Thoughts from Ash

Football Fever Has Hit Cakeland Too!

2010-07-13T03:50:00.001-07:00

Like me you may not be a huge football fan however a world cup final involving the country you live in and where your kids where born is definitely worth watching. And when they won – well lets say we celebrated well into the night. Wheyhey!

Football and cake – that's combination I can handle (me and my cake making friends too!) Look what they have done with our cake topper – you could have fantastic world cup celebrations with these!

Well done Spain – a well deserved win (sorry Holland but there was a lot of dirty play going on!)

If you are football crazy and football mad you too can have your own celebration and get a World Cup Cake or cupcakes – just email me at info@theicingonthecakespain.com –maybe you want your favourite football team instead –no problem we can do that too, just let us know which team is yours and we can arrange it for you!

Cake Tastic!

2010-06-13T08:39:00.001-07:00

Have whatever novelty cake you like and eat every last bit too!

Do you have an idea for a cake but not sure who can make it? Well look no further…

Heidi from Heidi Dream Cakes is the bees knees when it comes to making cakes. She can do anything from a Pirate ship to Lightning McQueen, wonderful cupcakes to wedding cakes. If you have an idea but think it can’t be done, ask Heidi and I bet she can do it!

I have tried and fallen in love with her cakes – I can promise you won’t be disappointed. She made me the most delicious lemon cake that I have ever had. My kids loved it too… and they are definite chocolate cake addicts so I thought lemon cake would not be their idea of heaven …but I was so wrong!

Heidi uses our cake toppers to create her fantastic dream cakes! So you can have whatever you want – even a picture of your favourite pooch!

Contact Heidi on 629966002

and view her dream creations at:

http://heididreamcake.blogspot.com/

Mercado Medieval – Estepona May 2010

2010-05-19T10:32:00.001-07:00

What a wonderful evening we spent at the Mercado Medieval in Estepona port last weekend.

Last year it was held in the old town but this they changed it the port and it was excellent.

Stalls of olives, and Art, as well as sweets, nuts and drinks, jewellery and even a Barbeque were there to entice the money from our pockets.

The stall holders played their parts brilliantly dressing up for the event and getting into the theme of things, creating a realistic and fun-filled atmosphere.

The kids love the Medieval playa area with authentic games of the period – stilts, tin walking, puzzles, bow and arrows, and even donkey rides for those kids who were brave enough. The favourite was a hand swung carousel which sent our little ones flying around and around to the sounds of their high pitched squeals of delight.

Not sure how candy floss fits in the Medieval theme but the kids certainly loved it!

Looking forward to next year already.

Hello Kitty - a purrfect choice!

2010-05-12T12:00:00.001-07:00

Ever since Christmas if you mentioned to my daughter about her birthday she immediately said that she wants a ‘Hello Kitty’ cake!

So her request was my command. I had chosen a picture for the cake topper but my newly turned 3 year old had other ideas.

She looked through the pictures and decided on another. I was resigned to use this on cupcakes instead, lol. Very demanding these 3 year olds!

These chocolate cupcakes are actually are vegan recipe, egg and milk free, for my friends daughter who is allergic, however all the kids enjoyed them and it meant that she wasn’t left out of the cakey celebrations.

My daughter was thrilled with the cake – big, pink and very definitely very Hello Kitty!

Parque Del Duque - Sabinillas

2010-05-11T10:22:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine discovered this great little park in Sabinillas. When she told me about it we knew we just had to try it, so a few of us packed a picnic and off we went. It was definitely worth the short trip . This place is brand new, with lovely clean facilities and always open, clean toilets ( shaped like toadstools!). There is even a kiosk at the front gate where you can by coffee, drinks, ice creams etc.

The 6 kids we had with us loved the place – no surprise there – with its big boat shaped climbing frame and slides, smaller kids play area, Snow White & the 7 Dwarfs statues, fountain, stream and pond. Even an exercise area for the adults. Not sure who thought it was a good idea to put an open stream through the middle of a kids play park though! A nightmare for us parents to keep them out of it ( I wasn’t wholly successful with this!). This is the only bad point – otherwise the park is perfect.

To find it – take a right at the petrol station in Sabinillas then 3rd on the left. 2 mins down this road on the left is the Park. Have fun!

The Cake Company! Yummy!

2010-05-03T10:40:00.001-07:00

Are you in the mood for some divine cupcakes? Me too! And these girls certainly know how to pander to my moods and send me to heaven. The girls at The Cake Company make a range of cakes, cupcakes and tray bakes (and even make a low fat version so you can indulge without guilt – well almost!)

They can do anything from a small private party to a large corporate event. Their cakes really do taste as good as they look and if you fancy sampling some for yourself head to The Trading Post, Estepona on a Saturday and visit their cake stall. You can even take a box home with you ( if they make it that far - mine never make it out of the car!)

To contact the girls email them on thecakescompany@gmail.com or call 679 33 43 53 and leave a message with your details.

Have a great Saturday at The Trading Post!

2010-05-01T01:03:00.001-07:00

Not sure what to do this Saturday? Then head to the The Trading Post at the Estepona Riding School (exit Km 159 at the carreterra at Laguna Village and follow the signs inland for approx 5 mins).

It is on every Saturday and starts at 11.00 am. They have loads of stalls – toys, books, clothes. fruit & veg, Nigel's fab sauces and many more. Make sure you visit The Cake Company's stand to try one of their amazing cupcakes or tray bakes – Divine!

Stay for a while and enjoy the music, have a drink at the bar or a spot of lunch at the BBQ, while enjoy the Saturday Eventing. The kids can even go on a pony ride! Entrance is free so you have not excuse – go and have some family fun!

Telf: 952808077

www.escuela-ecuestre.com

Have a great Saturday at The Trading Post!

2010-05-01T00:54:00.001-07:00

Not sure what to do this Saturday? Then head to the The Trading Post at the Estepona Riding School (exit Km 159 at the carreterra at Laguna Village and follow the signs inland for approx 5 mins).

Telf: 952808077

www.escuela-ecuestre.com

Leaving on a jet plane?

2010-04-15T07:26:00.001-07:00

Are you one of the many Brits and Irish who live on the Costa del Sol who have decided to pack it all in and head back to Blighty and the Emerald Isle? You are not alone. Hundreds are heading to the airport every day in order to catch their flights home, having given it a go and found that life here in sunny Spain (well not so sunny this year) just hasn’t proved to be the dream that they hoped it would be.

Not sure what to get your friends and colleagues that you are leaving behind? Then try a cake – you can share it with everyone and even bake it yourself if you are the baking kind, if not we can recommend some fabulous cake makers here on the coast! Just order one of our cake toppers and you can put any picture with any message and leave your friends with lovely memories of you! We can even do cupcakes too!

