And so, we arrive back home after a week visiting Husband's family in Jindabyne. Time away from home is always refreshing. A change of scenery is sometimes all that our family needs to escape the busyness of life.
It was a really nice week, drinking hot chocolates by the fire (because the temperature was at least 20 degrees colder than in Sydney), taking the dog for walks in the freezing cold wind, catching up with family, exploring the farm, planning a future cubby house, and relaxing.
On our way back home, we were also able to drop off our children to my side of the family in Canberra, who offered to look after them for the long weekend. It was a win-win scenario, leaving Husband and I excited about coming back home for 4 days by ourselves.
A whole long weekend, just us... Imagine the craziness! Staying in bed all day if we wanted, spontaneously going out to swanky dinners, and various other romantic experiences that are normally hard to find energy and time for...
As soon as we get home, Husband seductively says "lets get dirty in the kitchen". Excitedly, the oven gets turned on and I begin mixing butter, sugar, flour, and chocolate to bake a cake, thus dirtying various bench-tops, utensils, and appliances...
Who says women can't multi-task?? I made a cake, messed up the kitchen, and disappointed Husband all at the same time.
This photo was inspiration for the cake.
And here's how I made it:
I started with a plan! I work better when I have a plan to refer to, as sometimes (just sometimes!) when I do things spontaneously, they don't really work out (crazy, I know)...
This is the bottom tier, as per the plan - red fondant all over, with a yellow strip down the bottom (for Mickey's shoes, I believe).
The cake for Mickey's head was baked in a glass mixing bowl, as I didn't have anything else quite as round. For his face, I traced an outline from the computer, and used that to make sure his features were symmetrical (my friend-turned-cake-assistant, who was with us at the time for dinner, suggested this).
Mickey's head was covered in black fondant, his face was attached, his ears were cut out and stabbed with wire, awaiting the moment they were set.
As I went through my mental list of things that definitely had to be done the evening before, or things that could be done in the morning, the stars for the birthday boy's name needed to be made, which were yellow stars, also poked with wire:
Mickey's face looked a lot more like his face once I outlined it with fudge frosting!! I wasn't real keen about the frosting eyes, though...
Using Disney font generator (the same that I used for my daughter's Disney themed 8th birthday party last year), I traced the birthday wishes, which I copied onto the cake board with royal icing:
Mickey's head was attached to his body, and so far I had this!
Then, I wrote the birthday boy's name onto the stars...
Lined up and poked Mickey's ears into his little cake head...
Poked Xavier's name in stars into the cake - aiming to get the wires behind Mickey's ears...
Added Mickey's buttons onto the front of the cake... And, it was finished!
Now Husband and I could enjoy being young again, with the rest of the weekend to do things that couples-who-don't-have-children get to do!
... Right after one more cake I needed to make.
It was like some kind of supernatural force. I was once again led not to the bedroom, where Husband patiently waits for me, probably naked... But back to the kitchen, turning on my overworked oven, to once again mess up the kitchen, all in the name of creativity!
Husband's input (apart from him talking to me in a Mickey Mouse voice aaaaaall day) to making the Mickey Mouse cake is this:
And lastly, some fun facts about Mickey Mouse:
- He is the beloved, animated cartoon character and mascot of Walt Disney.
- He was created in the studios in 1928 and is by far the most recognisable characters in the world, with his big round ears, red shorts, yellow shoes, and white gloves.
It was a really nice week, drinking hot chocolates by the fire (because the temperature was at least 20 degrees colder than in Sydney), taking the dog for walks in the freezing cold wind, catching up with family, exploring the farm, planning a future cubby house, and relaxing.
On our way back home, we were also able to drop off our children to my side of the family in Canberra, who offered to look after them for the long weekend. It was a win-win scenario, leaving Husband and I excited about coming back home for 4 days by ourselves.
A whole long weekend, just us... Imagine the craziness! Staying in bed all day if we wanted, spontaneously going out to swanky dinners, and various other romantic experiences that are normally hard to find energy and time for...
As soon as we get home, Husband seductively says "lets get dirty in the kitchen". Excitedly, the oven gets turned on and I begin mixing butter, sugar, flour, and chocolate to bake a cake, thus dirtying various bench-tops, utensils, and appliances...
Apparently, that's not what he meant.
Who says women can't multi-task?? I made a cake, messed up the kitchen, and disappointed Husband all at the same time.
I started with a plan! I work better when I have a plan to refer to, as sometimes (just sometimes!) when I do things spontaneously, they don't really work out (crazy, I know)...
This is the bottom tier, as per the plan - red fondant all over, with a yellow strip down the bottom (for Mickey's shoes, I believe).
The cake for Mickey's head was baked in a glass mixing bowl, as I didn't have anything else quite as round. For his face, I traced an outline from the computer, and used that to make sure his features were symmetrical (my friend-turned-cake-assistant, who was with us at the time for dinner, suggested this).
Mickey's head was covered in black fondant, his face was attached, his ears were cut out and stabbed with wire, awaiting the moment they were set.
As I went through my mental list of things that definitely had to be done the evening before, or things that could be done in the morning, the stars for the birthday boy's name needed to be made, which were yellow stars, also poked with wire:
Mickey's face looked a lot more like his face once I outlined it with fudge frosting!! I wasn't real keen about the frosting eyes, though...
Using Disney font generator (the same that I used for my daughter's Disney themed 8th birthday party last year), I traced the birthday wishes, which I copied onto the cake board with royal icing:
Mickey's head was attached to his body, and so far I had this!
... It was about this time that I decided that I really was unhappy with what Mickey's eyes looked like with the fudge frosting. So, I carefully scraped it off and replaced them with brown M 'n' Ms. Oh, Mickey, you're so fine :)
Then, I wrote the birthday boy's name onto the stars...
Lined up and poked Mickey's ears into his little cake head...
Poked Xavier's name in stars into the cake - aiming to get the wires behind Mickey's ears...
Added Mickey's buttons onto the front of the cake... And, it was finished!
Happy 1st birthday Xavier!!
Now Husband and I could enjoy being young again, with the rest of the weekend to do things that couples-who-don't-have-children get to do!
... Right after one more cake I needed to make.
It was like some kind of supernatural force. I was once again led not to the bedroom, where Husband patiently waits for me, probably naked... But back to the kitchen, turning on my overworked oven, to once again mess up the kitchen, all in the name of creativity!
Husband's input (apart from him talking to me in a Mickey Mouse voice aaaaaall day) to making the Mickey Mouse cake is this:
And lastly, some fun facts about Mickey Mouse:
- He is the beloved, animated cartoon character and mascot of Walt Disney.
- He was created in the studios in 1928 and is by far the most recognisable characters in the world, with his big round ears, red shorts, yellow shoes, and white gloves.
- His official debut was in the short film, Steamboat Willie.
- He has continued to appear in over 130 films... That's more than Arnie!
- His on-screen girlfriend, but off-screen WIFE, Minnie, adores him. Married, but dating?? Relationship status: COMPLICATED!
- He has continued to appear in over 130 films... That's more than Arnie!
- His on-screen girlfriend, but off-screen WIFE, Minnie, adores him. Married, but dating?? Relationship status: COMPLICATED!
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