A Cake or Two

One of my crafty hobbies is cake decorating. For years I  have watched Cake Boss, The Next Great Baker and similar shows on Food TV and wished that I could create these beautiful works of art. 

While living in Auckland with a baby, I felt like I needed a hobby to get me out of the house and talking to people about things other than how my baby had slept or pooped or met her milestones. So I signed up to some cake decorating classes through Millys and ended up taking four sets of Wilton classes! 

I love playing around with different techniques and my Pintrest board is filled with gorgeous cakes for inspiration. 

Recently I have had two requests from friends and family to decorate cakes, which has been so much fun and a great excuse for me to have a play around! 

First off was the Chocolate Madness cake- coated in vanilla buttercream and then drizzled with chocolate ganache and an assortment of yummy confectionary including home made meringues and fondant stars 

 

I was then asked to make a cake for the father of my sister in law. He is Irish and so she requested a large cake with a Celtic theme- but no leprechauns, rainbows or shamrocks! 

This was the result- a 30cm double layered Annabel Langbein Ultimate chocolate cake,  filled with chocolate buttercream, covered in vanilla fondant and then piped with royal icing. 

 

 

I have also been asked to decorate a wedding cake for my cousins wedding later in the year, which will give me the chance to perfect my gumpaste, wired flowers. 

A Crappy Time

It is coming up to nearly a month since I last blogged. I have been filled with good intentions and have been snapping pics ready to blog. I have ideas about posts and have drafted them in my head many a night. It has just been the physical act of sitting down to write that has escaped me.

This past month has been one of the hardest months I have experienced. Poor little Buttons has been sick for 7 weeks and counting- and she is only 10 weeks old. She has had bronciolitis and then a nasty cold which left her so congested that she would choke on the gunk in her airways and turn blue. We have had four doctors visits and one overnight at the hospital. And there is not much we can do but just wait it out. We are doing all the usual cold and flu tricks and ending up hibernating at home  in order to keep her warm and avoid exposing her to any other nasties. 

Her being sick, the absolute terrifying scare of seeing her turning blue and the broken sleep has taken its toll on me and I have been a wreck. You can see it physically- my skin is breaking out, my hair is getting oily very easily and I feel achey. Emotionally, I have been hideous. Tears at the drop of a hat and swearing like a sailor- and I NEVER swear- one of the side effects of teaching! I feel so tense and stressed all the time and like I fail to exist beyond a milking, cracker providing, nappy changing machine. There has been no crafting, reading or any of go to activities beyond watching Food TV mindlessly.

And then there is poor Miss Muffet. She has also been full of a cold and has been suffering from not enough attention. We are right in the thick of the terrible twos- with tantruming occurring daily. My darling little drama queen has developed a penchant for throwing herself on the ground and shrieking and for throwing sweeping her plate of food off the table if it doesn't meet her exact ( and not communicated!) wishes. Her little two year old body shakes with anger and frustration and she can turn from sunny and happy to a fire storm in two seconds flat. I have to keep remind myself that I am the adult and that however frustrated / tired / fed up I am, me yelling will just add fuel to the fire. But damn it is hard to keep your cool when you find that she has explored all of the spices from the spice rack... All over the kitchen floor... That I had just mopped! 

I am so thankful that even though I feel like we are in the middle of a really crappy time, that we are in our home town and surrounded by family and good friends. My mum and amazing siblings who have visited and cooked meals and vacuumed and folded washing, my fabulous bestie who talks to me everyday and and visits with baking, and my Bestie # 1 who although living in another city, manages to ring and text and brighten my day. I am lucky to have these wonderful people in my life.