forklifts, fire engines and the hunt for toilet tissue.

If you know where your spare toilet tissue is, send up a little prayer of thanks. This morning I had 5 rolls of spare toilet tissue. Tonight, so far, I've found 3. This is because Joel likes to play forklift truck. Usually he is content to forklift cushions, random boxes, my clean laundry, all of his nappies including wipes and nappy sacks, blankets, shoes, etc... and deposit them in various locations all over the house. For small items, they are generally deposited in the funpod. (Funpods are worth the money. Like a learning tower but more solid)  Anyway - this morning - he found the spare toilet tissue. I was alternatively occupied (ie: feeding a baby) when he realised that he could fit 3 rolls of toilet tissue on 1 arm and carry them around "Like a forklift Mummy!"  He has since forklifted them to secret hidden locations around the house, and so far I'm still 2 down. But we'll give him grace, because it's his birthday.

It's hard to believe my little guy is 3 already. 1 more year and he'll be at school, in tiny grey trousers and a button down shirt and a little school bag and.....it doesn't bear thinking about.
Today was low key, the weekends are the party times. We've spread it out this year so that
a) he's not overwhelmed, bless him.  and,
b) so that he actually enjoys the presents he's been given.

So far, it's working really well. He has a scooter, which was pristine on Sunday afternoon and is now totally caked in mud from some serious off-road scooting. He's also had a lovely puzzle and some new books.  When I asked him a few weeks ago what sort of cake he'd like for his birthday, he replied " A digger, and a fire engine and a street sweeper cake!"  For the record, I am not the world's best cake decorator (see: The recipe that started the blog)   But I really wanted to make 2 out of 3 wishes come true.  So this past weekend I made the fire engine masterpiece:

Which actually was not as hard as originally anticipated. Time consuming? Yes. Hard? not so bad. This weekend, I attempt digger! I will be using the same cake recipe for that.

So for everyone whose son is asking for impossibly difficult birthday cakes, I give you my best 13x9 inch recipe for a chocolate cake that builds well.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup oil

2 eggs (one day I'm going to try replacing with 1/2 cup soy yogurt and see what happens)

2 tsp vanilla

2 2/3 cup plain flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups boiling water (straight out of a fresh boiled kettle)

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line the 13 x9 pan with baking paper, leaving overlap on the edges if you are going to build with this cake so that you can get it out easily.

Beat together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla.  Mix together all the dry ingredients.  Then alternate mixing in dry ingredients and water to the sugar/oil mixture. Blend well, it will seem quite a liquidy batter. Pour into your prepared pan and into the oven. Bake for about 45 minutes until it springs back when touched or a toothpick in the middle comes clean.

Cut and serve!  OR

If you want to make a fire engine, cut the cake into thirds. (I used Betty Crocker ready made frosting to 'glue' it together and then stuck ready to roll colour regal icing all over it.)   Stack 2 of the 3 sections on top of each other for the back of the truck. On the third section cut two pieces of equal size for the cab, leaving one small rectangular piece to be the 'connector' between the cab and the truck.  Decorate with regal icing and black decorator's icing and job done.



The face of cheeky

Today is now over. Both boys are sleeping(time check: it's 9:45pm!) and I have a cup of tea and have just mowed down 4 caramel cuts (the cake of the day and sweet treat because I'm worth it)  So today. Today I would describe as a hair's breath away from a total train wreck. And so, I now impart what I have learned, to you, my dear friends.

1) Supervise breakfast more closely.  It started at 8:40am with a request for a piece of chocolate cake from Joel. Along with his request for 2 boiled eggs and 'lots of toast mummy'. So I gave in to the cake request while I made the eggs, because where I come from, a chocolate donut is a breakfast food, not a dessert. Anyway, while I'm busily making eggs and toast I hear Joel talking to Luke saying 'It's yummy baby Luke' and I turn around to find him stuffing small pieces of cake into the baby's mouth. I leap across the room, finger sweep out all the cake, while Joel looks totally mystified as to why I would deny Baby Luke such lovely cake...

