Jumper Cake for Oisin!

I meant to post this on Monday, but time has flown and I've been manically trying to keep on top of things! But anyhoodle!
You read right, I made a jumper cake a la Mrs. Doyle. To an extent. Cos you can't really bake a jumper in a cake, but you can add a jumper to a cake which is what I did for lovely Oisin. I'm not going to take all the credit for it- I told him I would bake him something for his birthday, a cake perhaps, and Cat leaned over to me with a mischievious grin and said "Put a jumper in it."
So this saw me plan how I would fit a jumper in cake. Off I toddled to Tesco and bought a baby jumper which would fold nicely into the cake. I made up the chocolate cake (same recipe as that monster chocolate cake from the summer), put buttercream on one layer, folded the jumper onto the other and sandwiched it all together. My family were bemused by this. Not only did it look odd, but rather gross.
A dodgily (I do English, we're allowed to make up words...sort of) covered cardboard box and a cupcake card later and I was off to college with texts of threats telling Oisin he better be in or the cake was gonna get it.
Monday after class he opened it and to his surprise, there was a jumper in his cake.


I don't know how many people would love a jumper cake, but it was a safe bet with Oisin. Then we all ate pieces of the cake in the canteen, being mindful of possible fleecy flecks. Well, I hope you get a kick out of this! Kirk's birthday is next and she wants something Lady Gaga-esque incorporated. Stay tuned!:D

Marble cake for Valentine's!

Being Valentine's and having no one to spend it with romantically, I thought I'd do something nice for my wonderful family and since I usually bake for other people, much to their dismay, I decided I'd bake them a cake I hadn't made before. So I tried to make a marble cake from Rachel Allen's Bake book and while it tastes quite amazing if I do say so myself, it's not quite marble-effect enough. Must work on the swirliness. It just sort of looks like a chocolate cake with pale bits here and there...I then decided I'd cut the cake in half and put butter cream (which had to be near rescued from Conor eating it out of the bowl) in between the two cakes. I found pink icing in the cabinet, so I made an attempt at a heart on the top of it with a sprinkling of icing sugar. Must say, it went down a treat. Win!:)

One day I'll fly away...

I'm supposed to be doing my dissertation, but instead I am nomming a bag of marshmallows and I thought I'd make a little list (sort of inspired by Jen's list of loveliness) of the places I want to go and see to urge me on! There are quite a few. Since money has been tight during these past four years in college and I haven't travelled anywhere near as much as I've wanted to, I dream of a day when I have a proper, full waged job that will aid me on my trips around the world. Some of these places are not so far away, others I have looked up and curl up at the flight prices. Nevertheless, I will one day tick them all off! Some are just countries I want to go to and experience their culture, have a look around, others are specific cities, but also for the same reasons.
Anyhoodle-I'll probably think of more later on, but here's some, in no particular order, to start me off:


1. Egypt- ever since my Mom got me the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego game when I was about 8, Egypt has been a place that is top of my list. So for 8 year old me, I will one day get there. I am also fascinated by their tombs and pyramids.

2. Iceland- Sigur Ros is certainly influencing me here. The language barrier may be troublesome, so I might start learning a phrase or two now. Also, the nothern lights. Bringing ma camera.




3. Australia- Everyone seems to be there right now (okay, a bunch of my cousins) or have been, and being the H&A fan that I am, Bondi Beach needs a visit. Not too sure how I'm going to hack the heat there and in Egypt. Factor 50+ will be packed.

4. The Arctic- Polar bears polar bears polar bears. I love them. I ache to see the frozen landscape also before it all melts away.


5. Amsterdam- A shocking amount of my friends have been there, so I have to see what I'm missing. Plus it looks really cute and Cat says I'd like it. Must scope it out.

6. Bulgaria- To find the Child Catcher and see if children really have been set free...o_O

7. Paris- It looks so pretty and Amelie and Marion will be my tour guides:D

8. Rome- It looks amazing in Siobhan's photos. I think I just have to go there. Its history is fascinating too.

9. Luxembourg- Cos it's so ickle!

10. New Zealand- I've been told to go to the south island and it's meant to rival Australia in awesomeness.

11. Forks, Washington- So I can kill one Bella Swann.

12. Wherever, exactly, The Secret Garden was filmed in England. I know parts were filmed in Eton College, but I want to see the building that is 'Miselthwaite Manor' in the flesh. It has been in my life for far too long without me exploring it.

13. Newgrange- On the winter solstice. After learning so much about it in Art History, I also want to see this in the flesh. Here, I will employ Grainne as I think she's been there:)


14. Capeside, Massachusetts- Again, like some of these on the list, I must see cos of a tv show... I'll be staying at Potter's B&B if anyone is looking for me.

Yet another cake...

Soon I'm going to make something much more exciting, I promise! But for now here is another cake I made today!:) It's an orange sponge which, like many of my cakes are doing recently, caved in on the top, so when I was drizzling chocolate over it, I flipped it over...:D I placed a few mandarin segments on top too. Again, I was a little short in supplies, so it is by no means fancy, but it was pretty nice, just sweet enough, so I'm happy enough with it. Nom!:)

Bake Sale update!

Hey everyone, just wanted to let everyone know, especially if you bought a cake on Tuesday that we raised an amazing €106.85 for Epilepsy Ireland/Brainwave! It's absolutely amazing considering our most expensive treat was €1! Everything else was 20c or 50c and a big thank you to the other bakers who donated goodies and Molly & Aoife who were great company and fellow bakers! Just going to include a few photos now. Thanks everyone and I hope you enjoyed the treats!:) x