Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom Cake

 I made this for my nephew who was coming from England to stay with us. He had his second birthday and after Peppa Pig his next favourite was Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom. Although my mind finds it difficult to relate the same voices from peppa pig to fairies and elves!

I used gum paste for the figures, buttercream for the icing and edible pens for the details.

We do not like to eat fondant in all honesty..so I only used it as a cuff around the cake instead of the entire cake.

                                           I hope that Gaston doesn't haunt you at night :D

Doily Lace Cake

I was going through my phone photos from what seems like a light year ago. I have been baking and making throughout the last year but I did not get around on blogging anything.

Here's a simple doily cake I made using the tip of an icing nozzle to make the lace eyelets.
To make the flower shape I used a large peony cutter.

Cake is made using my favourite Wilton Easy Layer pan set.

 The recipe for the Chocolate Fondant is from  Kessy's Pinksugar.

Disney's Frozen Party for BOYS!

*******EDIT: This post was written back in 2015 and never posted. Nevertheless, I am sharing this now in August 2016*******

I had almost taken a golden handshake from blogging. Its been a year. Coming back in slow pace, the first post is dedicated to the Frozen shivers that everyone seems to have gotten in the party planning world!

Well yes BOYs loved the movie as much as girls did.
It might not be 'pinterest-worthy' but my 4 year old LOVED it.
I didn't die planning and cooking.
I cleaned my hands on some great bargains for the supplies!

Lets get the photos to do the rest of blabbering!
Will share noteworthy  deets under each pic!

Backdrop:

Rolls of wrapping sheets..after xmas sales: 3 for €1.99 👌

Charecter Banner: Printed on photo paper and attached to blue paper string. ( home printer, no immediate cost )

Number Four cut out to resemble the disney font. Normal A4 paper.

Paper Fans:  I had this big roll of plain brown wrapping sheet purchased at Aldi last year. ( it would'nt be anything above €2 and I have used it alot before- no immediate cost )

I could have bought a fancy paper but I thought why not use whats at hand. It really went well despite being the odd color. Tutorials on how to make one of your own can be found online.

The snowflake in the middle are cheapo styro cut outs found at a discount store for €2 for all 3 👍

Tassel garlend is such a hit party decor idea or just a fun way to pretty-ofy any space for that matter!

What I normally see in tutorials is the tissue paper in metallics etc but since I live in 1921 of crafting supplies era aka Munich I could not find a descent place to buy that!

I had tons of crepe paper rolls sitting inside my drawers and I decided to use what was on hand. They were bought by my husband in bulk in every color on the wheel some 2 years back..so many that I used them on my son's second birthday too but still have plenty left! 

I think the crepe paper gave them alot more fluff? body? I added silver in to add some sparkle. So the immediate cosy for the tassel banner was just €1 for the silver foil.

Please notice the OMBRE effect 👏

Oh and once I made the banner and added the tassels on string ribbon they kept gathering in the middle and didnt balance. I fixed that up by putting some extra wide waschi tape ( also on hand ) to distance each tassel from the other. 

Loot Bags/ Goodie Bags

I got these gift bags in packs of 6 from Aldi again! A couple of months ago when I had still not made up my mind about the theme. I was lucky that the christmasy items all over the stores went so well with the Frozen theme. These bags were €1,99 per pack of 6 if I am not forgetting. But surely they were not over the budget. Aldi 👍

For the goodies I had seen treat tubes on etsy and I searched for the thin tube bags online and again I failed to find them in Germany. Had my mind fixed on them so I decided to make my own. 

The first few were such a pain in the umm head that I wanted to quit the idea.

Perfect Backdrop!

Then I tried used a hot glue stick as a mould to roll the cellophene strips into a tube and taped them on the long sides- stapled the bottom. Ta da! I used cupcake topper printables to top these!

Annnnnnd whats that silver thing you ask? 😜 certainly not the €9 per sheet of metallic silver card paper sheet I saw at Muller. Its a €1 ROLL of draw liner available at the 1 Euro shop! 👍 

Filled with smarties!

