Make it Monday - Crochet & Cakes

Now doesn't that sound like a lovely way to spend an afternoon or an evening?

The crochet and cakes don't come together though, rather they are two (actually three) separate makes from last week.

Firstly the crochet.

I was on a bit of a roll with the granny squares this week. In order to get the baby blanket finished as quickly as I could (there are just under 2 weeks left now until our official D-Day, although like I've probably said 100 times before, I have always gone over and expect to do so again), I decided to stick to a basic Granny Square and not do the one with the little sunflower-like shape in the middle like I did for Alasdair's blanket.

Boy did I notice a difference in the speed these ones worked up! I started last Monday and finished it on Saturday, and had just enough of the wool from Alasdair's blanket left over to make it.

Obviously the fact that it is about a quarter of the size of Alasdair's helped me finish it quicker but even so, by my calculations it would take me a month to make a blanket the size of Alasdair's using these types of squares, not the three months it took me to make his.

Here are the two blankets side by side for size comparisons.

Now, onto the cake(s).

Last week our little crofter turned 11. He was supremely chuffed to get a tweed jacket as one of his presents!

He was also very happy that my mum and dad were down for a very brief visit during the week as my dad had some meetings to attend in Edinburgh, which meant that Granny could come to his birthday tea. Shen was unfortunately too busy with his meetings that night. 

I baked the cake, in my giant cupcake mould, for the birthday tea and then largely left the decor up to James (13) and David (7). The result was this rather space age looking cake, which Calum loved.

Then, as is often the tradition with the older boys on the weekend before or after their birthdays, Calum had his best friend round for a sleepover on Friday night. Of course we had to have a cake for him coming too!

At his point, being almost 38 weeks pregnant, I did wish for a moment that we could just nip out to the supermarket and buy a cake for him, but of course no supermarkets do Gluten & Dairy Free decorated birthday cakes so it wasn't an option.

Thankfully I have a 13 year old who loves to decorate cakes and wanted to make it. All I had to do was bake the basic cake and then the rest was up to him. He asked me to bake a square cake and then he carved it into the shape and decorated it. He even coloured the icing black himself, which took some time and left his hands rather stained!

The cake he decided to make was a camera cake, as Calum still loves photography.

The only trouble with all that black icing was that it turned a few tongues black!

Calum has been busy taking some really good autumnal photos with the camera he got last year for his birthday but they need a post of their own so I'll share them with you all tomorrow. 

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Co-la-breith sona!

'Do not regret growing older, it is a privilege denied to many'

I don't remember who wrote this, but it's a phrase I whole-heartedly agree with as I turn another year older.

We celebrated by going out for lunch to Pizza Express, where the wee man was kept entertained with some colouring in. 

When we walked out of the Pizza restaurant, what did we find next door, but oh joy of joys, a French Patisserie!

We just had to go in, it was my birthday after all.

And the perfect excuse to have a slice of double chocolate gateaux large enough to feed a small nation. I don't think this photo does justice to the full scale of the cake - it was HUGE!

Later on in the afternoon the boys banished me from the kitchen so that they could make a birthday cake. Calum (9) had remembered the recipe since I taught him how to make a sponge cake in the summer. James (12) took charge of colouring the sugarpaste and other decorative touches. David (6) helped them both.

When everything was ready, they set up a birthday tea for me.

The cake was so pretty!

Calum had coloured the inside pink and purple.

'Co-la-breith sona mamaidh!' I'm sure you can work out that one!

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The Birthday Boy

Although we were all sick last week, I was so thankful that the bug hit us when it did and not a few days earlier.

Had it done so, then this little man,

or should I say big man, as he is sure he has grown a few inches since turning six, wouldn't have had such a fun birthday!

He loved the bike. 

It's a touch on the big side for him. I told him it will be the perfect size for him by the time proper cycling weather comes round again, but he is determined it is the proper size for him right now and whenever the weather suits he is out in the back garden trying to master it! 

That pretty much sums up his character.

He loved all of his presents in fact.

This game below is so much fun. I would definitely recommend it if anyone is looking for a game that suits all ages. 

It's the Playdough Potato Head game. 

You have to get your potato, made out of playdough, round the board without getting chopped/sliced up/turned into chips (fries)/crisps (chips).

If you land on one of the squares in the machine, you have to wait nervously and hope that no-one else spins the square that destroys you. Meanwhile everyone else is hoping that they do get that square - well, that's how it goes in out house anyway!

James was my kitchen assistant for the cake. 

He did a marvelous job of colouring the white fondant icing green and then rolling it out. He also piped on the icing, although stopped before doing the name, and added the footballers.

He's a big fan of Ace of Cakes.

To celebrate David's birthday we went with the cousins to Soft Play, out for dinner to the Carvery Restaurant, then back here for cake and another game of Potato Head.

Here are the boys and their cousins with the birthday boy. He is wearing the Scotland football top that he got from his cousins.He loves it so much that he would sleep in it if he could. I almost have to wrestle it off him to get it in the wash!

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How to make a LEGO brick cake

When I was looking online for ideas on how to make a LEGO cake for Calum's birthday last week I really struggled to find something useful.

There were plenty ideas for LEGO themed parties, many with a LEGO cake, but no suggestions as to how you go about making said cake.

Now, I realise it's not exactly rocket science.

Just cover a cake with icing and add some studs on top.

Still, I thought I'd share how I went about making ours anyway, as there are plenty LEGO fans out there!

You will need:

Victoria sponge mixture x 2

quantity of butter icing (100g butter/margarine beaten with 300g icing sugar and 1tsp vanilla essence)

around 1kg of white sugar paste icing

strawberry or raspberry jam

So, firstly I used my Victoria sponge recipe, which is here, and a square Brownie Tin to make the cake. 

Actually you need double the amount of cake mixture so that you can make two squares and sandwich them together.

~Sit the two squares on top of each other and then slice straight down the middle. Leave one half this size and cut the other half again, horizontally this time.

Making the coloured icing was my next task.

I use these gel food colourings as you need so little of them to get a good colour and they don't dilute the icing or whatever it is you are making.

~Take about half of the sugarpaste and turn it red.

Using a cocktail stick or skewer, add some gel colouring to the icing and then knead it in until you have a solid colour. 

Keep adding more and more, a little at a time until you get the shade you want.

A word of caution though.

The red does take a while to make as it stays quite pink for a while.

And by the time you get to the shade you want, you end up with hands that look as though you have been up to something gruesome!

~Split the rest of the sugarpaste in two and colour each half in the colours of your choice.

I went with yellow and green.

~Sandwich each of your LEGO bricks (the rectangle and the two squares) together with the butter icing and some jam.

~Take a small section of your coloured sugarpaste (let's say red to start with), and mould it into some little flattish balls. These are the studs.You will need 8 for the rectangle and 4 for each of the squares.

It's best if you have a LEGO brick available to compare the scale of these against your cake.

~Now using a cocktail stick or skewer, write LEGO on each ball/stud, in capital letters of course!

~Roll out the sugarpastes, a colour at a time, and cover each of your blocks.

~Rub a little bit of water on the bottom of each LEGO ball/stud (this will help them stick) and place on the cakes.

As a finishing touch we added a selection of favourite LEGO mini-figures, and believe me, we have plenty to choose from in this house!

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