Have a look at the cakes we have done so far…

To order yours just go to www.theicingonthecakespain.com or email us a pic at info@theicingonthecakespain.com

2nd Annual Spanish Ball - Saturday 17th April 2010 for Emily Ash Trust

2010-04-15T06:13:00.001-07:00

Emily Ash Trust - 2nd Annual Spanish Ball - Saturday 17th April 2010

The 2nd Annual Spanish Ball will be held in the setting of Hotel Villa Padierna in Marbella.( Take N340 Km 166 at the Cancelada turning exit, by the Flamingos Golf Course, follow signs for Villa Padierna).

Taking place on the 17th April 2010 between 7.30pm - 2.00am. Please join us for an evening of great entertainment with performances from X Factor’s Olly Murs and soul singer Donovan Blackwood.

Tickets are 150 Euros and include reception drinks, a three course meal and free entry to a ticket raffle draw. Both a main and silent auction will be held during the evening. For more information please got to http://www.emilyashtrust.co.uk/events.htm for a PDF of your invitation!

For Tickets please contact: James 617180858 or Natalie on 678375416

Email info@emilyashtrust.com

OUR TOPPERS ARE NOW AT THE PASSION CAFE!

2010-04-09T09:57:00.001-07:00

Yes, it is true – our cake toppers can now be seen at the Passion Cafe in San Pedro! The wonderful Caitriona Coates has opened a home-baked section selling beautiful, fresh and delicious cakes, muffins and even freshly baked bread. This is an excellent addition to a restaurant that is already famed for having wonderful food, great service and divine desserts all set in the trendy cafe in San Pedro de Alcantara. Even with the road works this place is still relatively easy to get to ( in the Centro La Colonia opposite McDonalds) and if you haven’t been already then I suggest you go – breakfast menu is fantastic if you are an early bird! I have spent many an long lunch in there with my girlfriends and has been known to spill over into dinner as well! The menu boasts wonderful wraps, divine sandwiches and fresh and delicious salads to name just a few. And they also have a kids menu (very important for us parents!)

Caitriona has opened her new tantalising home-bake section only a few weeks ago and it is already the talk of the town. My daughter can’t get enough of the beautifully decorated cupcakes. If you need a special cake in the Marbella area then this is the place to go although I guarantee that you will leave with other delights too. And of course you can have one of our toppers on your cake or cupcakes!

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK, 9AM TO 11PM, AND NOW SERVING TRADITIONAL SUNDAY LUNCH, 1-6PM

Passion Café, Centro Comercial La Colonia, San Pedro, Costa del Sol, Spain. Reservations: 0034 952 781 583

Haiti Fundraiser – Talk Radio

2010-01-27T11:10:00.001-08:00

Haiti: We Must Help and We Must Help Now

Talk Radio Europe in association with Estepona Golf will be having a tournament for Haiti on Friday 5th of February.

A gala evening will be held at the magnificent La Quinta Golf. The cost for the dinner and show is only 50 Euros per person, starring Stan Boardman and Kenny Lynch. Among many of the entertainers will be tenor Stephen Lloyds-Morgan, Mel Williams, the Marbella Big Band and the WOW Factor 2009 winner Christian Fa and runner-up Rebecca Tate.

Estepona Golf have given the use of the golf course free so that 100% of money raised will go to the Ark Christian Fellowship who have direct access to the orphanages in Haiti through Child Care Ministries.

Click the link below to see their poster for further details.

http://www.talkradioeurope.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=902:haiti-we-must-help-and-we-must-help-now

There are other fund raisers happening on the coast so if you know of any let me know. We can all do our bit to help.

Its Christmas!!!!! Happy Christmas One & All

2009-11-30T06:18:00.001-08:00

Yes it really is nearly here again! (It has even got a little chilly just to prove it, lol) The Icing on The Cake Spain can make your Christmas just a little bit different this year with one of brilliant cake toppers! Choose from Large cake toppers or cupcake size, on edible icing or we can now print on chocolate too! You can pop one on top of your Christmas cake – with a lovely message for the family or even their photograph!

All you have to do is email us with an idea or a picture and we will do the rest. Need a cake too – no problem we will put you in touch with one of our recommended cake makers here on the coast. (or on the islands too!)

We can do traditional images – Christmas trees, Santa Claus, snowy scenes etc or even children themed Christmas – Tinkerbell, Mickey Mouse, Spiderman, Hello Kitty – just let us now who you need and we can source the pictures for you! Need some inspiration , no problem. Have a look at our site for inspiration or check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/theicingonthecakespain/ for more ideas!

Whatever you think of we can probably do it!

Call us on 618831230 or email info@theicingonthecakespain.com

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to you all from The Icing on The Cake Spain. We hope this is the best Christmas yet!

Festive Greetings,

From The Team

21st Birthday Chocolate Toppers!

2009-11-30T03:20:00.001-08:00

One of our best clients recently place a huge order for a party. She wanted something special for her daughters 21st birthday party and when she saw our chocolate toppers she knew she had found it.

We made lovely white chocolate toppers with a birthday message printed in edible ink for her daughters party. She wanted these to put onto lollipops and cookies to give to her guest in their party bags!

The chocolate toppers look great and taste divine.

If you want something special for your party just let us know,

info@theicingonthecakespain.com

Tel: 618831230

Christmas Fayre at Ludoteca San Roque International School

2009-11-24T13:26:00.001-08:00

So what are you doing on Saturday? Come along to the Christmas Fayre in San Roque and meet us! Exit 127 Urbanizacion San Roque. Don’t know where it is? Don’t worry I have added a map too - see below!

There are over 50 stalls from The Icing on The Cake Spain, to Alexander's Toys to Indybel! Lots of yummy food and fabulous gifts and the kids can even meet Father Christmas in his Grotto!

Come and have a wonderful day out and it’s free entry too!

Get the Wow Factor with Richard Lewis Interiors!

2009-11-24T07:10:00.001-08:00

Ok so you have the wonderful cupcakes with fabulous toppers but where do you put them? On a beautiful cake stand of course. One of my clients last week had looked everywhere for one but had no joy finding something that looked fabulous so she gave me a call.

Luckily I was able to put her in touch with the wonderful Jonty (aka Richard Lewis from Richard Lewis Interiors) and he supplied the most beautiful silver cupcake stand! The cupcakes looked even better displayed on it. He has various different styles so are spoilt for choice.

He has the most amazing pieces in his boutique in Guadalmina Alta. Believe me you may go in for a cake stand but you will leave with much more. He has the most wonderful wall paper – to die for, I think I have gone a bit wall paper crazy after seeing his range! And he has also just received his Christmas decorations which are just beautiful.

If you are looking for something special for your house or for a gift for Christmas then this is the place to go.

Telephone: (+34) 952 89 69 01 - Email: info@richardlewisinteriors.com

http://www.richardlewisinteriors.com/index.html

I’m Radio Ga Ga!

2009-10-31T05:01:00.001-07:00

The Icing on The Cake Spain is interviewed for Estepona Radio again! lol but this time I brought my mum along too.