I had different age groups invited so the bags had to be age appropriate.

For the bigger kids I made some book marks and door hangs (Love is an open Door!)

I was sooooo sad that my themed goodies were lost in the christmas rush of post that they arrived a week after the birthday:( so I had to make do with some puzzles, play doughs and other toys as fillers. plus more candy and sweets! This set me off a little from my budget but 'twasokayyyy!

Table Setting

I had some fancy shamancy plans lined up for the menu and setting..chocolate fondu for example but  i had to remind myself that it was a party for a four year old and the guests were little naughty monkeys too!

First, the disposable paper sheet! So important to be prepared for spills and accidents! I used three tables my dining table, garden table and an extra table with detachable legs that I had in storage.

Covered in white paper it gave a nice plain look and binded the look together.

 For the table runner again I got that in a roll for just €1 👏 christmas season!!

For the coasters hold on to your socks! This was a window trim from xmas decor felt. €1.50 for the trim. I cut the snowflakes off it and used them as coasters!

Napkins are plain ones from Lidl my local grocery store! See the thing is Party supplies with printed napkins, cups and plates etc can be a bit pricey and in this case EVERY item I came accross online had elsa or anna printed on them NOTHING for boys! 

I printed these images and just stringed them with paper ribbon! Plain cheapo cutlery from the Euro shop again👍 No matching birthday sets for the table..but still used nicely the alternatives worked so well for me.

I used portion divider plates for the kiddos to manage better. The sides have washi tape on them. Just to spruce them up a bit!

With the party goblets. I did spend a bit extra..€1 for four..I got four packs so €16 for those as compared to the plain cups which are much cheaper. Its ok to spend a bit in one department if thats what it takes to boost up the look!

Sven's Antlers ..these are such cute replacements for party hats! I made these by making a free hand template..took some time to cut those curves but so worth it. I used elasticated thread for the back.

The CAKE!

I did not aim for a show stopper but. I was pleasantly pleased with what I made. Simple non fondant cake..I just wish I had played with more play dough as a child, maybe then I would have tried fondant!

The idea, recipe of cake, buttercream and ganach filling all are from Cookies Cupcakes and Cardio. 

For the sea glass candy ALL recipes called for corn syrup..NOT available in germany! I used an alternate recipe with no thermometer and no cornsyrup! Will share that seperately.

I ordered the figures from Amazon last minute! My original set of figures ordered from China included Sven as well but it has still not reached..as I type this post. Not good.

 The snowflake border comes from a pack of sprinkes I got from the grocery store. It had snow wafers, colored sugar and sprinkles all in one pack! 

Other items include 

Sandwitches, pizza pops, nuggets, pringles, Sven cookies, mac n cheese and a hot choco bar!

Quick Pencil Cake For Kindergarten

My son started his kindergarten last week!! His teacher had a small welcome present and a balloon for him ! She won his heart right there and then.

I had really not planned anything but I thought sending a cake for the class would be a nice start off gesture. Germans love kuchen!

I baked a plain chocolate cake and did a quick 10 minute decor. The most hassle free cake decoration ever for a kindergarten kid.

Color pencils! 

To wrap them around the cake without them leaning and falling apart I took a long strip of tape and placed it on the table sticky side up. 

I arranged the pencils on it and then just lifted the strip up and wrapped it around the cake. To secure it further I added a ribbon too.

I had left over frosting from a cake I made for a friend the day before...Instant job done.

I just wish I had more pencils to go around the entire cake but like I said..it was not planned.

Easter Bunny Swiss Roll

Being Muslims we have no concept of Easter celebrations. 

We do love buying easter chcoloate bunnies and Choco Eggs though! Since, we live here in Germany and our son is growing up in this community we do let him participate ( without relegious interference)  in his play group activities so that he does not feel singled out.

