this year. Aaron suggested a skull but I thought we shouldn't peak too early so we went with his second idea a Ghost cake. It was a joint family effort as Leo 'helped' me bake the cake and then as usual I handed the decorating over to the arty one. Leo and I made a simple Victoria sponge mixture but as we needed a lot we tripled the standard recipe. 300g castor sugar 300g butter 6 eggs 300g self raising flour I usually cream the butter and sugar first, adding the egg then the flour gradually but Leo didn't agree with that method and chucked it all in before I could intervene, including the eggs without cracking them! I retrieved the...

I'm not as good as I imagined I would be, finding new and interesting activities for Leo and I to do, the problem I think is the lack of patience  (erm, that would be mine not his!) so I've been putting it off really, the whole cooking together thing, but recently we made Choc Cornflake cakes and it went surprisingly well so encouraged by Jenny's 'I Love Cake'  linky and competition I decided to take the plunge and do some proper cooking with him... We went for the simple option and made Queen Cupcakes. 115g butter 115g caster sugar 2 large eggs, slightly beaten 4tsp lemon juice 175g self raising flour 115g currants 2-4 tbsp milk if necessary Pre-heat oven to 190c, Weigh out all ingredients before letting toddler loose in kitchen Mix butter and sugar until you get bored then hand to Mum to mix   until light and fluffy, Then beat in eggs and 1 tbsp of flour.. Pour in far too much lemon juice (when Mum gives you the bottle expecting you t...