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  • How to make a Dolly Varden Cinderella birthday cake – without it ending in tears

    How to make a Dolly Varden Cinderella birthday cake – without it ending in tears

    Why I choose the most difficult cakes to bake, I don’t know. This time it was a Dolly Varden cake for Holly’s second birthday. Not only was it a Dolly Varden cake, but it was a Dolly Varden Cinderella cake.

    Dolly Varden Cinderella birthday cake

    As you will have read yesterday, I had some challenges. Here are some points from my cake making exercise:

    • The recipe calls for one and a half quantities of cake mixture, so I had enough mixture left over to make cupcakes as a backup. Thankfully I didn’t need to use those.
    • Fondant ready roll icing I think is easier than butter icing. It’s just like playing with Play Dough. Hence, my mouse!
    • This one definitely needs to be made a day before. Unlike last year’s princess castle cake. It took a long time and plenty of things can go wrong.
    • After making the recipe and having all sorts of trouble and stress with the Dolly Varden tin, I’ve since read about cooking three square cakes, piling them on top of each other, then trimming the edges to form a cone. Now that would have been a heck of a lot easier.
    • Never open the oven to check on your cake when it’s in an incredibly unstable Dolly Varden tin. Never. Read this to learn why.
    • I have to thank Donna Hay Kids Birthday cookbook and Pinterest for helping me come up with the design.

    Here’s how I made it:

    Dolly Varden Cinderella Cake by Kellie O’Brien on Scribd

    Would you attempt to make something like this? Or have you already?

    Please note: some links are affiliate links. This means if you choose to become a customer of theirs in the future, I may receive a commission. This doesn’t impact what you’re charged at all.

  • Aussie Giveaway Linkup #70: How to bake a birthday cake recipe

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup #70: How to bake a birthday cake recipe

    Dolly Vardon Cake

    Choose the hardest cake you can possibly find to make.

    Combine the ingredients, stand back and smile at the resulting perfection you’ve achieved with your mixture. Place in tin.

    Check cake midway through cooking, only to topple the whole thing over in the oven. The oven cleaned painstakingly by your husband only a week before.

    Start from scratch. Find yourself doubting the consistency of the mixture because you’ve rushed it.

    Put the cake in the oven. Stay 10 feet away from the oven for entire 1.5 hours of cooking. Worry about the result for entire 1.5 hours of cooking.

    Take the cake out of the oven. Be concerned by the crystalisation on the top of the cake.

    Turn the cake out onto a cooling rack. Be concerned about the colour of the cake.

    Spend the entire day playing with fondant while you decorate the cake into a masterpiece.

    Make a batch of cupcakes as a backup in case the cake is inedible.

    Day of the birthday: Watch people ooh and aah over the cake.

    Cut the cake. Nervously. Offer a piece with a large dollop of apology on the side. Followed by: here, have a sausage roll.

    Receive (surprisingly) wonderful feedback about the taste of your cake.

    Hide the cupcakes.

    Dolly Vardon Cinderella Cake

    That all counts as a win to me! OK, onto some other wins in this week’s Aussie Giveaway Linkup.

    If you’re a blogger or business wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:
    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately. If you need to delete it, hover over your link, wait until the red “x’’ appears and click.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents and be run by Australian-based bloggers or businesses.
    3. Grab the button below to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly.
    5. Start entering the giveaways! Entry is at your own risk. We do not take responsibility for unfulfilled prizes or a blogger/business not abiding by their own terms and conditions.

     



    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses



  • Letter to my daughter: Happy 2nd birthday

    Letter to my daughter: Happy 2nd birthday

    To my darling Li’l Holly,

    Two years ago today you had me in a great deal of pain. You were on your way to greet the world and you were making sure we knew it.

    Two years on, you’re at “school’’ (child care) with your friends, probably telling them to “come on’’ as you run off to the sand pit. Or asking you carer if you can “go to toilet’’. You’ll sit on the toilet, ask for “Paper. Wipe’’, but not actually wee. You’ll repeat that about 10 times throughout the day – never actually doing a wee. But we answer your call. Next time, you might just succeed.

    You’ve grown into this incredibly smart little girl. Your language skills – how you can string together sentences – astounds me. A lot of this you’ve learnt from your sister. You’re both chatterboxes, fighting to be heard.

    Just so you know: we hear you.

    Both.

    While learning to walk took a little longer – and you still manage to fall flat on a regular basis – you can dance like no other two year old. I’m sure the hip wiggle chicken wing dance will catch on in the dance world one day.

    And you sing. Boy, can you sing. Like your big sister, you are destined for the stage. You know ever word to the entire High School Musical album. I think it’s time to start showing those videos.

    Combine all that with a smile that can melt any heart and we’re not sure how we got so lucky.

    Three Li'l Princesses

    Three Li'l Princesses

    Three Li'l Princesses

    Three Li'l Princesses

    Three Li'l Princesses

    Three Li'l Princesses

    Three Li'l Princesses

    Three Li'l Princesses

    Three Li'l Princesses

    Three Li'l Princesses

     

    Three Li'l Princesses

    Happy birthday, beautiful.

    And one more thing before I go.
    Three Li'l Princesses

    Love you, love you.

    Love Mum-Mum x

     

  • Aussie Giveaway Linkup #69: Bloggy absence

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup #69: Bloggy absence

    clock and time

    I feel like I’m tiptoeing into confession today. Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been exactly a week since I last posted. These are my sins: I’ve been cohorting with another site. I have been posting there every day. For 30 days. And I have neglected the ones I love here.

    It’s true. I’ve been doing the #Blogfor30 challenge during September, which meant posting every day for 30 days on my Mum PR site. I finished my last post for the challenge last night and just fell into a bloggy heap.