Yes, once again again the lovely presenter, Rona Burke, for Estepona Radio has interviewed me about my thoughts, likes and dislikes about Estepona! I was interviewed me earlier in the year too so me must have liked me to invite me back again! We chatted about Estepona and various aspects of living in Spain. She is a lovely chatting person who puts you immediately at ease. She asked me to bring my Mum along too so she could hear her experiences of moving over to Spain.

Rona also loves my cake toppers and mentions them on a regular basis on her show! I have had many a client telling me that is how they heard about us!

Ronas show goes out on a Saturday afternoon at 2pm and is well worth a listen!

For more information about their programmes

Contact http://www.rtvestepona.es/

You are Tutu cute!

2009-10-30T06:05:00.001-07:00

I found a wonderful online store in the US that sold beautiful tutus, I thought I had bookmarked it so I didn’t bother to remember the name! The photo above is from their store! How lovely is that.

Well after much time spent searching and no joy in finding it again, I gave up and decided to make my own. Not for me you understand for my little person. (oh although I would love one to! hmmm?!)

I found some shocking pink net (tulle) and pink ribbon and gave it a go! To my amazement I produced something so cute I nearly wore it myself! My little girl absolutely loved it but unfortunately so do our kittens, now I have to wait until we leave the house before I can put it on my daughter otherwise she would have 2 gatitos swinging from her skirt!

I think I am now addicted and have just come back from the fabric shop with approx 20 metres of varying colours of tulle. Hey mums guess what you little girls are getting for Xmas from me!

Have just finished this little devil one – Amber has to wear fancy dress to nursery today so I couldn’t resist updating her little devil outfit with this orange tutu!

Am on a roll now and am going to make one for a friends little girl to wear to the Halloween party on Saturday night! Orders taken just give me a call!

National Baking Week & The Mother, Baby & Toddler Show

2009-10-27T13:47:00.001-07:00

As it is National Baking Week this week why not grab your little people and a few ingredients and get them into the kitchen to make some buns! They will love it.

Here is a wonderfully simple recipe from Nigella Lawson – all in one bowl – super easy! Make sure you have some lovely toppings ready for the the little ones to use to decorate the cakes! You can use smarties, sprinkles, chopped chocolate, lots of cake decorations that come in all shapes and sizes, silver balls, and even small sugar coated gummy sweets! Though be careful as big sweets can cause choking!

Your little people will have a great time decorating their own cakes! (If baking your own is just to much to bear you could use shop bought buns & biscuits too)! This photo is from the Mother & Baby show in Estepona this month where my 2 absolutely loved the Krafty Kids stand where they could decorate their own biscuits and buns – although I think they ate most of the toppings before they made it to the cakes! The girls there were great and didn’t mind at all. They even wrapped the end results so the kids could take them home! They arrange parties too, however unique, messy or creative, they can provide all the necessary equipment to make your childs day as special as it should be. Contact them on krafty_kids@hotmail.com or call Karen on 690 727 602.

The Mother, Baby & Toddler was a super morning out – if you missed it this year don’t worry it will be back next year.

Some of the exhibitors included Indybel .com – who are a wonderful online store for Mums and Mums to Be! They have so many wonderful products you won’t know which to choose. And if you need to organise a baby shower here in Spain there are the people for you. And as the weather is so changeable at the moment their Buggy Brolly is an absolute must! I love it! You can find it here - http://www.indybel.com/search.php?mode=search&page=1 and even better if you spend over 75 Euros on their site you will get a free portable high chair!

Another exhibitor was the wonderful girls at Fiesta Fiesta Parties.com.

They can organise the most beautiful parties for your little ones! http://www.fiestafiestaparties.com/

And they are hosting a Halloween Dinner Party with Evita de Buenos Aires in Nueva Andalucía!
65€ includes house wines, beer, creepy cocktail on arrival, bottle of Moet et Chandon for the best male and best female costumes, amazing array of delicious Argentinean dishes, a sexy tango show and lots more surprises! Tickets are limited and selling fast so to be part of a Halloween night to remember call Nicola now on... 636 673 936

Kidz Kingdom had a great play area at the show and were offering 50% off their membership fee (which I jumped at of course as my little people cannot get enough of the place). Other exhibitors included Red Photography who offered great discount on a studio session – I have first hand experience of these guys – they did my kids portraits and even managed to get my little one to sit still – unheard of! The photographs were great and now on display in various family member houses as well as my own. Contact them on 664 553 968 or visit their website http://www.redphotographyspain.com/ . Also worth a visit is Elle Morgan – they had 2 great stands at the show and were offering to measure your kids feet (for free) – a rarity in Spain – now I know my kids correct sizes. They offer the Start-rite shoes with half sizes and up to 6 width fitting you can get the perfect fit for little ones tootsies. They are setting up an online store at present or your can visit them in Laguna Village, Estepona or in the Crocs Concept store, downstairs in Marina Banus. http://www.ellemorgan.com/F8/ or call Catherine on 697 378 978 for more info their healthy feet campaign.

~The girls from Swim Bebe Swim were there too! I can honestly tell you they have great learn to swim classes, my kids loved them and they also offer Aqua Gym classes and Aqua Natal classes (gentle exercise in water) I loved these – especially towards the end of my pregnancy as they refreshed and invigorated me. They offer classes up and down the coast. Contact them on http://www.swimbebeswim.com/ or call Nathalie on +34 609 474 038.

The girls from Kids in Marbella.com were there. Their site is a font of great information from what's on to where to buy school uniform, where to go on a day out, useful online sites and great kid related shops and products. All tried and tested by the girls or their contributors. Check them out on http://kidsinmarbella.com/ .

Among all the exhibitors one of my kids favourites was the bouncy castle (of course!) Trumps Bouncy Castles hire these out for private parties at really reasonable rates, for more info call 667 242 193 or visit www.trumpsfunhire.com

Oh and before I forget here is the Recipe

Nigella and I do it all in the food processor. But you can make them by hand by creaming the butter and the sugar , then adding the beaten eggs and flour in alternate tablespoons. Use milk to bind, and if using this method you won't need the extra baking powder.

125g self –raising flour, unsalted butter (v v very soft but not melting), castor sugar

2 eggs

1-2 tsps vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

few tbsps milk

For the icing follow instructions on back of packet! (although making it a little runnier than usual is easier for the kids)

Preheat oven to 220*C / Gas 6

Line bun tray with paper cases. Add everything to the processor except for the milk, add a pinch of salt and blitz until mixed. Add the 2 tbsps milk and process again until you have a smooth, flowing cake batter. Cook for 15-20mins and cool on a wire rack.

When cool give to the kids to decorate, stand back and let them have some fun!

Yippee, Its true - Chocolate toppers have arrived!

2009-10-24T03:39:00.001-07:00

Yes it really is true, The Icing on The Cake Spain now has chocolate toppers.

These lovely things can be used to decorate cupcakes, biscuits, cakes, lollipops, or you can use them in ice cream sundaes, as place settings even as invitations!

The possibilities are endless. We can print any image onto chocolate or even a personal message whatever you want.

Use these to make your party, event or wedding really special!

