Birthday cakes and other bakes...

The last 10 days have been full of making multiple cakes for lots of very happy recipients... 

First I was helping my friend Lisa with the cake for J's 2nd birthday. A week last Saturday night we baked 4 x 6 inch square lemon sponges which Lisa then filled with lemon curd on Sunday They were then wrapped in tinfoil and popped into the freezer for later on in the week when we planned to decorate them. It took 2 long evenings to finish decorating J's cake. We had a lot of fun making all the animals, his face lit up when he saw it which made all the effort more than worthwhile.

Next was a keep F busy activity on a dreadfully rainy day... I've started the Low GI diet to shift the last of the weight I gained when pregnant with F. I'd been looking for a wholemeal cinnamon fruit loaf (suggested for breakfast in one of my low GI menu planners) without success so I thought why not have some fun and bake one instead! The only mishap was that my favourite spoon snapped when I was stirring the mixture... so I now have to hunt for a new one to be my next favourite. The end result was very yummy but maybe not V low GI?

Lastly Paul's birthday is on Friday and he'd put in a request for a chocolate cake to take into work... I made a seriously indulgent 10 inch square chocolate cake to fit my carry able cake box & make Paul's job of taking it to work by train a bit easier. The cake was filled and topped with a thick layer of dark chocolate ganache. Serious chocolate overload... I used one kilo of melted dark chocolate between the cake and the ganache! The finished cake was spectacular but also quite heavy... so Paul had a chance to work off some calories lugging it to work... before adding them back on! There were only 6 small slices (out of 30) left by lunchtime

I'll post the recipes for the cinnamon fruit loaf, chocolate overload cake and ganache next time..... so for now I'll let you drool over the photo :)