    I used to post here every day once. Raising girls, running a business, writing a book, being a wife, home duties and running two blogs has meant I just can’t sustain daily blogging anymore. Blog for 30 reminded me of that. It’s not so much the writing. That’s easy. I used to write between six and 10 stories daily as a journalists. It’s the uploading of content, finding images, promoting etc.

    The other reason for my absence is because I’ve been spending some time garnering ideas for this site. I have a bit of a vision of where I want to take it and give it some purpose – other than being a brain dump of my thoughts. Now to put it all into action. That requires lots of battles with blogging codes and likely me breaking my site in a horrendous way. Think Mr Bean walking into a China shop. Well, we’ll see anyway.

    I can assure you all though, the Aussie Giveaway Linkup will still be a key part of the weekly posting schedule. So don’t stress there. Not that you probably were!

    Anyway, all will be revealed soon… And if you visit one day and discover a blank screen, you’ll know why.

    Are you good with tech-related “stuff’’ or do you end up having words with your computer (and I don’t mean on a Word document)?

    OK, onto the all-important Aussie Giveaway Linkup entries.

    If you’re a blogger or business wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:
    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately. If you need to delete it, hover over your link, wait until the red “x’’ appears and click.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents and be run by Australian-based bloggers or businesses.
    3. Grab the button below to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly.
    5. Start entering the giveaways! Entry is at your own risk. We do not take responsibility for unfulfilled prizes or a blogger/business not abiding by their own terms and conditions.

     



    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses



  • Aussie Giveaway Linkup #68: Pure silliness

    Aussie Giveaway Linkup #68: Pure silliness

    tea party

    Butter wouldn’t melt….

    This week was a reminder of just how quickly our girls are growing up. Some days I wish I could just click the pause button. Other days my finger hovers over the mute button. But I digress…

    There will be some video coming this week but, in the meantime, here are some funny moments that make me realise my girls are growing all too fast:

    • Ella (not quite 5) befriended a 10-year-old boy at vacation care this week (school holidays finish in Tasmania today). She followed him around all day and then asked if she could take him home with us. If she was 10 years older, I’d be worried!
    • Ella has been teaching Li’l Holly (2) about the Tom Cat iPad app. While cuddling Holly in the kitchen, she started stroking my face and prompting me to purr. So I started purring like Tom Cat does. It was gorgeous… until she swiftly followed it up by bonking me on the nose in a bid to knock me out! That’ll teach me! (Might I just add I’m not sure how I feel about the girls playing this game!).

    Any funny or silly things happen during your week?

    OK, onto this week’s Aussie Giveaway Linkup entries.

    If you’re a blogger or business wanting to take part in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup:
    1. Only link directly to the giveaway post/s and include the prize and end date in the linky tool below. Link each giveaway separately. If you need to delete it, hover over your link, wait until the red “x’’ appears and click.
    2. Giveaways must be open to Australian residents and be run by Australian-based bloggers or businesses.
    3. Grab the button below to add to your post.
    4. A new list is added each Sunday so bloggers need to add their links weekly.
    5. Start entering the giveaways! Entry is at your own risk. We do not take responsibility for unfulfilled prizes or a blogger/business not abiding by their own terms and conditions.

     




    Aussie Giveaway Linky
    Hosted by Three Lil Princesses



  • Ideas for decorating a girl’s bedroom + Bright Star Kids $150 giveaway CLOSED

    Ideas for decorating a girl’s bedroom + Bright Star Kids $150 giveaway CLOSED

    Stepping into Ella’s bedroom is like stepping into a toy jungle. Mostly it’s books and dolls, because she sits at night and reads to “all her children’’. She then falls asleep with all the books and “children’’ on her bed, which ultimately end up on the floor.

    The idea has always been to organise and decorate the girls’ bedrooms into a nice place to be. The organising needs work, despite having large built-in wardrobes.

    Decorating?

    Bright Star Kids

    Well, it’s been on the to-do list for a while. Problem is, the to-do list is rather long. We’d already ordered each of their names in wall art from Bright Star Kids. That was about the extent of it though.

    My motivation came when Bright Star Kids offered wall art from its new range. We chose the beautiful tree branch with owls. What do you think?

    Bright Star Kids

    I’m super keen to get the full tree now (an advantage of the set is the ability to buy each piece separately, if you wish).

    The beauty of the wall art is it’s easy to handle and can be peeled off and re-stuck  if placed incorrectly. And how can you resist those pastel colours. The ever-bossy Ella gave direction on where she’d like which dot or leaf, but in the end I played safe and kept close to what was in the picture supplied. Home decorator, I am not!

    Bright Star Kids

    Now it’s onto Holly’s bedroom…. She is about to move into a “big girl bed’’, so we’re now on the hunt for:

    • A new doona cover for her bed
    • Some more wall art – maybe something slightly different to what Ella has, like BSK’s Bird House Wall Sticker or Sun and Clouds Wall Sticker
    • Better organising solutions.

    Wish us luck!

    Learn more at the Bright Star Kids site.

    Bright Star Kids

    We’re giving away THREE packs, valued at $49.95, to help create sweet dreams in your child’s bedroom. To win, simply tell us: what theme would you like to have/do you have in your child’s bedroom?

    Terms and conditions: The Bright Star Kids competition will be judged on creativity and originality. The competition opens Friday, September 21, 2012 at 8pm AEST and closes on Monday, October 15, 2012 at 7.30pm AEST. One entry per person. Australian entries only. There is one prize winner. The winner will be notified via email and name published here. Entries remain the property of Three Li’l Princesses and may be republished.

    If you would like to learn about more of our giveaways, make sure you sign up to our eNewsletters. You’ll also find more giveaways in the Aussie Giveaway Linkup.

    DISCLAIMER: I received a Bright Star Kids wall art pack. I have not been paid to write this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own.