Just as with our icing cake toppers – email us a picture or an idea and we will do the rest!

orders@theicingonthecakespain.com

http://www.theicingonthecakespain.com/

Host a Horrible Halloween Horror Party!

2009-10-12T03:05:00.001-07:00

Whey hey it is nearly time again to dust of the Halloween decorations and get out the ghoulish costumes!

If like me you love Halloween and use it as an excuse to throw a party and have a bit of fun then this is the blog for you!

First you need to send out the invitations! If you are going to spend a great deal of time and effort on this you want to make sure that your guests can make it! If unlike this year Halloween doesn’t fall on a Saturday it may be worth doing it the Saturday before Halloween as parties on a school night are never as successful!

Make sure you let guests know whether they are expected to trick or treat! (although in this day and age I think there are just to many risks so I always opt for no!)

As Halloween is a family event make sure to invite all members even the very little ones.

Ask guests to R.S.V.P as you will need to know how much food and drink to buy as well as treats for the kids.

Don’t forget to state on the invite that Fancy Dress is a must for all ages (much more fun if everyone dresses up).

Then you need to plan your party!

Make sure it suits the age group,not too scary for the little ones and lots of age related games.

Download lots of spooky scary background music so it adds to the atmosphere! You may some for the games too.

Make a do to list with a list of things to do in advance, things to do the day before, & things to do on the day. This way you won’t forget anything and give yourself plenty of time on the day to get yourself and the kids ready – and make sure you enjoy the party too!

Decorations

You can buy everything you need these days but it so much fun to make your own and get the kids involved too for a bit of arts and crafts fun! I feel you can never have too any Halloween decorations (unlike Christmas) – the more the better – and take lots of photos so you can remember (and show off) all your hard work.

Instead of using just pumpkins for your jack-o-lanterns try using red, green and yellow peppers instead! Line them up at the entrance or along a mantelpiece in groups of 6-10 for maximum effect.

Do these ones on the day of the party if you think you will have the time or else last thing the day before!

Throw old white sheets over furniture and drape muslin with holes in from doors and windows to create a scary house of horror.

Cut out cats and bats from black card and tape over lights to give a spooky effect. Make bunting with black string and cut outs – you can use anything from witches to monsters and ghosts to spiders! Use black, red and orange paper for this and get the kids to help.

Make lots of spiders from egg boxes and put all over the party area and on the food table.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/mistermaker/make/eggboxcreatures_vplayer.shtml

Dead Persons Brain

I found this wonderful scary brain on Family Fun – looks great and sooo easy to make!

To make

Use 1 small watermelon

Use a vegetable peeler to remove the entire green rind, exposing the inner white rind.
Slice off the bottom of the melon to create a flat base that will keep it from rolling. With a toothpick, outline squiggly furrows that resemble the folded surface of a brain.
Finally, carve narrow channels along the tracings with a sharp paring knife (a parent's job) to expose the pink fruit beneath the rind.

Ghoulish Ghosts

Crumple up a piece of tissue paper into a ball. Place it into the centre of a flat piece of tissue paper. Pick up the corners of the flat tissue and twist it around the ball. Tie a twist tie or a piece of string around the ghosts neck. Draw a face with a felt pen. You can hang them up all over the house! You can also glue on yarn, and make a black hat and cape from coloured paper to make a witch!

I saw these in a shop but they are so easy to make. Get a few metres of muslin and either dye black or use them as they are. Get a coat hanger and drape over, shape like a ghost. Secure the top, and make a hood shape. You will need to stiffen the fabric with spray on starch and may even need the help of some gardening wire to keep the face area pronounced.

Cut and fray the bottom of your ghost and then hang around the house. But keep away from any naked flame.

Another option is to tie the fabric over a helium filled balloon - white, black or orange look great. Draw a scary face on the balloon – whatever you want – ghoul, witch, ware wolf or ghost. You can put some ghosts in a box and when people open the box the ghosts will float up and scare everyone! Or tie them with string in front of an open window or a fan and watch them gently move in the breeze. Or you can just let them float around the hall ( make sure you have no lit Jack-o-Lanterns or naked candles in the area).

For a glow in the dark ghost you can activate a mini glow stick, slip it inside a balloon, follow instructions above. This looks great inside or out (but for inside the room must be dimly lit).

Monster Footprints

With a marker, draw a footprint in a big sponge. Cut out the footprint. Pour washable paint into a old container and press the sponge into the paint. Make sponge footsteps up your path to your front door for guests and trick-or-treaters to follow. Flip the sponge upside down to stamp the other foot.

Crunching Bones Underfoot

Spread some dried bread and pretzels under a rug. When your guests walk across the rug it will sound like crunching bones underfoot!

Make sure the room is dimly lit and if possible get a black light bulb – it makes any skeletons who come to the party stand out a mile! Looks great.

Halloween Party Games

Mummy Wrap Game

Suitable for all ages incl adults!

Divide the guests into 2 teams and give each pair a roll of toilet paper. Instruct the teams to race to wrap up one of the team members , from head to toe like a mummy. Play scary music and when you stop the music the team that wins is the one that has covered their mummy the most!

Noises in The Night

The big box should be about the size of a dishwasher. Seal the bottom of the box, and tear off the top flaps. Turn the box over. A few days before get your children to decorate the box with crayons, markers, or paint -- a haunted house is the best option. But whatever you do, don't cut any windows or doors. This game requires no peeking.

A child sits inside the haunted house. One at a time, the other children tiptoe to the box and give their best howl. If the child inside can guess the howler's identity, he or she can "escape" the haunted house and the identified howler must enter. Make sure each child has a turn sitting in the haunted house.

Candy Catch

The guests line up and are given say 5 sweets. A small pumpkin or decorated bucket is placed on the floor against the wall. One by one, each player tries to toss sweets into the Halloween pail one at a time. Their score is kept and when every player has taken their turn, all of the scores are added and the player who successfully tossed in the most pieces of candy wins all of the treats in the plastic pumpkin.

Pin the Broomstick on The Witch

Draw a large witch and pin it to the wall. Make a separate broomstick from paper.

Guests are blindfolded and spun around, then they have to pin the broomstick to the witch. The one who gets it in the best position wins a prize.

Halloween Treats Hunt

Make some witches and cats from cardboard and decorate in advance.

Then hide these around the house and set 2 teams against each to find them. You can give clues if you wish.The team that finds the most in an allotted time wins a prize (or prizes).

For more decoration ideas and free Halloween printables check out: http://www.parents.com/holiday/halloween/printables/halloween-printables/

From invitations to front door decorations these are really useful.

Frightening Food

As the kids will be filling up with lots of sweets you need to make sure there is other (proper!?) food on offer too. But you can make it part of the decorations too. Well at least the adults will eat it!

Pizza

Decorate home made or store bought pizzas as monster and devils - just use a little imagination. Use pieces of red pepper, sliced black olive for eyes, sweetcorn for teeth, and you can even add some spaghetti hair at the end.

Get kids to help – they will love it and are more inclined to eat food that they have helped make ( mind you mine need no convincing to eat pizza anyway!)