Easte Egg Hunt in the Forest

This week the kindergarten had an Oster Eltern Cafe and i had to take something to add to the easter table. I baked a chocolate swiss roll, with whipped cream filling and philladelphia cream cheese frosting.

The bunny had a slight migraine in its right eye:p

The ears are paper with toothpicks taped at the back.

For the the whiskers I used a toothpick and black gel color.

Pleasant Surprise: Carrot Cake

It has been a great sunny week here in Munich. We took a trip to Sttutgart to visit family and to collect a bündle of fabulous goodies my mother had sent for us. Only an expat can tell the out of this world happiness to recieve a parcel from back home. So moma sent some beautiful dresses, shoes, homemade spice mix for back ache ( will be sharing recipe here ) for hubbs, herbal tea, tea whitener everyday ( whythey no make it here! Why ) my favorite sugared fennel seeds in a pixie tin..see tidly bidly stuff you can't ask anyone else to send to far far away places like Germany :( i had a happy week. :)))

We invited a new neighbour of ours over the weekend and I tried a new recipe for dessert after dinner.I tried Nigella's carrot cake

Here's a quick recipe:

This recepie is for cupcakes, but I made a small cake following the same amounts of ingredients.

Took me well over 40 mins to bake it.

I filled the cake with froting in between two layers and then just roughly frosted the cake with a spatula. I have seen some really cute carrot cakes with little marzipan carrots on them. That would look great but since I had a dinner to prepare too..I was short on time, used just a tiny bit of orange zest.

I would use less oil next time. Forgot to take a picture of the sliced cake. It tasted surprisingly good.

Spiral Road Cake

I almost wrote ' Spiral Road Cake: Fail' in the title bar, but then I thought of the hours I spent searching for the right way, the right icing, the right recipes and the right time to do it before the big day. I'd be nice to myself!

 I was doing a general car and truck themed party I didnt want to stick with a specific Mc Queen or Bob the Builder theme because in my opinion it is far more expensive and difficult to stick to a particular charecter and to meet the standard a well known charecter demands for. To make a car shaped cake was what I did not want to do at all..I knew I would end up with a floppy car melting upon itself...so I approached the path I never walked..to make a carved cake. I was opptimistic, later slightly dissappointed too:(

I thought I would be able to come up with a detailed tutorial but honestly I was nearly about to cry when Things started getting off- track..so I could manage just these pictures!

I used two 26cm cakes for the base, two 20cm cakes for the next tier and two 18cm cakes for the top layer.

Because I had to serve a large number of people I made sure I wasted as little cake in the carving process as I could. 

I filled the cakes with chocolate pudding, layered them and marked my road track path with toothpicks. i cut along them...it was not easy and made no sence at first. There was a mini heart attack!

In a quick frenzy to finish off what I just started..I coloured a small batch of my first ever Swiss Meringue Buttercream and iced it on with a large cake icer tip. Smoothed it out and took a deeep breath..I am not a cake decorator and this became known to me just then!

With this cake I had so many 'firsts' going on 

1st carved cake

1 st layered cake

1st time with Wilton Icing tips

1st time with SMBc

The frosting is all SMBc...I did mess up with the black one..here's my mistake. I was running short on time so I scooped some leftover pudding sitting on the counter into the butter cream to add the dark chocolate base before adding black color..so DO NOT DO THAT. Just in case. The cars are real, except for the biscuits which my friend brought as a gift. I fixed them onto the cake too. Road signs are card paper.

Random Tip: How to store Frosted Cake

I bet a whole lot many of you already knew this..but when The light bulb in my upper story sparked I went:

I had some guests coming over for dinner and instead of making a dessert I took the express way and just layered and frosted my chocolate cake wedges. I do the fancy stuff first thing before getting on to the main cooking. To keep it in the fridge I poked some toothpicks in the cake and covered it loosely with cling film. This deters any foreign fingers going into the frosting and keeps it safe in the fridge too:p