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Friday, May 24, 2013

If your recipe book could talk, what would it say?


It’s a special weekend in our household. It's that time of year again when we sit around the dining table after dinner for a good hour going through all the birthday cake books within the house.

Considering how few cakes we make we certainly have a good range of books to flick through.

There are pages splattered with icing from when I attempted the rainbow balloons cake for Popps’ first birthday, only to serve up a mud cake from the supermarket. There are pages that I think might have tears on them, or smudges as I stayed up til all hours trying to get them right before a party. Some pages have folded dog ears on cakes that little people have really really wanted (but Mummy didn't even attempt).  Some books contain little bits of paper where people have numbered the cakes they want for which birthday – it is clear that when it comes to birthdays, Popps is a planner.

It has now become a yearly challenge for Mr H to pick any cake he desires and for me to attempt to make it. This started with the hilarious echidna, jumped to the masterpiece that took me about 47 hours to cook and this year will be something else a little exotic – but simple – he did request the platypus at first, then the log cabin cake – simply because he likes flake, but settled on something more grown up.



Tomorrow, I will be donning my apron, dusting off the cake pans and playing  Tiny Turner loudly in the kitchen while I try and get this cake right, either way, in the end, another page of the book will have its own story. I should start adding a photo of the day to each page for historical significance!

If your recipe books could talk, what would they tell me? Did anyone ever make you the log cabin? 

7 comments:

  1. We have the women's weekly cake book out as we speak! It's my baby girls 2nd birthday this weekend and looks like we'll be making the Humpty Dumpty cake, wish me luck

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    1. Good luck Averil - I have seen this with a bub born around Easter and the Mum used an actual Humpty Easter egg to sit on the wall, looked great - but might be a bit tough to find this week.

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  2. You have captured that cookbook perfectly! This was the scene for my childhood (or rather, my sister's- I was a summer baby so it was frozen sara lee chocolate cake for me), and now for my children. love that book! (tears and all!) ;)sarah

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    1. What no cake due to hot weather - that is no good, you can always buy the sponge cake and just decorate as required.

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  3. Good luck! I get very stressed out trying for the perfect cake, they may not always look the part but at least they taste good :)

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  4. My recipe books are pristine, so they would tell you they aren't used. Sad lonely books taking up space on my shelves...I love fancy shape cakes but I leave it to the professionals...or friends daughters that like to cook.

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  5. You have my total respect. I don't even own a fancy cake cookbook. While I love baking, I have never attempted a themed birthday cake. That's always looked after by a third party - you know, one that is paid for their services. All the best and share photos soon!!!

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