Serve whole then cut at the table for best effect.

Blood Punch

To make the punch add orange and grape juice to a bowl – top up with lemonade or sparkling water! Float segments of blood grapefruits and pieces of red apple. Depending on how sweet you want it you add a few spoonfuls of sugar! If you want a really blood red colour add a few drops of natural food colouring!

To make the punch look super scary add a dead hand to the bowl! To make a frozen hand, a few days before the party, wash a disposable glove, fill with water, seal with a rubber band and freeze until hard. Then just before serving dip the hand in warm water and peel off the plastic. Float the ice hand in the punch for a spooky effect!

Make an alcoholic version of this for the parents! Add either a bottle of red wine or a bottle of vodka depending on your tastes. (Or both if you are Irish or Scottish, lol). Making sure that you serve in different containers so you don’t get mixed up, or put the alcoholic version out of reach of kids!

Monster Toes

Try This Ghoulish Treat From Family Fun. I love these.

You will need:

Cocktail sausages

Tortilla Wraps

Tomato Ketchup

Cocktail sticks

Use cold cooked cocktail sausages, cut a wedge in the shape of a toenail from the end.

Slice wraps into strips about 1cm shorter than your sausages, and approx 10 cm in length. Soften these in the micro between sheets of damp kitchen paper for approx 20 seconds. Then roll around each sausage and secure with cocktail stick. Fill the toenail with ketchup and serve.

You can serve these cold or hot (for hot – pop in hot oven for 7- 8 mins), but if you do make sure you add the ketchup after they have been in the oven.

Monster Hands

Try This Ghoulish Treat From Family Fun

Recipe Ingredients:

Clear plastic gloves (available at beauty supply stores and supermarkets)
Red wine gums
Popcorn
Ribbon

Directions:

Begin with washed gloves. Stick one wine gum at the tip of each finger for fingernails. Fill the glove with popcorn. Use the ribbon to tie a bow at the wrist.

Witches Fingers

Use homemade houmous or buy it in the supermarket!

For the houmous…

5 tbsp olive oil ,400g can chickpeas , rinsed and drained, ½ tsp ground cumin , 1 garlic clove - crushed, juice 1 lemon)

To make the houmous, tip the rinsed chickpeas into a food processor. Add all the remaining ingredients and 3 tbsp cold water and whizz together. Keep adding water, a tbsp or so at a time, until you get a smooth spoonable paste. Serve with fingers.

For the fingers…

4 long carrots
1 medium carrot
softened cream cheese
sliced-almond
baby carrots

Just fill a bowl with your favourite dip, I love houmous so I use this. Wash and peel your four long carrots and the smaller on for the thumb. Using a sharp knife cut a flat, shallow notch in the tip of each carrot. Then use a dab of dip or softened cream cheese to glue a sliced-almond fingernail atop each notch.

Arrange fingers in the dip to look like a hand coming out, serve with lots of washed baby carrots for dipping!

Vampire Fangs in Blood

by Jodie Shield

Try This Ghoulish, Healthy Treat at Halloween

Your guests will want to sink their teeth into these!

Recipe Ingredients

8 large Red Delicious apples
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp. sugar
1 10-oz. jar strawberry or cherry sauce

Directions

1. Wash, peel and core the apples. Then cut each apple into 8 pieces.

2. Dip the cut apples into the lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown.

3. To prepare the fangs, cut the apple slices into long, narrow triangles, making pointy tooth-like shapes. Re-dip slices in the lemon juice and lightly sprinkle them with sugar.

4. Arrange the fangs on a serving platter with the strawberry dipping sauce in the middle. Make sure you splatter some of the "blood" over the fangs. Makes 10 servings.

Jodie Shield is a registered dietician and the mother of three enthusiastic trick-or-treaters.

Spider & Ghost lollipops

For the spiders -

Wrap each pipe cleaner around the base of the lollipop stick so there are four legs on each side. Bend the legs. Glue on googly eyes. This is definitely a treat!

The make ghosts wrap white tissue paper around the lollipop, secure with elastic band or string. Draw on eyes and mouth! Easy.

These are great for giving in party bags or to guest as they are leaving. Believe me you do not want bits of sticky lolly stuck to your curtains or sofa. But by all means display them as party of your decorations.

Dead Mans Eyeballs

. Wax paper

. 1 cup creamy peanut butter

. 2 tbsp. butter or margarine

. 460g icing sugar

. 1 Snickers bar

. 1 pack ready made icing in white.

. 1 bar white chocolate (melted over Bain Marie)

. milk chocolate buttons or drops (small ones) for decorating

. 1 small tube red decorator icing

Line 2 trays with wax paper. Beat peanut butter and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in powdered sugar until mixture holds together and is moist. Stir in chopped Snickers bar. Shape into 1-inch "eyeballs." Place on prepared baking sheets. Chill for 1 hour.

Roll out icing to approx a few mm thick. Cut into squares big enough to cover the eyeballs.
Remove one baking sheet of frozen "eyeballs" from freezer (keep other sheet in fridge until ready to use). Cover each with the icing and mould round to give a smooth covered surface. When you have covered all the eyeballs add a drop of melted white chocolate to the top and place milk chocolate button on top. Then do 2nd batch.

Before serving, pipe red decorator icing around eyeballs to create bloodshot markings. Store in covered container in refrigerator. Best served cold.

Ghostly cookies

Ghost shaped cookie cutters

Lollypop sticks

Icing Sugar, Milk, Homemade cookie dough

Black string liquorice

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thickness. Use ghost shaped cookie cutter to cut out the dough - it takes two to make each cookie lolly.

Place half the ghosts 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Lay a Popsicle stick in the centre of each one, top with another ghost, and then pinch together the edges of the two layers.

4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in a preheated 180 * C oven. Place the cookies on a rack to cool.

5. Spread on a glaze made by mixing 240g icing sugar with 2 tablespoons milk. Before the glaze hardens, top off your spectres by pressing on eyes and a mouth fashioned from snips of black string liquorice.

You can buy ghost shaped crisps and other scary sweets. Make some scary shaped sandwiches using pastry cutters in ghost, pumpkin and witch shapes. Keep these simple so they don’t fall apart – ham, cheese or pate.

For a table centre piece cover a small bowl with crepe paper so the interior cannot be seen. Inside have a smaller bowl full of vinegar. Have to hand a small cup of baking powder, as the guests arrive at the table pour the baking powder into the vinegar, then get your camera ready to capture the reactions.

Finally make sure you Halloween party is safe - put all candles and naked flames out of reach of children and away from decorations. Costumes can make people clumsy so tape down any rugs and make sure you put away as many ornaments as possible.

Need to organise a party or wedding in Mallorca?

2009-10-07T07:00:00.001-07:00

The Icing on The Cake Spain and I Do Mallorca have teamed up to offer cake toppers for their clients events!

I Do Mallorca - The most perfect, the most fabulous, the most successful weddings and events on Mallorca.

