Happy 60th Birthday to my mom!
We had a surprise party for her today. They came earlier than expected though so nobody was ready for them. Anais wanted to play "Happy Birthday to You" on her violin when they came in and all the kids were supposed to hide behind the sofa and pull a party popper when mom walked in!
Its fair to say it was chaos! Anais was yelling "don't open the door yet", some of the kids forgot their party poppers and Roman pulled a party popper the wrong way into his hand instead of away from it! Chaos!
We had a surprise party for her today. They came earlier than expected though so nobody was ready for them. Anais wanted to play "Happy Birthday to You" on her violin when they came in and all the kids were supposed to hide behind the sofa and pull a party popper when mom walked in!
Its fair to say it was chaos! Anais was yelling "don't open the door yet", some of the kids forgot their party poppers and Roman pulled a party popper the wrong way into his hand instead of away from it! Chaos!
PICTURES -
Anais made a sign that said "Happy Birthday Grandma, 60, wow!"
The table before we sat down for dinner
Lots of balloons and streamers.
Anais made a sign that said "Happy Birthday Grandma, 60, wow!"
The table before we sat down for dinner
Lots of balloons and streamers.
For lunch we had slow cooked beef, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, parsnips, roast butternut squash, yorkshire puddings, vegetable medley, braised red cabbage and beef and onion gravy.
For pudding we had the round Battenburg Cake, After Eight mints and Turkish Delight.
For pudding we had the round Battenburg Cake, After Eight mints and Turkish Delight.
Yesterday I baked the yellow and pink sponges for the round Battenburg Cake.
The pink is on the left and the yellow is on the right. I was worried there was not enough food colouring in them to colour them sufficiently.
The pink is on the left and the yellow is on the right. I was worried there was not enough food colouring in them to colour them sufficiently.
Last night once the cakes had cooled, we cut rings out of each sponge.
Here is a yellow and pink sponge on top of each other to make sure the rings we cut out were the same size.
Here is a yellow and pink sponge on top of each other to make sure the rings we cut out were the same size.
We used a single serving pudding basin for the centre ring and a saucer to measure the middle ring.
Here are components of the cake.
Between each layer we spread a layer of melted to jam to "glue" the layers together.
Once it had been assembled though, it wasn't very flat......
Between each layer we spread a layer of melted to jam to "glue" the layers together.
Once it had been assembled though, it wasn't very flat......
...........so we wrapped the cake in clingfilm and put a heavy encyclopedia on top of it to compact it down a little!
All of the above was done last night.
All of the above was done last night.
This morning.......
The cake was lovely and flat once the heavy book had been removed!
We trimmed all around the edge of the cake with a serrated knife to make it even and spread a layer of melted jam on the top and around it so the marzipan would stick to it.
The cake was lovely and flat once the heavy book had been removed!
We trimmed all around the edge of the cake with a serrated knife to make it even and spread a layer of melted jam on the top and around it so the marzipan would stick to it.
We added a pretty ribbon along the bottom in a pretty spring colour as there wasn't enough marzipan to cover the whole cake as the cake was quite high.
And ta dah! The finished cake! Pretty!
And ta dah! The finished cake! Pretty!
And the moment we were all waiting for! Did we use too much food colouring and turn it into a fluorescent chessboard, or was there not enough food colouring in?
Just the right amount of colour, phew! And it looks very impressive too!
I wouldn't do this cake every week, only for a special occasion as there is a lot of work involved in it. Also, if I made it again I would omit the ground almonds as I found the cake quite dry.
Hope everybody had a nice day and Happy Birthday to mom! xxxxx
I wouldn't do this cake every week, only for a special occasion as there is a lot of work involved in it. Also, if I made it again I would omit the ground almonds as I found the cake quite dry.
Hope everybody had a nice day and Happy Birthday to mom! xxxxx
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