cake
Stuff I Luff
- Lazy weekends
- Pink grapefruit juice. I could never have grapefruit juice while on the pill so this is one thing I’m taking advantage of while pregnant.
- Watching Fez sleep. He’s the cutest when he’s fast asleep, snoring and having puppy dreams
- Good yum char
- Nanna naps
- Sunny summery weather in Spring
- Knowing this is my last week of work!
- Making cakes. I made Ms Constantine’s birthday cake and it was so satisfying to see the finished product all pretty and ready for surprising (though I’m terrible at surprises).
- I also love eating said cake
White chocolate mud cake with Malteser-Baileys cream and white chocolate ganache... mmm!
Cachous and pale pink sugar crystals complete the cake
I’ll have my cake
So it’s morning tea time and I go into the kitchen and pop in a piece of fruit toast.
Then I notice there’s carrot cake on the table, obviously a help-yourself situation. (Turns out it was a thank you morning tea from one of the managers for some feedback workshops we’ve had.)
I want carrot cake, but I have boring plain fruit toast on the way.
The result? Carrot cake without the icing, and fruit toast with the carrot cake icing. Yum and yum.
(I also later have a big piece of caramel slice. I was going to take some home for the hubby, but it was not to be.)
Fruit toast with carrot cake icing, with carrot cake on the side
Stuff I Luff
- My shiny new iPod Nano in bright pink. What’s even better is that the hubby got it for me using our Fly Buys points. Yay-ah.
- Finding my creative streak again and the motivation to create!
- Having my Etsy shop to showcase my cupcake paintings (and perhaps make a little something extra).
- Wearing slippers. For a while it was too hot to wear anything warm on your feet when you got home, but I love wearing slippers. The cushiness, warmth, comfort and the fact they keep your feet and socks off those unmopped floors…
- Hot chips. Lately I’ve had more than my share of chips, wedges and curly fries. No regrets! Yet.
- Wedding/anniversary cake. It’s still *really* good.
Broken sugar roses from my wedding cake
Project 365: Week 7
My week in photos as part of Project 365:
Thursday 12 February 2009
What a rainy day it is! The water fountain in Cuba Street looks like it’s working over time.
Water, water, everywhere
Friday 13 February 2009
I threw this lollipop in my bin at work earlier in the week as I had an ulcer and it was too much to finish. It’s now dried to my rubbish bag, forever. Unless I get a new rubbish bag.
Oh hai, again.
Saturday 14 February 2009
Valentine’s Day. Hubby and I find out we are going to Christchurch for our free mystery weekend. The rental car that is part of the package turns out to be a brand new one that has only done 12 kilometres. Yayah.
Brand new cars are great
Sunday 15 February 2009
The hubby and I have ice cream and fish and chips (in that order) before heading back to Wellington.
Sherrrberrt
Monday 16 February 2009
Our first wedding anniversary! After watching the movie Valkyrie, we come home and cut our cake. It’s still good – and full of rum.
Mmmm cake
Tuesday 17 February 2009
Everytime I see a whale now I think of the Fail Whale. Here is one on Courtenay Place.
Whale on the footpath on Courtenay Place
Wednesday 18 February 2009
The only thing we brought back from Christchurch is a bag of habanero chillis. Hubby chops up a couple and fries them to make some chilli oil. He also tries a bit after they are fried and loses much of the feeling in his mouth.
Handle with care
Project 365: Week 3
My week in photos as part of Project 365:
Thursday 15 January 2009
I finally wear a skirt to work today – first time for years. Usually it’s too cold inside with the air conditioning, but we’ve fixed that so hooray! Awful photo.
Yay for skirts and warm weather
Friday 16 January 2009
The four of us take off after work to Napier for the weekend. I make the husband stop the car when we spot some miniature horses. This one reminds me of Kurt Cobain.
If Kurt Cobain came back as a mini horse
Saturday 17 January 2009
The weather is fantastic in Napier today.
We go shopping in town, have lunch at a pub (where I am asked for ID, boo!), and visit Hastings where the shops we want to visit are unfortunately closed.
In between Buck’s Fizzes (and beer for the boys) there is some hacky sacking – the most exercise I’ve had in a while!
One of the good old summer sports
Sunday 18 January 2009
The weather is not so fantastic in Napier today.
