Archive for November, 2018

Solar System Cake

Thursday, November 22nd, 2018

Solar System Cake

Deciding a birthday cake and theme is always tricky for kids. I can’t remember the alternative for my daughters birthday, but she decided to go with the solar system, as she loved the dwarf planet Pluto.

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She chose a chocolate cake and cream cheese icing (so it wasn’t too sweet). I made the cake in advance (one round cake for the sun, and a large slab for the rest). I then cut out the planets with different sized cutters, and coloured them as close as I could to the real planets.

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For the piñata, I made Saturn. First using a small round exercise ball and covering in paper mache, then deflating it for removal. Next, I cut the rings out of a large cardboard sheet and sticky taped them to the ball, before adding another layer of paper mache followed by paint.

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Turtle Cake and Under the Sea Party

Monday, November 19th, 2018

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I always remember our lovely birthdays as children. We were able to choose any cake from the Women’s Weekly Cake Book. My mum made so many different cakes from the book over the years, I couldn’t help but buy the same cake book (and the new bumper book too) for my children to choose from. We already have lots of fun searching through all the lovely pictures.

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I searched for a turtle cake for my daughters 2nd birthday (a few years back now), and didn’t see anything that quite looked how I wanted it to look in either book or the internet. So I decided to design my own turtle cake and make an under the sea themed party.

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We generally prefer buttercream/Vienna icing to fondant, so I made it green and used smarties or mm’s for the design (liquorice could have been used as well). To make the shell I used a round tin and trimmed the sides to make it more oval. I made a template out of grease-proof paper for the body (using a round tin 22cm or 24cm), I then used it make an appropriate sized head and flippers, making sure they would fit in my lamington tray (or a larger tray). Cut out the pieces once the cake has been frozen.

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Cupcakes had blue icing for the sea, biscuit crumbs for sand and a sea shell chocolate on top. With other cupcakes having fish or other sea creatures made out of lollies.

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Decorations included seaweed out green crepe paper streamers, bubbles out of different sized balloons and sea creatures out of pom-poms.

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Acai Smoothie Bowl and Easy Muesli

Monday, November 5th, 2018

Acai Smoothie Bowl

The first time I tried an acai bowl was 4 or more years back at a Jiujitsu tournament. I wasn’t competing as I don’t do jiujitsu, but I was eating – as I’m really good at that. Since then I have seen it become super popular, with the acai puree now available frozen at supermarkets (I previously had to buy it from a frozen berry supplier). You can’t go past a café without them having some sort of acai smoothie bowl (or something similar) available as a change from your traditional bacon and egg big brekkies.

I also recently had an acai bowl at a children’s play centre. It was super tasty and I started craving it again. So we had to start experimenting. There’s never anything bad that can come from food experimentation. It’s almost always edible. Most recipes I looked up contained almost entirely fruit, although the one I had recently seemed to have oats of some sort mixed through, so I first tried adding some soaked oats (mix oats with milk overnight) to the blended fruit. It was nice, and reasonably close to what I had, although the method we are now making is much easier. The oats and almond meal help make the mixture thick, and I think would help keep you more full through the morning.

Acai Smoothie Bowl

Some of the main things I found went well with the smoothie bowl was adding fresh fruit and quality muesli or granola (and a touch of dark chocolate). I am finding it very difficult to buy pre-packaged foods anymore. The additives or flavours are just not enjoyable. So I came up with an easier muesli to than my original granola. It doesn’t need chopping, doesn’t need an extra bake to get it crunchy and doesn’t use lots of expensive nuts.

Acai Smoothie Bowl

Recipe by Anita @ Leave Room for Dessert
Serves: 4 small bowls
(You can always increase or decrease amounts depending on what you have available. Just don’t add too much water to begin with)

95g frozen acai
130g frozen pineapple
160g frozen banana (approx. 2)
handful frozen blueberries (optional)
50g almond meal (or raw almonds – blend up to a powder before adding other ingredients)
80g oats
120g water (approx.)

To serve:
1-2 bananas, sliced
berries
1/2-1 cup (50g-100g) Muesli
4 pieces dark chocolate (30g), chopped
4 teaspoons desiccated coconut

Place the acai, pineapple, banana, almond meal and oats in a high powered blender. Blend on high (using spatula if needed – the Thermomix comes with a special spatula to help with this sort of thing). Add water to help it come together, making sure not to add too much. You want a thick consistency. Serve immediately with toppings.

Easy Muesli

Recipe by Anita @ Leave Room for Dessert

400g rolled oats
200g coconut, shredded
50g sunflower seeds
50g pepitas
100g slivered almonds (or chopped almonds)

120g honey
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla essence or extract
120g coconut oil, melted
salt

Preheat oven to 160C (fan-forced). Place baking paper on two trays.

Mix together the oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, pepitas and almonds in a large bowl. Whisk together the honey, cinnamon, vanilla and coconut oil. Pour into oat mixture and stir to combine. Place on trays, spreading evenly. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring once or twice. Leave to cool and store in an airtight container.

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