They can organise your private party, whether it be the chic dinner party, a rustic barbecue party, a paella party, a children's party, a surprise birthday or an anniversary, all your guests will be talking about it for months afterwards. To organize your personalized cake all you have to do is email us a picture or tell us your idea and we will arrange the rest with I Do Mallorca!

order@theicingonthecakespain.com

They can organise any event – Corporate, Themed Party, Wedding and Birthdays! And you can get a personalised cake to make your event the talk of the Island! Just email us and we will sort it out for!

Indybel.com & The Icing on The Cake Spain

2009-10-07T03:31:00.001-07:00

The Icing on The Cake Spain is thrilled to announce that we have teamed up with the fabulous people at Indybel.com to offer Baby Shower Cake Toppers.

Are you planning a baby shower in Spain - take away the stress by speaking to the mums at Indybel - they know their stuff and make the whole experience a joy for both mum to be and friends. They have everything you need - book a baby shower with them and they will come to your home or office with a selection of unique products and gifts for both mum to be and baby.

After the baby shower they will arrange for all of the gifts to be beautifully wrapped and delivered as a gift hamper to the home of mum to be or to a chosen hospital. How lovely is that! They also have a

gift registry service, so if friends or family live abroad or are simply unable to attend the baby shower they can log on to mum to mum to be?s wish list and select gifts they know she will really want. Perfect!

And to arrange a special cake or cupcakes for the event just let us know - email us a pic of the gorgeous mum to be and we can create a really memorable centrepiece for your shower!

info@theicingonthecakespain.com

To contact Indybel -

http://www.indybel.com/pages.php?pageid=15

Festival International de Arte Marbella 18th - 21st June 09, Marbella

2009-06-18T02:37:00.000-07:00

Going to be at the Festival International de Arte in Marbella for the next few days! Should be good fun!

First annual Art Festival in Marbella!
Come along to the event 18th - 21st June 09.
Junio 18,19,20 y 21 2009
Adv. Del Mar, Marbella.
For the full programme:
http://www.artemarbella.com/events.html

The festival will be held for three days and one evening with a special VIP cocktail party. Each artist will have their own "gallery tent" in which to exhibit. The show will be juried by a panel of experts where they will chose the best artists, spaces are limited.
A dazzling array of musicians & performers will be selected from mime, mini theatre comedians dance as well as action painters. Festival International de Arte Marbella will be a kaleidoscope of styles and fusion of colour.

Children ~ There will be a children’s tent with special activities as well as a youth art competition, along with face painting, childrens craft, childrens theatre and much more!

Solo Invitados (Billetes en venta en Galaria Van Gestel en Plaza de los Naranjos)Invitation Only

(Limited tickets on sale at Van Gestel Gallery--Plaza de los Naranjos (Orange Square)

Come along and join in the fun!

Cake Toppers for any occasion!

2009-05-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

Visit My Website

The Icing on The Cake, Spain

2009-05-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

Twittering Newbie?

2009-03-28T02:03:00.001-07:00

Oh god,another one I thought when i found out about Twitter. As I had a new lap top and a growing internet addiction i decided to try it anyway. To be honest i wasn’t overly impressed – I thought what a waste of time, why would i want to sit here with strangers following me and read their blethering and have them read mine!

But actually now that I have become a twitter addict obviously my views have changed. It really quite nice to be part of a community who allows you to blether, rant, tweet about whatever is on your mind or what you did that day or a re planning to do tomorrow. There is a certain freedom about this for me a I run this very differently from my Facebook account! Facebook for me is all about friends – I am very fussy who I accept as a friend in order that i can happily add info and photos and not worry!

On twitter it is so different – as I only have one friend following me I feel I can tweet about anything! After this revelation I began to tweet regularly but with this came a realisation that things were not quite as simple as I first thought. I began to notice things such as RT on messages or # and as their is no one to ask what this was all about I had to do a bit of research. I first found a site that had so much jargon it nearly blew my mind! All I wanted to know was what the # meant!! Luckily I found another site – this one explained it in plain English! well almost – but I got the gist! Here is my simplified version:

Basically the # in front of a term allows it to be searched for within twitter! E.g. #recipes – you can search this in http://search.twitter.com/and see who is tweeting about recipes! Easy!

Now for the RT at the beginning of messages! If you send a message –say with quote in it, and someone else likes it and wants to send out their followers it is not the done thing to copy it and send it out without a nod to the original twitter! So they put RT @ and your user name here and then the quote!

Other stuff…

Twitter Sites and Tools

Twitpic

TwitPic lets you share photos on Twitter. You can post pictures to TwitPic from your phone, our API, or through the site itself. There are also popular twitter clients that have built-in support for TwitPic. (Like Twhirl and Twitterific.)

Tweetscan

Real-time Twitter Search. Find it here - breaking news, consumer opinion, recent blog posts and discussion - the most complete Twitter index outside of Twitter itself.

Loudtwitter

If you also have a blog, LoudTwitter is the bridge that posts to your blog your daily tweets. That way you can keep up to date a broader audience. After all, if you have a blog and a twitter, your blog is probably the core place where you want to be found, tracked, or whatever! LoudTwitter reconcile your twittering with your blogging. Hourrah!

Twitterholic

Our twittastic robots scan the Twitter public timeline for new users to watch. A few times a day, we calculate individual statistics for each user in our database. In other words.. WE”R IN UR TWTTR PAGES, READN UR STATZ. To participate, do what you normally do — twitter constantly — if you deserve to be on the list, we’ll find you.

Twitstat

Real time Twitter Analytics. Want to be in this list? Just follow @twitstat.

Twittercounter

TwitterCounter is a service for Bloggers, Social networkers and other well connected individuals to communicate and track the number of followers they have on Twitter. Add the TwitterCounter to your blog or profile to attract more followers. Also check out our top 100 and add your own name too!

Summize

Summize is now Search.twitter.com. It’s not nearly as good as the original Summize. For example the auto update feature is now disabled. It’s slower and when Twitter goes down, Summize now goes down with it. This is a shame. Summize was one of the best Twitter companion sites around and a personal favorite of mine.

Twellow

Twellow.com is currently grabbing publicly available messages from the Twitter.com micro-blogging service. We then analyze and categorize each of the users responsible for those messages into the various categories found at Twellow.com. By adding these people to specific categories we help you narrow your searching into specific niches where you can find who you are looking for. In addition to Twitter, we’re actively working on adding more social media services to broaden your capacity to find people who matter.

Quotably.com

Follow the conversation. It seems these days there are lots of conversations that have moved to Twitter. Quotably aims to make these conversations easier to follow. Like it? Hate it? Ideas? Follow @quotably.

Twitbuzz

Twitbuzz is a new content filtering service that tracks and follows the latest popular links, conversations and people on Twitter. Twitbuzz addresses the desperate need for management of twitters vastly expanding social frenzy and organizes information appropriately and effectively based on a proprietary scoring algorithm. Twitbuzz prides itself on having high information relevancy and is competitive with other services in the space.

