After Lyla’s great suggestion that the baby’s arrival should be welcomed with chocolate cake Helena and her sister Sally embarked on the messy challenge of baking the treat of the moment – cake pops.
Lyla has decided that when her sibling is born, he or she will want some cake (specifically chocolate) and that I must arrange it. I suspect this may be down to both mummy saying “oh but the baby fancies it” to justify one more packet of Marks and Spencer ‘yum yums’, and her own hankering after a slice.
With the official line being that pregnant women only need roughly two extra pieces of toast a day I personally think finding the medium between such advice and a few well-deserved treats is a good way to go. This in mind I was inspired by cake pops, a fairly recent development in the world of baking. Created by ‘Molly Bakes Cupcakes’, they are, as the name suggests, a cross between a cupcake and a lollipop. Glittered with edible decorations and displayed like an ornate flower arrangement they can be found in Selfridges food hall.
Always up for a challenge, my sister Sally and I decided to make our own as a fun (and brilliantly messy) activity to do with a toddler. Cut to lots of measuring, mixing and decorating with the odd shouts of “reaaaady, steaaady, go!” when cake was flung across the kitchen and at the walls or floor. By Lyla I might add. The end result was quite spectacular, a scrumptious array of colourful cake pops that looked far too good to eat. Not bad for an afternoon’s work.
Our mini chef was obviously impressed by the culinary expertise that had taken place as the rest of the day was spent in the garden, toiling away on her Disney Princess Kitchen. While Sally and I marvelled at the possibilities of a grown up kitchen being as explicitly pink and sparkly as Lyla’s plastic one, we could see her hard at work on the next recipe. It was when she started sampling the top soil I wondered if now would be the time to mention that hospital health and safety is a bit uptight these days and the maternity ward may not welcome a mud cake…