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.

Roll on the street party

The village where the farm is is having a street party (well, more of a winding lane party) I've been volunteered to make the celebration cake and decided to go with classic British flavours with a twist.  I'm making two batches, lemon and earl grey tea.

The lemon curd is made (I love making lemon curd, so simple and super yummy)  The lemon cupcakes are made, now I just need to apply A into B.

I've not made the Early Grey cupcakes before, but I love the flavours as a tea, and am intrigued to see how it turns out as a cake.  I will report back.

Superhero's super birthday cake

It was Darling boy's 4th birthday this weekend and, being nuts about Spiderman, Superman and all things 'super', he had chosen a superhero theme.  We went all-out for the fancy dress, and, as last time when the theme was pirates,  the kids and grown-ups all dressed up.  We had prizes in various categories, from best superhero accessory, to best mini-skirt in a superhero capacity.

Huge amounts of fun were had by all, lots of chasing around and dashing about- all brilliant stuff.

The cake I made for Darling boy was chocolate- to Darling boys request- was the same recipe as I used for Handsome husbands Granny's 90th birthday.  It was iced in blue buttercream icing, with the customised logo made from royal icing and cut out with an art knife.

The accompanying superhero cupcakes are lemon, with matching stars and home-made superhero comic book style cupcake flags.

Regal in purple

So, for the Royal wedding street party we were invited to, I opted to go for the classic trilogy of vanilla, lemon and chocolate cupcakes.  I iced them with their partner icings of vanilla, lemon and chocolate, and coloured the vanilla icing to match the decorations on the chocolate cupcakes.  I went regal in purple and lilac, keeping the lemon cupcakes suitably girly with sparkly butterflies.

Post family wedding viewing on the telly at the farm, we adjourned to the street party, which was actually in someones barn- with the most gorgeous views.  The weather was warm and hazy.  Outfits were scrutinised, again.  (Bridal= triumph, cousins = pantomime dames) Cake was eaten and lawns were lazed on.  Perfect.


...and as a side note to this story, where the cupcakes were set up was just inside the host's house.  Darling boy, who is a pretty smart cookie, pointed at the ironing board you can just see peeking out in the corner of the picture, and said with real wonder and curiosity 'Whats that mummy?' The poor lad had never seen one before...Just goes to show how much ironing goes on in the Adventures household.  (ie, not much, my iron is currently in storage.Bliss) 

The Royal I do

Surely only a die-hard anti-monarchist, with a heart of stone would claim to be totally uninterested in the forthcoming Royal wedding.

Even if you aren't so into Royalty (is it a capital R?) the national excitement (even if its only over the free day off, and the possibility of day time drinking) is building.

Personally,I like the Royal family, the history and the role they play in our society is unique.  I like anything that gets the community together for a party. And I love love love weddings and romance. A young princess and prince, its got to be a beautiful wedding, surely? With the rumours of an Alexander McQueen wedding dress, its shaping up to be an interesting meeting of tradition and modern style.  Put the whole caboodle together and its a match made in heaven.

Anyway, the point is, Handsome husband, Darling boy, Little brother and I are all off to a street party.  I am SO excited.  Puddings have been requested as a donation, so I will of course be taking cupcakes.  The big question is how many, what flavour and what design?  Big decisions need to be made...


ps, you would be right in guessing the photo above was not taken by me (I didn't have any crowns hanging around conveniently for a photo shoot in my kitchen) instead, I found it on t'internet. Well done Google.

The Surprise cupcakes

It was Handsome husband's uncle's Surprise 50th birthday party (the party was a surprise, not that he was going to be 50, I'm pretty sure he knew his age alright)

We were invited and secret birthday cupcakes had been requested.  I was happy to oblige, but nervous of having to travel with them first the 150 miles to my marvellous parents, and then on into and across London via train and tube and shanks' pony.

Anyway, logistics aside, I went for a flavour combination of vanilla on vanilla, mixed with a few cheeky chocolate buttercream iced ones as well.  For the colour scheme, shades of blue in big and mini stars and initials, with matching glitters (of course) kept it about as masculine as you can get with cupcakes (though I'm always on the look out for tiny cutters in the shapes of spanners, etc)

The cupcakes were a big success.  The party was an even bigger success, with Uncle J winning a clear award for 'Surprise birthday party candidate who was the most surprised ever'  We drank champagne and laughed and cried at his lovely speech.  Then toddled back to our hotel for a relax, before heading out for more eating and plenty of cocktails. yum.

And a final word on the cupcakes too, I don't normally go for such bright colours as the blue here on the butter icing, but I think it turned out rather handsome in the end.

Little Brothers birthday

It was Little Brothers 1st birthday this weekend.  We can hardly believe he is now one year old. Amazing.  He is such a cool little man, very smiley and he had a brilliant time at his party.  He managed to squeeze in a record 2 sausages, 2 strawberries, 1 crisp and a piece of bread all into his mouth at the same time, like a hamster.

We had the usual party fare, and as usual, all the cake and biscuits were gobbled, and naturally most of the sandwiches remained.  After all, under fives definitely have their priorities right.  Sugar first, vitamins second.  

I was pleased to have sourced everything from local shops and managed to continue my going local campaign.

Little brother had chocolate cupcakes, and lemon cupcakes, with a secret home-made lemon curd filling. And centre place was Little Brothers very first birthday cake, a two tiered duck cake, iced in yellow buttercream icing and complete with eyelashes and a baby duck.

A brilliant time was had by all, prosecco for the grown ups and running around outside for the kids.  Perfect.

Christmas party cupcakes

It was Darling boy's pre-school christmas party at the local village hall and the guest of honor was to be Father Christmas himself, resplendent in his twinkly grotto, with presents for all.

Christmas parties are a source of undeniable joy and excitement and the kids could barely cram enough sausage rolls and crisps (toddler party food of choice) in their faces, before much chasing around was to be done.  Called back to the table by the promise of cake, I have never seen a group of kids respond so quickly- but thats the magic of sugar.

For the grown- ups, yours truly had baked a batch of chocolate cupcakes.  Too rich (and delicious) for toddlers. These sparkly cupcakes disappeared pretty quickly.

Oh, and for the record, Little brother was dressed as a christmas elf, complete with stripy leggings and a droopy christmas hat.  Beyond cute.  Happy days.