Doing a Yarnstorm.....

Just to show that even these of us without either the artistic or photographic skills of Yarnstorm can still enjoy a little domestic satisfaction now and again.........

Miss Bossy Pink Sparkles will be six next week. It's the school holidays and most of her friends will be away, so her party is tomorrow. This means I have to drag out the cake tins and my venerable Kenwood to make a rare cake. I'm not bad at baking, have to say, but it's death to diets and whatever I make only seems to last a nanosecond round here, so I don't do this very often.

However I firmly belive that birthdays are one of these times to make this rare effort. Incidentally, I'm not the least bit artistic but I know what Miss likes...and what she told me she wanted.

So first you make a vast rectangular Victoria sponge cake, coloured pink. I forgot to take a picture of this, alas.

Then you buy a suitable Barbie. Trust me, you don't want one with long hair. Or a big floaty skirt. Or accessories. Get a cheap basic one.



Then get a piece of paper the size of your cake, cut it into two triangles and work out how big a board you'll need. Search the house for an appropriate piece of stiff card or wood. Give up and wrap a well scrubbed chopping board in tinfoil.




Cut up your cake, following the paper template. In this case all I had to do was cut the cake in two, with a little shaping. I used the offcuts to make the middle.



Mix up a vast bowlful of buttercream icing, coloured pink. You are looking at approximately 3,000 calories here, folks.



Disguise your "fairy wings" as a pair of lungs.



Add some sprinkles (Remember that paper template? With holes cut into one side? Stencil???) Don't forget a bit of bling/some silver balls.



Attach the unfortunate Barbie to the cake with a large blob of buttercream icing up her skirt.




Remember Mr Fassett`s thoughts on colour...if in doubt, add more. Works for pink bling as well.



Now, it's not a particularly professional cake (and the photography is terrible, sorry) but I do know that my daughter and a room full of six year old girls will LOVE this. And that makes me happy. I'm no domestic goddess as anyone who's seen my house will testify, but some things are worth doing. My kids can remember every single one of their birthday cakes, lol. So why do some women feel so threatened by stuff like this that they have to start looking down on it, a la the yarnstorm furor? I know I'll get at least a couple of comments from other mums tomorrow along the lines of "Oh, I could't be bothered with doing that...I'm far too busy." Bah...

I'm away to put my masterpiece in a cat-proof place. That buttercream has 8oz of best unsalted butter in it, and the cats like butter, even if it is pink.

PS. I just remembered...I made pink sparkly cupcakes for the party. And these marshmallow thingies with a dod of chocolate and a Smartie on top as well. I'm doomed, aren't I?