2) Be excruciatingly specific when giving instructions. For the record, "Go to the car and get in your seat" is not good enough. 1 pair of trousers later I learned that "Don't jump in the puddle, go to the car and get in your seat" was also not good enough. 2 pairs of trousers later I learned that "Take your truck to the car, don't jump in the puddle, just go to the car and get in your seat" -- also, not good enough. 3 pairs of trousers later "Pick up your dump truck, hold it in your hands, it does not need to go in the puddle, you are not wearing welly boots so you must not jump in the puddle, we need to go to the car, so come hold my hand and let's go get in your seat" resulted in only minor water damage to the cuffs of the trousers. good enough.

3) Glitter, when glued to a baby's head, does not come off with the first wash. It will take several.

4) Your child, when seeing another child eating chalk, will decide to take a bite and try it.  Then they look at you with a look of indignant betrayal, like "why did you let me do that??!"

5) Glue, glitter, cotton wool and feathers is never a good craft combination. Thank you playgroup.

6) If you watch Peppa Pig in Italian enough, you'll start to understand the plot.  Though, I was dying laughing watching Peppa Pig "Potato City". If you have not had the pleasure of seeing this, go look it up on youtube now. So worth it.

7) The phrase "Look Mummy, I doin' wee wee on the floor" is never good.

8) These little faces still make me smile.

Caramel Cuts

Like brownies, but toffee flavoured. Quick, easy and worth it.

Grease a 9inch square pan and preheat oven to 170C/325F.

1/4 cup margarine
1 cup light brown sugar (you can mix dark and light if you don't have enough light)
1 unbeaten egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder

Melt the margarine in a saucepan big enough to hold all the ingredients. Once melted add the brown sugar and blend together well. Take the pan off the heat and while the mixture is still warm add in the egg and vanilla and give it a good stir. Then add in the flour and baking powder and stir those in. Pour into the pan and bake for 20mins. They'll be lovely and golden and toffee and yummy and I doubt you'll even wait till they cool to get one out.

black midnights and bright mornings

I am a sucker for a warm piece of cake straight out of the oven. I have difficulty waiting for it to cool before slicing off a 'tester' piece. (It's very important to test before giving it to others. You may find you need to test quite a few pieces, this is essential for quality control.) Today I adapted Betty Crocker's classic 'Black Midnight Cake' -- If you hunt down one cookbook in your life, hunt down the old school 1969/1972 version of the Betty Crocker cookbook. It never lets you down, always has a brilliant recipe for whatever you want and has a fab vintage/retro feel, largely because it is. 

Anyway, I bake to relax, to unwind and to think, and this afternoon was no different. I was reflecting on a good morning at church and enjoying spending time with God in the main meeting. This is no mean feat when you have 2 small boys and a husband who is up the front doing music or announcements or preaching, just generally leading- often a Sunday morning can feel something of a mini marathon. Now, I'm not gonna lie, it is hard to stay expectant for God to move in your heart when you are simultaneously spooning spaghetti hoops into a toddlers mouth while getting a fire engine sticker out of his hair, and with the other hand doing 'magic fingers' for a baby and singing "We bow down" while actually on your knees doing all these things!  But this morning I found that if I just kept one part of my brain quietly in love with God while doing all these other things, it was like being lifted out of a black midnight into a bright morning. For in God's eyes, I'm not a beleaguered mummy, I'm a beloved child, and in the words of one of my favourite hymns:

"Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,

Who like me His praise should sing."

If you hunt down one truth in your life, hunt down this:

"The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." (Westminster Catechism)

I am made not for myself, not for making cake, not for others, not for wiping children's noses, not for something nebulus, not for something unknown. I am made for this- to know God, to love Him, to live my life to glorify Him, to enjoy knowing him, to enjoy loving him. Knowing that truth, deep in my heart, makes many black midnights turn into bright mornings.



Black Midnight Cake (adapted)

2 1/4 cups plain flour

1 2/3 cups sugar (I make 1/3 of a cup dark brown sugar)

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup dairy free marg (you can use butter or shortening)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup water

Heat oven to 180C/ 350F. Grease a 13x9 pan. Pop all the ingredient in a big mixing bowl and beat together until smooth. Tip: add the water in stages so there's less of a splashy mess when you turn the beaters on.  Pour into the pan and into the oven for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan, cut into squares and enjoy the fudgy yummyness.