*You will now find a picture of Laura in action at the end of this post*

It was my very special friend Laura's son Ben's first birthday this weekend and Laura wanted to create a very special cake for him. She camped at my house for the whole day and inbetween feeding toddlers and calming tears (Ben and Eloise's not our own...) we created this great cake.

The cake was a traditional birthday cake - vanilla sponge with buttercream and jam filling. We then covered the cake in coloured fondant and added brightly coloured presents the whole way around the bottom tier and B E N nursery blocks and yellow stars on the top tier. On the very top we placed a '1' candle circled by more stars. An iced green board and red ribbon finished the look. That summary makes it sound easy but we estimate we spent 10 hours working on this cake!

Laura was an excellent student and did most of the work herself. Her finest hour was hand carving the BEN letters freehand (and she didn't crack under the pressure despite my trash talk!)

Ben liked it so much he didn't even bother using his fingers - he just stuck his whole face into his slice! Happy birthday Ben!

I thouht i would share an easy savoury muffin recipe i made this evening for Eloise to snack on.

They are great because you can chuck in any leftover veg you have spare. These ones are flavoured with  red onion, leek, red pepper, brocolli and philadelphia cream cheese.

The recipe is easy:

2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 cups mixed veggies.
1/2 cup of grated cheese OR 1 tub cream cheese cheese

Pre heat the oven to 180 c

Mix together the  flour and veggies.
In a separate bowl mix the oil and milk. Add the eggs and whisk.
Make a well in the middle of the flour/veggie mix and pour in the liquid.
Gentle combine the ingredients and at the last minute add the cheese. Mix everything has just combined and you have a nice thick batter.

Grease a 24 mini muffin pan with butter/oil and divide the mixture.
Pop in the oven for about 20 minutes, brushing the tops with oil half way through to get a golden finish.

Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
They can be kept in an airtiht container or frozen.

Enjoy!