In between the intermittent downpours we get some lunch that includes some fresh cream donuts and lamingtons – yummy!
Too hot for tea, but not for tea cakes
Monday 19 January 2009
We harvest some peas, courgettes and beans from our garden when we get back from Napier.
A little reward from nature
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Hubby reminds me I need to use up the cream in the fridge.
I make some chocolate cupcakes and ice them with Malibu lemon icing.
Delicious, yes.
Wednesday 21 January 2009
There is a power cut this morning and I have to take a cold shower.
I get to work and find I can’t take any lifts up from Lambton Quay to the Terrace. I walk up Plimmer Steps and notice crowds of people unable to get inside and up to their buildings. The power cut is more wide spread than I first thought.
The power is back by the time I arrive at work, about an hour and a half since the cut began.
Traffic lights out at the intersection of Wellington Road, Kilbirnie Terrace and Hamilton Road
To Be a Kid Again
How cool would it be to be a kid again? Especially one having a birthday party! Chips, cheerios, fruit kebabs, fairy bread, sausage rolls and a lolly train cake!
The birthday cake
This train cake took three of us about two hours to make, and the cake was already baked beforehand.
It’s a basic butter cake with butter cream icing and a whole lotta lollies! It even had chocolate coins as wheels. The design isn’t our own – it’s straight out of a book and we did pretty well replicating it. The coin wheels were our own touch thought.
And yes, it was delicious. I had a piece from the allsorts carriage of course :)
The birthday boy (hubby’s nephew) loved it too, even though it was a little tricky to eat.
Eating his birthday cake
And you know what made me even more jealous? He had a bouncy castle! A proper one. I never had a bouncy castle at any of my birthdays, and I don’t remember anyone who had. Lucky little bugger.
Bouncy castles are a great way to keep the rascals busy and it also tires them out (yus!), but do expect tears because kids will be kids.
Oh, the fun they got up to… There was even a moment where they all decided to play with the party ice and started putting it down each other’s pants – hehe!
To be a kid again… *sigh*.
Bouncy castle!
Tea Party Essentials
Tea Party Essentials
Eeee! Look at all my pretty things. Not just good to look at, but will be most useful at every tea party.
From top right going clockwise:
- Cupcakes! The recipe I swear by is one for “Scout’s Cupcakes”. It’s a gorgeous recipe that’s so simple and makes really fluffy cupcakes – the best I’ve found. I make them chocolate sometimes.
The orginal recipe is available from Taste.com.au but here is my version modified with some clarifications and suggestions:
Scout Cupcakes- Break 2 eggs into a cup measure and fill to the top with fresh cream. (In New Zealand we only have one type of cream but overseas make sure you buy the thick stuff that can be whipped.)
- Pour into a large mixing bowl and beat on high with electric mixers for 1 minute.
- Add 1/4 teaspon of vanilla essence and 3/4 cup caster sugar.
- Beat for another 3 minutes.
- Sift in 1 cup of self raising flour (I normally use standard flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt).
- Fold to combine taking care not to over mix.
- Spoon into 12 cupcake cases (or more if you have extra batter) and bake for about 12-15 minutes at 180 degrees celcius until golden and springy to the touch.
- Remove from tins straight after baking and cool on wire racks before icing.
- 3-tier cake stand to display all your goodies. This was a score from Ikea in London. I hadn’t been able to find any decent ones at home and any that I did find were hideous or really expensive. This is eagerly awaiting use!
- Pretty teacups and plates. I fell in love with these when I saw them at Farmers – they were footed, red and with polka dots! And they remind me of Alice in Wonderland. I haven’t yet used these either because I only bought them a few days ago.
- Sprinkles, and lots of them.
- A large teapot so all your guests can fill up.
- A simple, elegant and sturdy cakestand (it’s underneath the teapot in the picture) to display more cupcakes, or maybe a mega cupcake…
- The middle picture is actually an ice cream bowl, but it has cupcakes painted on it and so pretty that it can’t be left out at a tea party. I see it more as a lolly dish, maybe to put some decandent truffles into?
- Under the ice cream bowl/lolly dish is a Lazy Susan. I purchased this with cake decorating in mind. This was another bargain from Ikea as cake turntables aren’t so cheap here in New Zealand.
I can’t wait for my next tea party where all these pretty powers can combine!
Previously on Eggshell Green
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