Cake

Baking on the edge: how I do it with a 3 year old

Firstly, here is why my January diet is Not Going Well:

It's frosty outside and we can't play in the garden. I love baking and I have an extensive collection of cookery books. I have two drawers full of different sized cake tins. I made my own wedding cake. Baking is an excellent cold weather indoor child friendly activity , but:

1. Do an easy recipe. Three year olds prefer the "chuck it all in and bash it about" school of cookery.
2. Try not to get too wound up about hygiene. Your "helper" IS going to lick the spoon and put it back in the mix.
3. The mix contains raw egg. I don't care about this much and we still lick the bowl. But if you think the sight of your child licking raw mix is going to freak you out, think it through first.
4. Try to make something you can decorate. Kids LOVE this. We usually make one of two things: fairy (cup) cakes or a Victoria sponge (the pic is of a chocolate Victoria sponge we made today). And here's the thing: I buy a tub of pre-made "frosting". I KNOW it's easy to make but it's much less hassle to just hand the child the icing already done.
5. Be aware: your child WILL suck sweets then use them to decorate the cakes.

and finally....

6. Ssssh, don't tell but sometimes I don't do the baking part at all. I buy a dozen plain fairy cakes at the supermarket. They are very very cheap (about 60p). I buy a tub of "frosting". Then I get out the sprinkles etc. Mia likes this as much as the actual baking.

Cake!

I did a lazy thing. I made our Christmas cake from a kit. You know, all you need to make your cake in a bag. Looks ok though.

I normally ice the sides but there wasn't enough in the kit for that. Mia helped me decorate the cake. We used Aunty Peg's old robins and a skiier (not really vintage but two of the robins were very old and beaten up. Mia didn't seem to notice). Then we put on some edible glitter and a frill around the side.

Merry Christmas!