Twemes

Twemes.com follows public Twitter.com tweets (messages) that have embedded tags that start with a # character. These are sometimes called hashtags but we like to use the term twemes. Through the use of twemes, we can all view what people are talking about across the whole Twitter universe. In some sense, this can be thought of as an adhoc chatroom.

Tweetout

To give a tweetout, follow aubiematt on twitter and tweet using any of these keywords: beer, dancing bologna, geek hot, blah, digium, asterisk.

Twitter-resources

Twitter Resources Wiki.

Twitdir.com

A Twitter Directory.

Lessfriends.com

Do the people you follow on Twitter, follow you? Find out.

Tweetparty.com

Friend grouping and messaging for Twitter. Login using your twitter account, put your friends in groups and message them all at once using twitter.

Mytweeple.com

Manage Your Twitter Following and Followers. Maintain your list of Twitter Following & Followers: Follow, Unfollow, or Block. These tools are designed to help you make informed decisions when it comes to following people on Twitter.

This is from: http://twitterstars.com/twitter-sites-and-tools/

Check it out - it also has all the twitter commands explained!

And some more:

Twittervision

http://twittervision.com/ A real-time geographic visualization of posts to Twitter – check out where you are in the world and see how many tweets are coming from that area! Although it says real time? I think an hour later is not quite real time!

Twitterhawk

http://www.twitterhawk.com/

Used as a marketing tool!

“Let's say you just opened a new coffee store in Queens and wanted to let people know about it. As part of your advertising efforts, you could setup TwitterHawk to search for things like "coffee near:Queens within:8mi" (of course you could simply search world wide if you are global).”

#FollowFriday

On Fridays use the #followfriday to send out to your follows a suggestion of who you think they should follow! Only on Fridays – say you want them to follow me and others – tweet – #followfriday @somethingcakey @whoever @ yourfriend etc

You can add as many as you like just add the @in front of their twitter name each time!

Hope this helps!

And one last thing!

Follow me @ http://twitter.com/Somethingcakey

Looking forward to tweeting with you!

Thanks Ash

Marshmallow Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies – OMG!

2009-03-27T16:33:00.001-07:00

Are you kidding me? Are these for real? Just look at them – yippee – heaven!

‘Not only are the flavours delicious (chocolate + marshmallow + peanut butter) but the texture combination is great too. Fudgey brownie, gooey marshmallow, chocolate peanut butter with rice krispies.’

Brownie Ingredients:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, divided
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Topping Ingredients:
1 package (10 1/2 ounces) mini marshmallows
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
In a medium saucepan, melt the chocolate, butter, and 3/4 cup of the semisweet chocolate chips on medium heat. Stir occasionally while melting. Set aside and cool for 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, place the eggs and whisk thoroughly. Add in the sugar and vanilla. Stir the melted ingredients into the egg mixture, mixing well. Stir in the dry sifted ingredients and mix well. Fold in the remaining 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and even with a spatula. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the corner of the pan comes out with moist crumbs.
Remove the brownies from the oven, and immediately sprinkle the marshmallows over them. Return the pan to the oven for 3 more minutes.
While the brownies are baking, place the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat, add the cereal,and mix well. Allow this to cool for 3 minutes or so.
Spread the mixture evenly over the marshmallow layer. Refrigerate until chilled before cutting. Makes 12 3×3-inch bars.

I found these on http://www.eatmedelicious.com/2009/03/marshmallow-crunch-brownie-bars.html

There are lots more fab recipes there – have a look!

Rice Krispie Chocolate Eggs

2009-03-26T07:20:00.001-07:00

The Basics

Dish Easter Rice Krispie Eggs
Serves: 10
Prep Time: 0hrs 15 mins
Cooking Time: 0hrs 0 mins

Ingredients

1/3 cup margarine
4 cups miniature marshmallows
½ tsp. vanilla
6 cups chocolate crispy rice cereal

Method

1. Melt margarine and marshmallows over medium heat in a large pot, stir in vanilla and chocolate crispy rice cereal.
2. Using your hands (butter them first or moisten with a little water), shape into eggs, or use hollow plastic eggs to mould into shape.
3. Refrigerate

http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/3358/crispy_rice_easter_egg_by_emmaaa

Thanks Emma

2009-03-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Mothers Day -(in the UK only - don't panic) and although I am in Spain we decided to celebrate it anyway! Three family's took their mums out to the park with a picnic! Three generations had a lovely day among the chickens and ducks and rabbits that roam wild around Parque de Paloma in Benalmadena. It is such a wonderful place to go, with so much for the children to do - different play areas, lots of grass, the lake with feeding platforms so they can feed the ducks, geese swans and turtles! Although the fish seem to have mastered the technique of bashing the ducks out of the way from below and stealing most of the bread! The Grannies had a lovely day out, and a chance to relax with the grandchildren - fly a kite, kick a football and their squeals of delight! It really brought it home to me how lucky I am to still have my mum on the day that Jade Goody died from cervical cancer, aged only 27, and leaving two beautiful little boys without their mum! Many of you might not know who she was ( a TV reality star in the UK) but that is of little relevance - first and foremost she was a mum and a young one at that! She was only diagnosed last year. Hopefully her legacy will be to save the lives of other young women and encourage us all to go for regular smear tests. It can happen to us as Jade has very much proved!

Rest in peace Jade.

Mumma Mia

2009-03-20T05:17:00.001-07:00

Its Mother day this weekend! I really need to do something lovely for mum to show her how much I love her. Mums are there when we need them and a lot of the time go unappreciated!

It is worth spending a little time doing something special for them or better still with them this weekend! During these credit crunch days it really does not have to be expensive! If the weather holds – take your mum out for a picnic, head for a walk along the nearest beach or park, or bring them round to your house for a day of pampering. Do her nails, do her hair, give her a home facial or jsut cook her lunch.

If this isn’t possible – bring a picnic to her! If she is in a home or hospital, imagine how thrilled she will be if you turn up with a picnic basket filled with goodies for an indoor treat!

Maybe bake her a cake or some little cup cakes! Make your own card this year and if you have kids get them to help decorate. No matter what age – all kids can dip their hand in paint and splat it onto paper, and will love doing it too! Go for the personal touch this year! She really will appreciate it!

Most of all DON’T FORGET! Even if you are too far away to visit – a phone call will make her day!

Go on show her how much you love her!

Show her with a cake!

