Saturday Morning

With the twins a little under the weather and the weather a little windy, we decided it might be best to spend the day at home. Junior Chef and I whipped up a batch of raspberry muffins for morning tea and I got a chance to play around with my new camera.

We used this basic recipe, replacing the blueberries for frozen raspberries and adding some lemon zest. It's a good recipe to make with a toddler as it gets you to rub the butter and flour together, and what 3 yr old doesn't love getting their hands in the bowl. They might not have been the moistest of muffins but they were quite tasty and went down well with a coffee.

Miffy Birthday Cake

The evolution of a Miffy birthday cake - apologies for the poor photos taken late at night

I was unable to find a recipe/template for a Miffy birthday cake for my daughter's 2nd birthday party so I decided to make my own. I borrowed a cake board from my sister and was limited to its size: 30cm x 45cm. I then scaled it down slightly to fit a 23cm round tin and a 23cm square tin, so that I could bake both in my oven at once. Feel free to use my templates to make your own Miffy birthday cake (Template 1) (Template 2).

18/4/11: Photobucket has removed my templates from their website due to copyright reasons (grr!). If you would like the templates emailed to you please leave a comment below including your email address, however I can not guarantee a speedy response as I now have newborn twins at home.

I used the same basic cake recipe that I had used for her 1st birthday cake (a simple number "1") but this time I used Bakels Whip 'n' Ice for the icing. A cake making friend recommended this to my mum and it was ideal; it is very white (essential for a white bunny) and quite easy to use. I think you have to purchase this from specialty cake decorating stores. Miffy would not be complete without her black outlines so these were done with licorice straps, licorice discs for eyes (2 year olds love licorice, right?!).

Although I couldn't bear to eat a piece at the party (having had my fill of cake cut-offs and icing the previous night) I would say it was a big success. The best part of the day for me was when Nina was asked what her favourite thing about her party was, and she replied "my Miffy cake". She is not even old enough to know how to suck up to her mother so I was thrilled and very touched.