Baking Cupcakes for World Baking Day

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Today is World Baking Day apparently, who knew?!  So in honour of this very good excuse to make and eat cakes, myself and little Miss Allegra spent some time in the kitchen trying our hand at some cupcakes.  Yum.

IMG_3157Now, what I probably should mention is that we had somewhat of a head-start on the cupcakes or rather a bit of a cheat, as we were armed with Morrisons’ Confetti Cupcake Kit:  pretty much all you need in a box to create the perfect cupcakes, just add 1 egg and 60mls of milk, oh and a bit of butter for the icing is required, and that’s pretty much it.  Everything else is in the box.

Given how baking with my toddler can be a little on the stressful side (she refuses to accept that she can’t eat cake mix no matter how many times I warn her of the dangers of consuming raw egg…!), I’m actually a bit of a fan of these kits as they tend to be straight-forward to use and mean we can get in and out of the baking/kitchen experience fairly speedily!  However, I’ve had mixed results with them and the cakes have never really turned out all that brilliantly.  This was the first time I’d used a kit from Morrisons though, so I approached with an open mind (as I do in all cake situations).

So, we grabbed the box:

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We put the cake mix in a bowl and added an egg and the milk:

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We mixed it up and then we added the confetti sprinkles and mixed those in too.

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We baked them in the oven for 15 minutes, then took them out to cool.  Then we (well, truth be told, I… Allegra had more or less lost interest by this point…) mixed the icing with the butter and then Allegra – assisted by Richmond Daddy – decorated the 6 cupcakes we had baked:

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And then they were done!

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Then we scoffed them after our dinner!  YUM!!

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Honestly, they were DEEEEEEEE-LICIOUS as Miss Allegra would say (and did).  Light and fluffy, the sponge was gorgeous and the butter icing was really really yummy.  In fact, as a treat I let Allegra oversee the most important part of any cake baking… licking the spoon with the icing on it!

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Happy World Baking Day!

Disclosure:  We were sent a Morrisons’ Home Baking Confetti Cupcake kit (RRP £1.59) for the purposes of this review but all opinions are honest and our own.

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Fun at the Richmond May Fair

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Last Saturday, despite the howling and blustery wind and the frequent downpours of rain, we took ourselves off to Richmond Green to enjoy the Richmond May Fair.  It was rather unfortunate that on arrival the heavens opened and despite our best efforts to shelter under some flapping canvas by a cramped stand selling its wares on behalf of a local charity, we got pretty drenched… Not the best of beginnings.  But anyway, spirits a little dampened but not entirely washed out, once the rain had cleared up and the skies brightened a little, we set about enjoying what is a lovely annual local event.

We’ve brought Allegra for the past couple of years actually, but up until now she’s really been a bit young to enjoy it properly but this year was very different.  She really got stuck in!

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She loved watching all the various local children performing different kinds of dance routines on the main stage (this makes it sound like Glastonbury, it’s not, but it does have a “main stage”!) and of course she was very keen to try out the array of snacks on offer throughout the fair, but the main things that caught her eye and really thrilled her to bits where the old-fashioned fairground rides, which she dragged Richmond Daddy onto more than once….

Whizzing down the helter-skelter with Daddy:

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Having fun on the carousel:

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Driving a bus:

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She did also go on her current most favourite thing in the world ever…. the Bouncy Castle! But I didn’t capture any photos of that because I was too busy watching her like a hawk, praying she wasn’t going to get her teeth knocked out by some 12-year old lanky boy who really seemed far too big to be going on a bouncy castle, and counting the seconds until her 5-minutes on there was up!

A fun day despite the weather.  Here’s hoping for sunshine next May though!

Claudia at 15 weeks

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15wks

Oops, I’m a day late, but anyway, now you are 15 weeks old baby Claudia – so, very nearly 4-months in the world.  Crazy!  It’s hard to believe that less than 4-months ago we didn’t know you, hadn’t clapped eyes on you, didn’t know you would have gorgeous bluey/grey eyes and pretty rosebud lips, or that you’d love to sleep with a snuggle-bunny comforter and have a vice like grip when it comes to hanging on to said comforter or mummy’s fingers.  It’s like you’ve always been part of this family, even though you are the latest addition.

It’s been a fairly low-key week for you Claudia.  A busy weekend of trips to local May fairs (more on those to follow, if I ever get around to it! feel a bit like blogging is slipping at the moment, I need to put a freeze on time and catch up!), during which you mostly snoozed in your buggy, still I guess you’re a bit too young to join Daddy and Allegra on the helter-skelter or carousel.  Your time will come!

Then the rest of the week we’ve been hanging at home, with visits from grandparents and trips out to Allegra’s ballet class and a toddler cookery class – you were the best baby there, quietly watching and then snoozing in your car seat, well done Claudia!

I’m wondering if perhaps you’ve been going through a growth spurt this week as you seem to have been hungrier and more restless late at night and through the night, so there’s been a re-introduction on some nights of the pre midnight feed and also there’s been the odd feed at somewhere between 4-5am because you’ve just not been able to settle with a cuddle and your dummy, and I decided to just feed you and hope for the best.  Usually you’re pretty good at falling back to sleep after that, but I’m hoping we don’t go into reverse on night-feeds and that’s just a phase you’re going through over the last few days.

You’ve been enjoying more and more baths with your big sis, who loves to help wash your hair in the bath!  She would love you to stay in the bath with her for the duration, but we have to explain to her that you get too tired and cold quickly, so it’s best you just have a quick splash about and wash and then we get you   dried, moisturised, and into your clean nappy and jim-jams.  Allegra has been getting quite cross with you splashing her in the bath, which has been funny, she doesn’t quite understand that you’re a baby and not doing it on purpose!

What else to note this week….

You absolutely LOVE:

  • Being held/cuddled as much as possible, mostly by mummy but you will accept cuddles from others if you’re in the right mood
  • Being really toasty and warm with lots of blankets: this worries me a little, so I’m always checking on you when you’re asleep to make sure you’re okay
  • Clutching a bunny comforter or failing that a muslin cloth while you sleep
  • People interacting with you – mummy smiling and kissing your cheeks, big sister Allegra singing nursery rhymes to you
  • Milk!

You’re not so keen on:

  • Getting in/out of your clothes
  • Being put down, although if you’re well fed and well rested then you’re happy to sit in your bouncy chair for a bit or have a kick about on your play-mat
  • Having your mouth wiped for milk spillage mid-feed or post feed
  • When your feed ends!