Tag Archive | kids

“Rubik’s” Cube Birthday Cake

Feb29

Young teen son announced that he would rather like a Rubik’c cube cake for his birthday last month.  I took this in the spirit in which is was given – a challenge.  Work began on the morning of his birthday after shuffling him off to school.

The cake began life as a 12 inch square Madeira cake, baked for approx 55 mins at 160 degrees Celsius, then cut into four equal squares, of which only three were used for the final cake.  I wrapped the tin with newspaper to prevent the cake from browning too much on the top during cooking.

The 12 inch square cake

Three four inch square cakes, stacked to form a cubeThe cake stack was then covered in a layer of Asda Banoffee spread, and the icing begins, by covering two opposite sides with Fondant Icing.

Cake covered in spread and iced on two sides

 

Cake now covered on five faces with icing

This was followed by a strip of fondant icing laid across the remaining part of the cube.  Edges were neatened and the surface smoothed out, ready to add the colour.

Coloured squares cut from icing to form the cubes

 

 

 

 

 

Ready-coloured fondant icing was used to make the squares of colour to represent the smaller cubes of the Rubik’s cube.  I had made a conscious decision to use white as the background because of the slightly bitter taste of heavily coloured fondant.  Therefore black was used in the smaller squares to provide a sort of negative image.  The small squares with ‘glued’ to the cake with water and a soft paintbrush.

The finished cake, standing alongside the real rubik's cube, used as the model

 

 

 

This picture shows the finished cake, complete with the original cube, used to ensure than I had a good representation of the spread of colours.  I thought that it would be better to show a random pattern of colour, than the completed cube pattern.

 

The cake has the first slice cut and plated, ready for the birthday boy

Et Voila!  It didn’t last long of course – these things never do, but at least my son was happy with his cake.

Toys + Nostalgia = Granny-itis Hits Again

Aug3
Toys have once again become a part of my life.  Not the teen type toys that my younger kids still have, or the Lego that never dies, but baby toys.  Toys like shape sorters and rattles and Duplo.  Teething rings that you put in the fridge which then leak anyway once your little one sinks their first pearly whites into them.  Teddies and other soft toys made of garishly coloured fabrics with incessant noises emanating from them at inopportune moments.  You know the ones – all you mums know the ones I’m talking about.
I had cleared most of the ones in our house about two years ago, when I finally admitted that we no longer had babies in the house, but now of course, we have our grandson, and the toys are quietly breeding whilst they are in the toy bag at night.  I swear that each time I tip them out; there are more in it than last time I looked.  I have no idea (honest!!!!) of where they are coming from, except for the occasional suspicious looking bag coming home from car boot sales or trips into town.  They are multiplying oh so very slowly but surely.
Last weekend, an attack of Granny-itis struck whilst we were out and a shape-sorter ball came home with us.  I felt a pang of nostalgia for the old Tupperware one that my kids had about twenty five years ago, and a pang of guilt for having shipped it off to a charity shop in the clear out two years ago.  Then a little later in the morning, I found one of these lovely toys with wire frames in board, onto which coloured wooden beads have been threaded.  It was accompanied by cries of ‘Mum look – I remember playing with one of these when I was little,’ and ‘Darling nephew would love one of these Mum!’  So I was powerless to resist, would you have been able to deprive such a great little chap of the chance to make the same memories that you and your kids have?
I admit it – I’m a sucker!  But I feel totally justified because the little man concerned loved them when he was here with us yesterday.  He got his uncles to play with the shape sorter for him – just to show him how to do it of course.  He pushed and pulled at the bead frame, then made eyes at his uncles till they showed him what to do with it.  They even went and found a few dinky cars for him to fill with dribble!  Aren’t they the best uncles ever!
I wonder if any of you other grandmas and mums out there have also been sucked in by nostalgia when buying toys?  Make a comment on this posting and share with us.

Bring on the Summer Holidays!!

Jul21
For many of us Mums, today or perhaps tomorrow marks the start of the Summer Holidays, that 6 week epic break from school that we either love or hate.
I fall into the first of those categories.  I love having our kids at home; being able to do things with them, even if that means that on a rainy day we spend the day huddled in the living room with a pile of goodies and a stack of DVDs. 
When your kids are tiny, you just don’t realise how bereft you will feel when they go to school, so I cherish every day of that six weeks as the most time I get to spend with them, uninterrupted by school bells and uniforms.  I only have four of my ‘little ones’ left at home, ranging from 10 years old to 17 (but add dear daughter and darling grandson into the mix too, for good measure on some days).
image from interiordesignarchitects.net
I’d love to be able to reproduce this design
This summer, we are going to decorate one of the bedrooms – ‘teen daughter’ has been waiting patiently for her turn of the paint roller to come around.  That should take us roughly one week of the hols.  We work as a gang – some will be stripping whilst others are sanding or washing and so on.  Last summer we did both of the boys’ bedrooms and I think we all had fun along the way.  Not sure how the lads are going to feel about being spattered with bubblegum pink paint, but it should make for some hilarity when we hit the beach, if we hit the beach but that of course needs some reasonable weather.
Other plans for the holidays are trips on the train to London perhaps or to visit one of the Uncles in the midlands. Family Railcards are an amazing piece of kit – we get to travel all over the place for a fraction of what it would ordinarily cost.  When you are trooping at least four of your little darlings around with you (up to a few years ago it was up to seven of them), every penny counts, especially on trips to London.
To be fair, my tribe are great kids, they don’t make demands, unreasonable or otherwise and are happy to mostly do whatever comes along.  The museums in the capital make for a good day out on a shoestring budget – as long as you take a picnic of course.
More soon on our plans for the summer, but right now, it’s time to collect some banana boxes so that ‘teen daughter’ can start to pack away all of her worldly belongings.  The strippers move in on Monday morning – 8am sharp!