Cooking and Baking

Birthday Cakes

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It was Izzie's birthday on Saturday.  She is now 8 years old and very tall (with lots of beautiful dark hair), very intelligent and super-affectionate.  She loves to dance and is always doing little shimmies and dance moves, often absent-mindedly.  Her appetite for reading is huge, her bookshelf is crammed and she devours all kinds of stories.  I am lucky to have a close relationship with her and I adore her.  I would do anything for her.  So when she and my sister asked (at the last minute, natch) if I would make a rainbow cake for Izzie's birthday, of course I said yes.  

Trolls is Izzie's favourite film at the moment (in fact, she saw it today at the cinema for, I think, the fifth time) and if you've seen the film you will know it is allll about the rainbows!  So I promptly ordered a pack of little figurines, a set of rainbow food colour gels and googled the instructions. 

I have had a half-hearted attempt at colouring cake batter previously; I used a ridiculously small amount of food colouring and ended up with a slightly peachy-coloured sponge when I was attempting for Battenberg pink.  This time I was generous with the colouring and got it everywhere . My fingernails have splodges of violet and green, despite multiple scrubbings, and earlier this evening I noticed a drip of red colouring down the kitchen cupboard.  This, my friends, does not make me happy!  The cake ended up really tall and skinny so I added some support by poking a few wooden skewers through it.  It still tilted slightly but what the heck, I knew it would be pulled apart by a pair of kiddos.

I covered the cake all over with buttercream and made some rainbow coloured lettering and stars to decorate the top.  The little troll figurines circled the bottom of the cake.  

I was apprehensive about cutting into the cake.  It looked okay when I was putting the thing together but you never really know how these things are going to work until you cut through them, especially because the outside of the cakes had 'browned' to an odd colour in the oven.  Izzie gave a little gasp of glee as she pulled out the first slice and Ellie's eyes lit up! Such a happy auntie moment.  We all had [giant] skinny slices of it with coffee after our food and it tasted fine too.  Not as delicious as my usual cakes because I followed a recipe that made the cake firmer and less buttery but it was good enough.

I have made nearly all of Izzie's birthday cakes over the years, I have shared them previously on my old blog but as I am about to close it down I thought I'd post them here.  I have never made Ellie, the youngest, a birthday cake and I think it is about time I started.  

For Izzie I have made (based mostly on her TV or toy obsessions) cakes decorated with Waybuloo, teddy bears, Rapunzel, Tinkerbell and monkeys (I think the jungle one was my favourite).  Pics are posted below if you fancy having a look (the Rapunzel and Tinkerbell characters are plastic, I should point out!)

Thanks for popping by.  Have a lovely week.

Nicki xox

Cosy Plans

Hello hello and happy Friday!  The weather is awful here today.  There is a thick blanket of greyish cloud and a fine drizzle just hanging in the air.  Most unpleasant.  It is the perfect day to get cosy indoors.  I have been really busy this week and haven't spent much time with Andrew.  I am looking forward to him getting home from work tonight so that we can cuddle up together and have a relaxing night at home.  

I think my mum has taught me well when it comes to having a cosy home and making the small things special.  One of my favourite memories of my childhood is coming home from school on a cold and murky afternoon to a snug house and cup of tea.   We never had the overhead lights on at home, our rooms were always lit by cosy little lamps on tables and dressers any time it was a little bit grey outside.  We had a lovely gas fire which would be switched on ready for us getting home and there was a little marble surround where I'd rest my tea and a couple of Golden Crunch Cream biscuits.  How I loved sitting in front of that fire with my sister, dunking biscuits and watching Jackanory whilst mum cooked tea.  I know it's just a really small thing but it had a big impact on me and I never took it for granted.  I love to try to give Andrew that same sense of wellbeing when he gets home after a grotty day at work.  

So, tonight I am going to light the candles and lanterns, get a fire going and make something comforting for dinner.  We have lots of episodes of Broadchurch to catch up on and I quite fancy a boozy drink in front of the TV. 

We are off out for the day tomorrow so I'm hoping the weather improves.  It was lovely here last weekend and we made the most of it by heading out to the pub in the village next to us.  We are quite lucky to be surrounded by lots of nice country pubs, many of them bistro-style with good food and the modern country decor which I love.  I'd spent the morning baking (with Lizzie following me around the kitchen like a shadow) plain vanilla fairy cakes with pastel icing and sugar flowers.  It felt like spring was on its way then.  What happened?!

Have a lovely weekend and keep cosy. 

Nicki

xOx  

Happy New Year!

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Happy new year!  Are you ready for 2016?  I am.  

Although I *loved* our Christmas and New Year celebrations, I have been champing at the bit to start a new year.  2015 didn't start off very well and a small incident shook my confidence massively.  I got a grip of everything towards the end of the year and just felt impatient to work on my new venture and my 'self-development'.  (Sorry, I have to warn you that this year is going to be a huge learning curve for me and I bet I'll be getting deep and using knobby psychobabble.)

Anyway, we saw Wicked! at the theatre yesterday in London.  It is my new favourite show.  At the very start I had a sinking feeling that it wasn't my cup of tea but came out singing "Wonderful, they call me Wonderful" as you do.  Loved the whole back story of the witch.  Seriously, a sparkly pretty good witch and a green, dark, bad witch on stage together being besties?  Perfect.  Really want to take Izzie, my little niece, to see it.  She would love it.  

** I just have to interrupt this blog post to let you know that I had new, wireless, headphones for Christmas and oh my word they are a revelation.  I can dance about the house without getting in a tangle with the cable.  Currently doing a seated shimmy to that bonkers song about peanut butter jelly.  As you were. **

We've had a really relaxed day today and it has been super cosy.  Fires roaring in both rooms downstairs and a spoiling breakfast of huge English muffins with smoked salmon and scrambled egg.  I'm cooking mac and cheese later and then I promised to join Andrew for a game of Rock Band on the ps4.  Can't decide whether to be lead singer or lead guitarist.  Decisions.

(The random photo above is of Lizzie on Wednesday.  I changed the seat covers in my sewing room to ivory linen and she's not allowed on them with her mucky paws.  Isn't she a cutie.)

Have a fab weekend!  

Nicki 

xOx