What you need:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup + 2 Tb cocoa
1 cup + 2 Tb water
1 cup + 2 Tb canola oil
5 large eggs
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Frosting
1 box powdered sugar
3.4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp or so liquid flavoring, vanilla, rum, or cognac
1 1/2 cupbutter, firm, not cold
Oven Temp ~ 350°
Baking Time ~ 25-35 Min.
Method:
In a large bowl, sift or whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and cocoa. Add 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of water and 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Mix for 1 minute.Add eggs, 3/4 cup of water, vanilla. Mix 5-6 minutes with a whisk, 3-4 minutes with a hand mixer.Pour into pans, bake, test by placing and removing a toothpick through the center at 25 minutes. When toothpick comes out clean, loosen from pans and then put back in the pans. Let cakes cool for 15 minutes. Keep in the pans, wrap in foil, and put in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
Frosting:Put powdered sugar and 3/4 cup cocoa into a blender, mix until blended. Drizzle in, until about the consistency of firm butter, several tablespoons of flavouring liquid. When the flavour and consistency is right, add 1 1/2 cup of butter (firm, not cold and not too soft). A good rule of thumb is that both the butter and the sugar mixture should be slightly firmer than you would want it to be to spread it, since the mixing action of the blender will warm it slightly. Mix until blended.
Remove the cakes from the freezer and from their pans. Stack, frosting each layer as you go. Let sit for an hour before serving.

Posted by Mother's day at Thursday, June 26, 2008

http://mothermarchmayday.blogspot.com/2008/06/delicious-chocolate-cake-for-dearest.html

Wee Buns!

2009-03-18T07:26:00.001-07:00

Yes - wee buns, or cup cakes as they are known everywhere except Ireland and maybe Scotland! Wow do we love them! Ever since my mum made them for me and my brothers when we were little I have loved them!

What's not to love I suppose – all the bad stuff baked to a soft and fluffy deliciousness - all topped off with more sugary butter! Perfect!

Maybe we love them so much because of the topping – lots of icing, buttercream or other, and about the same amount of cake! With normal cakes you definitely get a lower ratio of icing to cake! And these little things are so easy to eat. No messing around looking for knife, they even come in their own little houses so you don’t even need a plate! Just bite and go!

Ever since they were featured in Sex & the City they have even become the preferred treat with us thirty somethings – maybe, just maybe even to the detriment of chocolate! Never I hear you say! Remember you can counter act this by having the perfect chocolate cup cake if you still need your fix! Having your chocolate cake and eating too!

And I do fancy eating it too – a cup of coffee and one lovely chocolate cupcake for me! (Ok, maybe 2)!!

Perfect Pink!

2009-03-14T10:58:00.001-07:00

Ooohh! I said when I saw this wallpaper! How fab is that! I would love this in my bedroom! Then I caught myself on (sorry very Irish terminology meaning wised up) – my bedroom is no longer just my own! It is very much a family place now – boyfriend and 2 kids ( who appear to live there too).

Maybe my daughter would love this too, but not sure about the boys! I have discovered as I get older that I have a passion for pink, which is really only a recent admission. My favourite colour as a child was Green, then through a very brief Goth stage (well Gothish – I was never really a full on Goth – but my friends were!) it became black.

Not sure when this recent obsession came about – although I could blame it on my daughter, but that is not when it happened! I actually think it was before she was even conceived and I found myself in a home full of boys (well 2). So it may have been an a way to establish a bit of femininity among all the trucks, cars and football talk and toys! I have even convinced myself that pink icing on my cupcakes tastes better than any other colour! My daughter definitely agrees with me on this one, and refuses to touch the blue ones ( my son is thrilled with this outcome). And weirdly I have included that horrible candy pink which is so insipid – but I now love it – see this fridge, wow!

I have found myself lusting after a wide variety of pink items – everything from sofas to kettles to laptops! Although I wasn’t allowed to go down the pink route on the laptop front as my boyfriend wanted to use it to play poker on! And pink was definitely not going to cut it! Had to compromise and get red! In reality I think most of these things would look rubbish in my house –but may have to put my foot down about the wall paper and turn our bedroom in to a boudoir! Oh but I would still love that fridge, and the laptop,and the rug…..!!!

The 5 min Chocolate Cake in a mug!

2009-03-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, really it is true - this really is a recipe for a 5 minute chocolate cake in a mug! Now I must admit it is not my recipe (wish it was), I found it on another blog, tried it, amended it slightly but totally feel in love and am now addicted.

Thanks for the fab recipe:

http://baconconcentrate.blogspot.com/2009/02/most-dangerous-chocolate-cake-recipe.html

I feel I should pass it on -

4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp oil
1 splash vanilla extract
1 lrg coffee mug

This is the original recipe - but I add a couple of broken squares of good quality dark chocolate - 60-75 % cocoa, to make it extra chocolatey!

Mix dry ingredients in mug. Add egg and mix well. Pour in the milk and oil and mix thoroughly. Add vanilla extract & broken chocolate! Mix.

Pop in the microwave for a max 3 mins! This best slightly under done rather than slightly over, so keep an eye on it. And it is supposed to rise up over the top so don't panic! Allow to cool a little if you can bear the wait.

Tip onto a plate or eat directly from mug with a scoop of cream or ice cream! Heaven...

Thank you E. Lee i think i love you!

Its all gone Pear Shaped!

2009-03-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

I was under the impression that all kids loved dressing up! Well it turns out I was wrong. My son, although only 3 - is very particular about this. Today was Carnival day @ his school and in their wisdom they had decided that all the kids should dress up as fruit and veg!
As you can imagine my son was thrilled with this prospect! His class was to be pears!
I told him about the parade and tried to get him excited about it but, excuse the pun, it all went pear shaped when he say what he was to wear!

We managed to get him into it - but it wasn't long before he tried to get it off again! Even before we had reached the school gates. No amount of coaxing would convince that he looked good!

We turned the corner and there in front of him where 5 or 6 of his classmates - dressed as pears and looking happy. At this point I think he new it was fruitless (sorry!) to complain. He wasn't getting away with it now!

And it appears tears stain! Not a happy bunny or pear I should say! A little bit of bribery at this point was required, so once back out of the school gates again and joining the parade he began to enjoy himself. Next year I hope they choose super heroes or something that will, at the very least not ruin his street cred and save me much pleading.

Brooklyn 10 years old

2009-03-05T11:44:00.001-08:00

Holy Mo! Brooklyn Beckham is 10 years old. Can you believe that? It was only a minute ago (it seems) that his birth was all over the papers! Makes one feel very old I tell you!
Where did the time go? I am seem to have woken up and puff years have gone by hardly noticed - is this it then - thats all there is!

I hope not - must seriously do something about it before its too late! Not sure what yet? Maybe will just go and have a cup of green tea 1st!

Rain in Spain

2009-03-04T12:36:00.001-08:00

Seriously - its more than rain, its gale force winds - they would blow ur head off! Glad I am tucked up safely at home.
This year has definitely been the worst for a long time -bring on the summer I need some sun!

Birthday cakes? Which one?

2009-03-04T04:28:00.001-08:00

Birthday Cakes??? Which one?

2009-03-03T02:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, so its coming round to birthday time again and the old trauma of choosing the right birthday cake for the little ones. Which character will I choose, what type of cake, what flavour, what colour icing!

My little ones are a little bit fussy regarding their favourite TV show and movie characters! One day they love Shrek, the next its Buzz Lightyear and it changes again to one of the In the Night Garden things! Trying to keep the cake a surprise is a little difficult while trying to extract the information as to which type of cake they would like! It is always better if it is a surprise.

Think the best thing to do is more research, here goes.......