Making A Cake Stand For My Daughter

 Now if you read this blog I don't have to tell you how much my children love baking. They're obsessed. 

And one thing that has helped fuel that fire in all of us is bake off. We watch it every year as a family, I don't watch huge amounts of TV but always enjoy things we can watch and enjoy together (Lego Masters Australia, Pottery Throwdown, ghosts and taskmaster are the others).

For Christmas this year my Middlest asked for a cake stand to display her cakes on. I thought this was a great idea and also something I could make. 

I also thought it would make a great magazine article and video. So that's what I did. 

I turned the project a few times to really get into it (so if you want to buy a cake stand click here), and it's got a great mix of turning on the chuck, with a bit of spindle turning. Using a wood like ash means you can bring out it's natural beauty as well. 

My daughter was really pleased with it and it has displayed a few cakes (and tarts) already this year!

If you watch the video let me know what you think! 

Do you have a cake stand for displaying cakes or ever had one in the past?

valentines Upside-down cake

My wife and I don't "do" valentines but today our middlest child made us a lovely valentines pineapple upside-down cake. 

 It was lovely! She even tried to trick me into thinking it was just a sponge before it was put out! 

Young Baker

I'm obviously  proud of my kids, like every parent. But one thing I'm particularly proud of is their love of food. Inherited from both my wife and from me - we're both seriously into our food and love cooking and feeding other people.

The children have taken this as normal. They love helping us cook and having people round for food. They really like it when they can cook something with little or no help, something that has been happening more and more.

Our eldest managed to cook a peach and chickpea curry from scratch (a meal that has become a staple in our house) a few weeks back. sorting out all the ingredients, and cooking them herself, the only thing I had to do was turn on our technical induction hob, something I feel like I need help with at times!

Then last night our middle child decided she wanted to do some baking. I told her that she could but would need to write out the recipe into our family cook books first. She chose pineapple upside down cake, a family favourite, she did everything herself, the only thing I did was put it into the oven and take it out again. She even tested the cake to see if it was done by putting a knife in and seeing if it came out clean.

She was so proud when they had a friend round tonight and she could offer him a piece of cake that she had made herself! The other lovely part was that while she did this we were all in the kitchen doing other things and preparing a huge tea for when my wife came back from work, extra large as my parents were coming over as well!

They're finally starting to earn their keep!

Just wondering what I should get her to make me next...

What was the first cake you made by yourself?

Birthday Cake For Our Eldest

Our eldest turns four today and we've been very aware that with the rapid arrival of Alistair this week that birthday celebrations could be a little more subdued than normal. We're having a party for her in a couple of weeks but we wanted to make sure she had a good day today as well. 

So last night I baked a couple of sponges (with swirls of "ice blue" sponge through it as well) then spent a few hours decorating the cake for her. 

Like every four year old girl in the western world she's obsessed with Frozen, so an olaf cake seemed just within my capabilities. I really enjoyed making it and it was a good distraction from all the other jobs I probably should have been doing!

I was quite pleased with the results and it turned out much better than one I attempted a year or so ago which turned out more like peppa pigs fake tanned, junkie relative, Phillipa  pig. I didn't even have to prompt the girls as to who was on this cake which is a good sign! 

My last attempt wasn't great...

My wife and I were talking last night and it seems mad that just over four years ago there were no children sharing our daily lives. 

We feel like a very lucky little family at the moment!

Baking With Little Ones

There are few better things that you can do with a little one than baking.

In my experience they love it. The youngest was so proud of her cake and loved telling her mum that she'd helped with it.

Also a raspberry cake like this is a great way of using up some of the raspberries! 

Really easy recipe, just a standard sponge mix with 200g of raspberries added in at the end and a couple teaspoons of vanilla essence., tastes amazing though!  

A Cake For Playgroup

I think no cake will ever be judged as much as a cake made by the only man in a mainly female playgroup! 

It was my turn to make the cake this week - luckily I nailed it! 

 I wanted a show stopper to impress and kept thinking of different cakes I could make. Then I decided that simple was best and went for a simple Victoria Sponge Sandwich.

The sponge was made using the normal recipe (8oz of flour, 8oz of sugar and 8oz of butter, four eggs and a teaspoon of baking powder) then I added butter icing and homemade damson jam to the middle and dusted the top with icing sugar. 

A simple cake that everyone likes, sometimes you can't beat a classic. 

Everyone was very complimentary! 

What cake would you have made (I need ideas for when it's my turn again!)?

Dairy Free Carrot Cake

My wife has been working her way through our big bag of carrots that we got given.
This is good for me as it means one thing - cake!

Poor quality photo sorry - but it tastes amazing!

She's been playing with the recipe and I'd say its as near to perfect as it's going to get:

175g light muscovado sugar
175ml vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
175g self raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3 large carrots, grated
200g raisins
good splash of orange juice

Mix the sugar, oil and eggs together,
Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices,
Add orange juice, carrots and raisins,
Stir well and put into a greased/lined tin,
Bake at 180 degrees c for 45 minutes or until cooked.

Makes a lovely moist cake. You could add walnuts to the mixture if you wanted (we haven't got any at the moment) and you could make an icing to go on top. We decided not to have icing because otherwise our little girl just eats that and leaves the cake, whereas with no icing she eats the cake like it's the last one she's ever going to have!