Jungle Birthday Party Cake

This was the first birthday Jungle party cake for a wee little man that my family loves.  It was made for him apparently by a nurse (Karen Nardini) who like so many women that I know have these incredible talents that are completely unrelated to their day profession.  I just love the detail of the little animals right down to the hair, spots, stripes etc.  Love the creative design and the approach to the different layers.

Congrats Karen on having the courage to pursue something you love.  This is far far beyond anything I could pull off even if I had the patience, well done and good luck!  www.sprinklez.ca

Doesn't it make you think about your passion?  Are you doing what you love?
xox
Dish

Finally A Great Pound Cake Recipe; Thanks Martha

Now I'm a huge Martha fan but I will admit that she doesn't always nail it...but with this recipe she has knocked it out of the park!  I love love freshly baked warm pound cake with a scoop of ice cream and perhaps a side of berries.  In fact if I am really on the ball when we have dinner guests I pop this into the oven just as we sit to eat and then serve after its rested.  You know you have done well when there is silence as people enjoy their food.  

I found this treasure in the Everyday Food (Martha Stewart Magazine) issue May 2011. 

As we've discussed in the past the creaming of the sugar and butter is critical here so let that mixer run at full speed for as long as it takes you to get everything else prepared.  The mixture should be light and fluffy before you move on in the recipe. 

Now I always play around with flavouring this recipe but more often than not I am adding lemon and I promise you it does not disappoint!  I add 2 teaspoons of lemon zest and 1.5 tablespoons of lemon juice when I add the vanilla. 

Martha also suggests a brown sugar and pecan cake, berry-cornmeal cake and double chocolate cake to jazz up this old faithful but if you prefer plain Jane you'll still love it.

Give it a roll, go ahead and wow them!

See you Monday.
xox
Dish

Our Spring Butterfly Dessert For The Easter Gathering

So here is the cake that I mentioned a few days ago my son and I created for the Easter Warm Up party we went to on Sunday.  It is super fun to decorate for the kids (okay...for us too) and reasonably easy to make.  I tried it once as a two layer cake and it didn't work out as perfectly as it does as a one layer so I would suggest you make two butterflies or use the left over cake batter for another project.

See below for a visual "how to".

I had a wonderful realisation during the making of this cake with my beautiful son.  It occurred to me although I always tried to do crafts with my kids it was never to the level of that which I do now in order to keep up the blog for all of you.  I started this blog to ensure that in my busy life there was a part of the day that I kept for myself.  It is evident to me now that by doing this project the reward is far more than I ever could have imagined for both myself and my kids.   

Thank you all for continuing to come and support this little project.  I hope our adventures really do translate into time spent with you and your family.

Fondly,

xox

Dish

Ocean/Nautical/Under The Sea Party Fish Net Cake Topper

So before I go into how I made this Fish Net cake topper take a long hard look at the photo above and ask yourself does it look good enough for your party?  Looks great right?!

Would you believe me if I told you it took me 30 minutes to make? It probably would have taken less if I knew how to crochet before hand and I didn't start it at 1am the night before the party.

My message....anything goes with this one, I'm willing to bet the messier the better/more authentic it will look.  Daunted by just looking at it?  Me too and I made it so I guarantee you can too. 

You need the below (okay you also need a needle and thread and 2 skewers).

The pattern is made up of four crocheted ropes.  One very long one (red arrow) and three shorter ones (blue, green and pink arrows) when tacked on make the net complete. 

This last picture just goes to show you at 1:30am you don't care what colour the thread is to tack this thing together (hence the blue) and it still looked awesome.

Make it your own, you can do it I promise.

xox
Dish

The Under The Sea Nautical 1st Birthday Party: General Overview

Well it was a wonderful day but I'd be lying through my teeth if I tried to pretend I wasn't exhausted...falling asleep in front of the computer screen exhausted.  As promised however here is a small teaser of today's festivities.   More to follow....

My baby brother is a star and goes to any length for his nephews.  I abuse him like any big sister should but I love him and he always comes through...what a super sport.  You rock bro...thank you (you too Jill).

This gentleman was welcoming his fellow sailors and ushering them through to the galley for the festivities.  Welcome aboard all!

A brief peak at the under the sea party room.

So off to bed for a deep slumber.  Thank goodness tomorrow is Sunday (remember no blog post).

This week look forward to free printables and instructions as to how you can create much of this party for yourself.

xox
Dish

The Diaper Cake: The Early Version

Don't you just love looking back at the crafting items you have done over the years?  I have a baby shower tomorrow and it made me think about the diaper cake my mother and I created for my sister all those years ago.  Sure its cute but my head is filling with ideas of what I would do if I had done it today.  Even your crafting improves with time....its like watching your wardrobe and hairstyles evolve over the years but seriously less painful!

Have a wonderful Sunday all.  No post for me tomorrow. 

See you Monday.

xox
Dish

Kids Construction Birthday Party Part 3

I had the typical party fare at this gathering for kids.  Pizza, munchies, sandwiches, cake etc etc.  I didn't realise until later that I hadn't taken any pictures of the food in between the running around and making sure that everyone was happy.  My girlfriend did happen to get a few shots of the cookies I made, although I half finished them as they were baked but but not iced.

What we did instead, and something you may find helpful in a cookie crunch, is we painted them with Luster Dust and vanilla.  Luster Dust if you have never used it before is a sparkly powder that you add to any liquid with an alcohol like base i.e. various extracts, hard alcohols etc. and then paint onto your surface.  The alcohol base sets up for quick evaporation and thus drying of whatever you painted which is perfect when you are creating delicate sugar flowers etc.  You can see below the outcome, which I thought looked great for something I really didn't have time for.  My only complaint was I didn't like my favourite sugar cookie recipe altered by all the vanilla we painted on.  Oh well and thanks JR for your help with these on that crazy day!!

My local bake shop named Bale Sale currently has a construction themed window and in this shot you can see what my cookies should have looked like if I had had better time management skills.
Check out those dump truck cookies!  Fabulous.

I also LOVE this cake from Bake Sale and as it kicks the butt of the cake I made for the party I am too embarrassed to even post it.  Nice.

Finally, to close the coverage of the construction party here is the back of my son's birthday ride...how could I possibly resist?!

xox
Dish