Skip to main content

A piece of cake

It was at about this time last year that I should have been preparing for Noah's first birthday party. But with nearly six weeks to go I thought I had all the time in world. At 4am on the morning of his birthday party, up to my elbows in icing sugar and green food colouring, staring at the myriad of bowls and cakey paraphernalia surrounding me like General Custer's last stand, I sorely regretted that cavalier decision. Furthermore I asked myself the very serious question of 'why on earth was I killing myself to make and decorate a dinosaur cake he definitely wouldn't remember and probably wouldn't even taste?' Well, I guess it was for me. I wanted to celebrate my little boys first birthday party.

The making of that cake was so stressful that the thought of writing about it and reliving those events proved to much for me to bear! How awful of me not to write about Noah's birthday in the very blog I created to record experiences such as these. Well the time is upon me again and I hope I have learnt my lesson. I am already weeks into the planning of his second birthday party. I will not be icing a cake at 4am again! (I almost certainly still will be).

The trouble is, I have set the bar quite high after the cake last year, so I have to up my game a bit this time. I will of course record the making of this masterpiece for posterity but in the meantime, feast your eyes on the dinosaur from last year!

Incidentally this was my first attempt at a decorated birthday cake. I am quite pleased with it, even if it did nearly end me.





A thought has just occurred to me as I write this. With our second child due within a week or two of Noah's birthday I am going to have two masterpiece cakes to make in a short space of time...  eeek! I better get better at this baking malarkey!

Comments

Popular posts

A Medley of Minions

You may recall that I was mid preparation for Noah's 2nd birthday party which was all arranged and happened to fall exactly two weeks after Ellie was born. So you can imagine the state of mind both Nikala and I were in whilst I was also running around frantically trying to put into action all my plans for the ensuing Minion madness. Yes, I was pretty stressed. Anyway as promised here is my Minion cake creation. I actually found a great recipe that froze well, allowing me to bake the cakes a week or two in advance and reducing the panic on the night before. A little. Well OK I was still pretty panicked and with panic comes just a hint of anger and frustration. So sorry to anyone that found themselves around me for those last few hours building up to the big event. Cakes wrapped and ready for freezing. And now thawing ready for the build. Beginning to take form. The sandwich layers are stuck together with chocolate ganache. And then covered with a "cru...

Dino Pants Maketh the Man

Noah is now several weeks into, or indeed out of, nappie training. By which I mean he isn't wearing them anymore. I always thought that once we didn't have to cart around all that nappy changing paraphernalia our lives would be so much easier. Sometimes over the last couple of years when we have been getting ready to just go to the shops, it has felt a little like packing for an SAS training course what with the amount of things that we need to fit into the change bag. In fact I often feel like the man in this picture... Of course we still need to take a lot for Ellie however I thought that we wouldn't be doubling up any more. But like most of the lessons I have learnt as a parent, I hadn't thought this through to its logical conclusion. When a child is wearing a nappy and they need the toilet, be that a wee or a poo, they just go. Sure you then need to find a nappy changing area to sort them out and make them comfortable again. At worst you may feel a lit...

Hide and Seek

One of Noah's favourite games at the moment is Hide and Seek. Mostly his hiding places involve lying face down on the sofa with a cushion over his head, his bum and legs clearly marking his location. But if for some reason that wasn't enough for me to find him, his giggling would certainly give him away anyway. "Daddy... Daaaaaddddy! Hiding daddy!" Giggles. Of course I play up to it for effect: "Well, I cant find Noah anywhere..." barely suppressed giggling ensues... "phew this is hard work, I think I will sit on the sofa for a bit and have a rest while I think..." More giggling. "Gosh this is a lumpy sofa, and why is it making so much noise?" Giggling. "hang on a moment, this sofa has a bottom!" The giggles escalate to full laughter and wriggling. "Hey! It's not a sofa its Noah!" Even from the very beginning I have been impressed with his patience though. He would stay in his "hiding place" for a ver...