Cakes: Rainbow, Fondant & A CatDog...

At the end of July I invested in the Wilton Course Book 3 for Fondant and Gum Paste. For those with a keen interest in cake decorating who haven't already I highly recommend you get on Amazon.com and order yourself it. Like all Wilton products and guides it was so straight forward and over a few late nights after Hudson was asleep and the housework done I worked through this book.

August was a big month for me for cakes. Lots of birthdays and friends putting their faith in me to create some masterpieces for their childrens' birthday cakes.

In one of my Posts from last week you can see Hudson's Toy Story & Cars cake. Which inside was a banana sponge with banana white chocolate ganache. Those interested in the banana component. For the cake I used a basic butter cake recipe opting for gluten free, but added one fresh banana mashed well and half a teaspoon of banana oil. For the ganache I simply added half a teaspoon of banana oil to the white choc ganache. It gave it just a hint without being too overpowering. And in terms of flavouring desserts I always love combining essences with fresh ingredients where possible.

I also went down the path of creating a 'rainbow cake' they seem to be a trend at the moment to say the least. This is definitely not a style of cake for parents that are against colourings! Like everything I say 'in moderation' but I will admit Huddo didn't have a piece of this cake. The kids all LOVE the effect though and thought it was just amazing when it was cut.

I also attempted to create a dog cake for my little cousin Olivia...I say attempted because I have realised I went wrong with the shape of the ears and it in turn came out a bit 'cat like' I think. I used pineapple essence in this cake and in the buttercream and that got a massive thumbs up.

At the end of July I invested in the Wilton Course Book 3 for Fondant and Gum Paste. For those with a keen interest in cake decorating who haven't already I highly recommend you get on Amazon.com and order yourself it. Like all Wilton products and guides it was so straight forward and over a few late nights after Hudson was asleep and the housework done I worked through this book.

Above in the top left is the 'inspiration pic' my friend Kristy sent me for her son Bailey's 2nd Birthday party...the other 3 pics are shots of the cake I made for this party.

 One of the main things in the Wilton Course 3 Book I got was teaching how to create a bow from fondant. I also got myself an 'embosser kit' and this was the cake I made for my cousin Julia.

Finally this was a cake I just made because I was visiting some relatives and had bought this 'Giant Cupcake' cake tin and really wanted to give it a whirl. :)

Cake decorating is such a great hobby and I really love challenging myself with new things and there truly is nothing like the look on kids' faces from admiration of a great cake. 

Dippy Deluxe

Just a little morning tea Huddo has been LOVING....

One green apple peeled and chopped into fingers
Carrot sticks
Few almonds
A piece of my 'nice and naughty slice'
And a pot of organic yoghurt to 'dippy' .

Yummo

Nice & Naughty Slice...

This week's baking experiment for Hudson's morning teas....great cut into fingers and dipped in
5am's Organic Honey Cinnamon Yoghurt.

Nice & Naughty Slice

Ingredients:
100g Butter
50g Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Scoops Vegan Pea Protein Powder
2 1/3 cups of Gluten-Free Self Raising Flour
3/4 Cup Almond Milk
1 banana mashed
1 green apple, peeled and grated.
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
50g of mini marshmallows
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2 tablespoons flaxseed
100g almonds chopped roughly.

Cinnamon sugar

Method: 
1)Pre heat oven to 180oC
2)Beat together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla essence.
3)Add and stir in milk, flour and protein powder
4)Stir in rest of ingredients and pour into a rectangular baking tray.
5)Sprinkly cinnamon sugar on top.
6)Bake for 30 mins. Until golden.

The Last Few Months...Part 2: Fitness

On August 26th I did it. I finished my first ever Half Marathon. In 1hour 58mins 19secs. I was stoked. I now have a regular exercise program where I complete a 4 days split with my weights training Monday-Thursday (mon:legs, tues:back&biceps, wed:chest&triceps, thurs:shoulders,calves&Abs) and sprinkle in a mix of low intensity and high intensity cardio over Sunday-Friday. I do two mornings a week Wednesday and Friday where I do fasted cardio of a 6am RPM(spin)class and seriously those 2 days of the week, the most awesome way to start the day.

