Claire's Cake Bake & Other Foodiness

It was my brothers 30th Birthday earlier this week & despite him denying the whole thing it really did happen… so to celebrate I had to make a cake.  At first I had exciting ideas revolving around mountain bikes, his new hobby but it was soon decided that it would be based around his love of all things guitar related.  Elodie *loves* Gung Gungs guitar (Gung Gung is her attempt at saying Uncle & seems to have stuck for now) and once I told her we would be making a cake for his birthday all she kept saying was “gung gung cake” followed by the noise a guitar makes… thats a lesson I should have learnt from, not to tell her anything that is a secret that she can talk about :)

We also went out for a meal to Simon Rimmers restaurant Earle in Altrincham… it was really nice if a bit far to trek from the Wirral but we all enjoyed some delicious food & a nice time was had by all.

Anyway, here are is the cake (I was up until midnight last Saturday making the icing guitar)

There probably aren’t many readers left following my lack of posts over the last 2 years but I do keep meaning to blog more, so to try & make me a more active blogger I am changing it slightly to include 2 new categories/sections – Cooking with… and Cooking for… both of which will be more toddler/children focused.

Elodie is taking more and more interest in the kitchen and what happens in there and often wants to see what is going on on the worktops and hob so with that in mind I am going to try & include more on what I make for her and what things she can help with.  She has already helped me in trying out Pudsey cookies and enjoyed helping to roll out the dough and watch the process of mixing, rolling, cutting, baking and then the best bit – eating!

So there you go, hopefully we’ll get to write and photo some cooking soon.

Claire

Another cake stand for my collection, this time one for my favourite little cupcakes. I also finally managed to pick up the piping nozzle I’ve been after for a while…

Last month we went for an overnight stay at The Punch Bowl in Crosthwaite in the Lake District.  The occasion, our third wedding anniversary and Elodie stayed with Nanny & Grandad for the night.

The Punch Bowl was named Pub of the Year by ‘Michelin Pub Guide 2009′ and after looking at their luxurious accommodation on their website we couldn’t resist a bit of R&R…

The overnight rate included Afternoon Tea upon arrival and Breakfast.  We hadn’t appreciated this until we actually booked in so it was a nice surprise.

From the off, the staff were really lovely.  Not too much, nor too little – just friendly, welcoming and very helpful.  After checking in, we were shown to our room and left to our own devices.  If we had realised that Afternoon Tea was included we may have arrived a little bit earlier so we decided to enjoy it before it was dinner time! We sat downstairs in the pub/lounge area and two scones, jam and cream were served alongside a refreshing pot of tea (using tea leaves, not teabags).

Carry on reading & leave a comment…

Elodie had a little party for her friends last Sunday, so I made a little buffet and cupcakes for pudding.  Well, their mums & dads needed feeding too…

Elodie turned one this week. I can’t believe she is a year old already, where has the time gone?

We had a small family party on her Birthday to celebrate and of course, she had a Birthday cake too. It was themed on her wallpaper – delicate girly butterflies & flowers (sparkly of course, but that doesnt show very well in the pics).  It was another traditional madeira sponge with jam & buttercream with white regalice.