New Cook Book.

Yesterday afternoon while at the Post Office I spied this gorgeous book. It's a collection of "the best of Donna Hay magazine", and I think it was an absolute bargain at only $29.99. I don't feel that I'm a very inspirational cook ( give me something to sew no problems ) but the simplicity of these recipe's and stunning photography is sure to get me a little inspired in the kitchen.

I think there might be something special on the menu for dinner tonight.

I have Ryan home sick for the third day in a row today.....poor little possum! I'm sure he'll be feeling better in a while ( after the antibiotics kick in ) and be wanting to make something for himself out of my new book.

Thanks for stopping by.

Birthday Cake - My Creative Space

It's not a Donna Hay cake........but I'm not Donna Hay, and considering my cake making skills ( cooking skills for that matter ) I think it worked out pretty good. It was a total hit with the kids and for me.....that's all that counts!
I took a few tips from Donna in a recent Master Chef show.......the one with the layer cake. I made a couple of these and put them in the fridge to cool before I cut the layers.

I put some frosting in between the layers. Please excuse the slightly over-cooked bits, they were the tops so I stuck them in the middle ( after I sliced the bump off ) and used the bottoms for both the top and bottom of the stack.

I then gave it a good coating with some soft pink icing.

I melted an entire big bag of chocolate melts and put it in a piping bag so I could do some crazy piping on baking paper. This was the first time I tried this and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, but next time I'll take a little more care with my design now that I know I have a few minutes to play with the melted chocolate.

Just as the chocolate was almost set I stood it up and pressed it around the cake ......like a crown!

I had a little chocolate left in my piping bag so I made a little flower to go on top.

I finished the cake a few hours before we needed it and I noticed that there were a few gaps in the chocolate.........I wonder who that could have been?

This kid loves anything with chocolate!

Megan had her little friend Tayla for a sleepover last night.......sadly I think it going to be the last. Tayla has just moved away, and even though these girls haven't been at the same school since Megan changed her school last term, they have been best friends for the past two and a half years!

They always had a great time together......we are really going to miss her.

We are hoping she can visit during the next school holidays.
For more creative spaces head on over to kootoyoo and take a look.

Special Order.......

for a Lime Belt.
The fabric used in this belt is a Tanya Whelan fabric and it would have to be one of my all time favourites ( I love anything with a bit of damask).......it comes in a few different colours, some which I'm turning into kids belts.

I'm on cake duty this afternoon.......it has to be something grand according to Megan, something like this.............minus the 70 on top.

She would prefer I got this character Duff Goldman from Charm City Cakes to do the job.......I told her that I didn't think he could ship it overseas for us, it's just not going to happen.......so she is going to have to settle for some homemade creation by mum!

We all love sitting up and watching Ace of Cakes, this man is so clever as are all his staff members.

If you want to see some cake disasters check this out, if you want to get a little inspiration go here.

There goes the buzzer, cake number one needs to come out of the oven......hope it all works out and isn't a huge flop.......wish me luck!