I'm successfully maintaining keeping off the 15kgs I lost from January-May of this year and just find that my body composition is changing and I am looking much more toned and 'fit'. It can be a difficult thing for women to make the decision to do something for themselves once they are a mother. Luckily being a stay at home mum as much as it was a hard decision for me to come to, it is easier for me to find the balance of time with my family, getting my housework done (well most of the time..... ;) ) and cooking time. Yes cooking is still a lengthy process in this house. Troy is still on track and getting fitter by the day but with building muscle requires lots of food. And I have my growing son that I cook for too!



But I really do appreciate that to be the best mum you can be you need to take the time to look after yourself and re-energise and I truly have found that in exercise.

The Last Few Months....Part 1: My Huddo

Well I guess you could say alot has been happening with my Huddo... he turned 2 last month. His talking is coming along and I've become well acquainted with how busy life is with a two year old and keeping him amused.

 This mummy now has a schedule board with all my Huddo activities, housework and exercise training mapped out so I can keep on top of things and have plenty of time for fun stuff with my Huddo.

Huddo also turned 2 and even though he didn't have a party this really turned out to be quite a celebration over a couple of weeks catching up with most of the family and yes I got a little crazy in the cake department...He has gone into a 'Big Boy Bed' so far without drama. I really love our new night routine of laying in bed with him before he goes to sleep reading multiple stories.

And I have been attempting to find a balance between educational activities that are done both with and without Apple Technology! (Children these days are born with a programmed knowledge from Apple for iPads, iPods and iPhones...I swear!) But I have found these to be great tools at expanding his intelligence for games like Memory, mazes (I reckon I didn't understand the concept of navigating a maze until primary school...my 2 year old now solves them quicker than me) and just general recognition and learning the good old problem solving of process of elimination. Huddo has also found a love of Troy's passion for computer games and does the odd stint a couple of times a week sitting on Dad's lap observing...Troy asked him how old he was going to be before he could play games with Dad....Huddo replied "2!".... hmmmm .. lol.
But with old school games jig saw puzzles are definitely Hudson's forte. In May I started him with 9 piece puzzles, educating him in the basics of 'corner pieces', 'edge pieces'... and then the middle. It is now the end of the September and my 25 month old can confidently finish 30 pieces on his own. He loves the challenge and fun if I assist and we take an hour or so on 48 and 50 piece puzzles. Recently my friend Mel gave him a 28 piece puzzle of the alphabet. He can finish the puzzle in just under 10 minutes but now I am trying to incorporate his love of puzzles to teach him the alphabet. He has had this puzzle for almost a week and when asked knows 8 of the 26 letters. .....progress! And he thinks it to be quite fun when in the middle of a story and I stop and go "Oh there is a H in that word....where is it?" :) I think with everyone constantly asking if the 'terrible twos' have kicked in I find myself acknowledging yes there are definitely some changes and boundaries being tested but I think there is a lot to be said for not treating them like babies any longer and not writing off 'oh he/she won't have the attention span to learn that she/he is too young' and just giving something a go like a jigsaw puzzle or teaching them 'memory'. I'm not by any means one of those parents that thinks my child is 'gifted' I do think he is being assisted with capitalising on his potential and find that these activities are making for transitions with his 'turning 2' a lot easier as he is being challenged and well occupied. Like anything I put on this blog, I am no expert and have only one child. I simply love this blog for sharing 'what works' for me and it just may assist you. :)

So to give you the highlights of late in awesome 'picframe'
glory (yep I'm still a photo junkie...love all these multipic apps. And I recently finished Huddo's 2nd Year Photobook....70 pages and over 650 photos...I'm a dork)

Yep life is definitely great for our little family of 3!