Spooky bat cookies and gingerbread cupcakes

Holy bat biscuits robin! I made these iced bat cookies, and dotty star cookies for Little brothers preschool halloween party.

Darling boy and little brother were very sweetly dressed for the fancy dress parade in matching bat costumes with wings,  and our newest addition wore a cute pumpkin teeshirt, as at just 10 weeks, she is a bit little for dressing up just yet (however come christmas it will be a different story!) I opted for Vegas witch in a long hot pink wig and pointy hat.

I also bought along gingerbread cupcakes, topped with a lemony cream cheese frosting for the grownups and they went down a storm.  Perfect with a hot cuppa, gingerbread seems a great flavour for halloween, spicy and warming, perfect for braving a gaggle of goulish preschoolers.

Cupcakes for the queen

Like most of the UK, we had our village street/barn party for the Jubilee celebrations in the cold and drizzle.  The great British summer didn't stop us from having a get together, we just wore our cagoules, stylish I know.  It was still good fun, if a bit damp.

Here are the cupcakes I made for the party, lemon with a home-made lemon curd filling and a new one, Earl Grey- which were totally delicious.  I wasn't sure how the Earl Grey were going to go down with a mixed crowd of locals, mostly proper farmers perhaps not so inclined towards the more unusual cake flavours in life.  But the cupcakes all disappeared fairly quickly, so I needn't have worried.  Perhaps the farmers of Devon are more experimental in their tastes than I had imagined.  and of course, I decorated a couple of cupcakes especially for our Lizzie, if she felt like dropping by.

It went with a swing.

What a lovely evening- the jazz concert was a warm and toasty success.  A nice big audience and the band and singers were all great.  The church looked really pretty with holly and candles and fairy lights everywhere.  The mulled wine and mince pies went down a storm.  Pictured here is Dave the postman's famous shortbread. I truly believe that if you didn't feel all warm and snuggly and christmassy when Mike Long sang White christmas than you must be a robot, from planet Grinch.  Mike's voice was velvety rich and evocative and his version could easily stand next to Nat King Cole's anytime.  It was a lush evening.  I'm already daydreaming about organising another one- bigger and better, next year.  Next time I'm thinking of finding a brass section from somewhere- we all need trumpets in our lives after all.  We raised a lovely amount of dosh for the feel restoration fund too- brilliant.

THE Christmas jazz concert, it's tomorrow!!!!!

How can I have forgotten to mention I have been organising a jazz concert? It is tomorrow night at the local church and is in aid of the church bells which need re-hanging. The re-hanging will cost about a squillion pounds and we are applying for Heritage Lottery funding, but need to raise 10% locally.

It was my big idea to have a concert so I was the one to drive it forward, but it couldn't have been possible without my fellow ringers being super duper helpful. I suggested it back in August and have been beavering away ever since.

The band, Just Misbehavin' are booked, the brilliant singers Mike Long, Emily Wraith and Lynn Thornton have agree their set list, the wine is ready for mulling, the mince pies are ready for munching (we have all been madly baking) we even have a hostess trolley on standby to keep the mince pies warm (yes, we have thought of everything!)

Tomorrow we decorate the church in the morning and then the band arrive before 6pm for a little run through, then it's show time at 8pm. It's very exciting and I've gone past nerves, though I'm sure they will return tomorrow. Can't wait. It's been a long time since I put on a show (I used to run a contemporary dance company back in London, but more about that another time) so I'm really looking forward to it.

As a bonus, marvellous mum and dad are coming down with my brother and his lovely partner, hooray! Darling boy and Little brother are very very excited.

I will post again soon to say how it goes, I'm sure it wil be with a swing though!

Garden cake, or school cake, but not as you knew it

I've joined the PTA (Parent Teachers Association) for Darling boys fabulous preschool.  The wonderful Head teacher Mrs P and other members of the PTA kept asking me to join and I kept making vague excuses about being really busy.  I did however say to a fellow mum that if I was asked once more the I would probably crack.  Guess what?, she squealed.  I was asked again and relented.  Actually, it's good being on the PTA, someone has to, parties and fundraising do not organise themselves.   I see it as my bit of community spirit, supporting the school.  Plus being a full time mum, I may as well get involved; after all, if you are going to get wet, you may as well go swimming.

Anyway,  it is the school's 30th birthday and at the most recent PTA meeting, Mrs P said she wanted to find someone to make a big birthday cake so she could get the press in to do a feature on the school and it's anniversary.  If only they knew someone who made cakes? (I was sat next to her) The hints were sufficient and I was more than willing to oblige.  It's the least I can do, it's a great school and Darling boy loves it there.

I wasn't given a brief aside from 'chocolate, all children love chocolate', so was able to do whatever I fancied.

I decided on a '30' shaped cake, as I knew it would photograph well (and also good for numeracy, innit)  I was stuck for a decorating theme, until I remembered these darling ready made decorations I had.  I have never bought ready mades before, but the bumblebees and ladybirds are super cute and very unisex.  The school is very outdoorsy too and I hoped the garden theme would chime well.  My new Wilton nozzle came in handy too (number 233 if you are interested).  This was it's first outing and it was a labour of love.  It's a big cake and my hand is still aching.  It took about 5 hours to decorate, from shaping to glittering.

I must admit I am pretty proud of this one.  The school loved it too.  Hooray.