How to make Cake Pops ....

  So I know that I have been super slack in keeping up to date with my blog lately ... for those that dont know - my partner works away most of the time & I am home with our 2 toddlers ... we are getting married too in November (less than 6 months away ... ekkk!!) - so I have had my hands full a bit ....

I thought I would share with you this tutorial on making cake pops!! I have been a bit obsessed with them for some time now & this was my first attempt at making them ....

We have our youngest daughter's 1st birthday coming up in 3 weeks - so I am planning on freezing some & then having them ready to use for her party (that way I can see how they turn out and then use them as wedding favours & will be able to make them a couple of weeks in advance!)

What you need:

Cake (I just made a regular chocolate cake)

Frosting (you can eith use bought stuff or make it yourself - I made up about 1/2 a cup)

Lolly pop/ice cream sticks (I only had icecream sticks so thats what I used)

Chocolate (I used approx 350 grams)

A block of polystyrofoam (I put some aside a few weeks ago that was in a packaging box)

Cling wrap (to go over the block)


STEP 1 :

You will need some cake - I made a double batch of chocolate cake today - I only used one of the cakes though (will probably make the rest tomorrow)

STEP 2:

Once the cake has cooled down you can either crumble the whole thing up using your hands or do what I did & just throw it all in a mixer

You want to aim for the consistency in the photo below - you dont want too many big chunks in it or they will fall apart at the end ...

STEP 3:

Next step is to add the frosting (again you can do this in a mixer but you will have to end up using your hands) to get it properly mixed through)

I made frosting (about half a cup - but you can use more, you really dont need much) - you can always buy the pre-made stuff from the supermarket (ie. Betty Crocker frosting)

 

So I firstly made the frosting (as in the photo below - just so you can visualise how much I used)

Then add it to the cake mixture ....

Mix it together really well



STEP 4:

Using clean hands (obviously) roll even sized balls - I ended up with about 22 in the end.

Put them in the fridge for a few minutes while you set up for the next step.

STEP 5:

Melt a small amount of chocolate in the microwave (do it in 30 second intervals and stir through really well each time)

Once it is melted take the cake balls out of the fridge and get your sticks ready.

I think lolly pop sticks look better - but I only had icecream sticks

Carefully doing one at a time - take a ball, then a stick - dip the stick into the melted chocolate then carefully stick it into the ball (carefull not to poke it all the way through)

You will then need to put them all back in the fridge to set while you get ready for the next step ...

STEP 6:

- You will now have to cover your polystyrofoam block in a couple of layers of cling wrap & set it aside.

- Also melt the remaining chocolate (again at 30 second intervals) in a bowl thats big enough to dip the cake pops into.

- Take the cake pops out of the fridge once they are set and you are ready to cover them in chocolate!!

STEP 7:

Carefully submerge each cake pop into the chocolate & either tap on the side of the bowl or carefully smooth out with a knife.

Once you are sure the chocolate is not going to run down the stick put it in the foam block (you may need to keep an eye on drips and neaten them up a little with your knife!)

Once they are all covered in chocolate put them back in the fridge to set!


STEP 8 (optional):

Decorating!!!

I piped white & dark chocolate stripes onto mine - but you can just drizzle the chocolate over the top or do other patterns!!

I am not completely happy with mine because they look pretty rough - but they are not too bad for a first go!!

Feel free to ask me any questions - and let me know how you go!!

:) x



Wordless Wednesday ...

Deep Fried Friday ...

Arghh .. oh good lord (or Jesus I should say on this occasion) .. I have been trying to proof read this and post it for many days.. so here it is, full of deeeep fried goodness ...

Well I am the first to admit that I am not the most religious person in the world, I did go to an all girls Catholic school for most of my schooling life .. hmm .. maybe that's what has made me not so religious?! After all, having to go to mass as an adolescent child against my will … I mean honestly, there could only be a handful of people that could only embrace it!

Who knows, each to there own I say ...but I do know that each year I look forward to Easter, well, Easter Friday in particular!!

3 years ago when I was pregnant for the first time we were living in Western Australia & I was craving some fresh fish and chips from home.. we are so lucky in Tassie having, and from my own personal experience I may add - we have the best fresh fish and chips in the world!!

Well to me, even though Perth, WA has ocean front views - their seafood (compared to what I’m used to) was pretty crap!!

So being pregnant and all I was desperate for some fresh fish and chips (just like home) so we decided to do what some people would deem "should be illegal" (haha, actual words of one of my health conscious friends a few years ago!! Haha) ... and we bought a DEEP FRYER!!!

Haha!! Not just any deep fryer ... but the best one we could get our hands on (believe it or not they are not in great demand these days and there is not a great selection about)

Our loyal deep fryer (We really need to give this baby a name!!) lives in the box that she came in (in her 'dungeon' I say) and she makes an appearance each year (I wrap her back up in her plastic so she is like brand new every year) ... on Deep Fried Friday!! (Or to those that are religious, the day that Jesus died on the cross ... so I think from all those years of expensive schooling in an all girls school - god, I hope I got that right Sister Doreen & Sister Joseph!!?? I also hope that you are not reading my blog, if you can still read, you must be about 100 by now I would think!?? May god bless you!! x)

Well, that year in WA we had the best deep fried fry up of fresh fish and chips ... and this is now the 3rd year in a row that we have had Deep Fried Friday!!

So although we may not be religious, we appreciate being able to celebrate with our loved ones the goodness of deep fried food ... with sooooo many calories, all golden and crunchy and delicious from sizzling in all that golden fat!!

Hahaha ... I totally don’t condone having a deep fryer as a regular kitchen appliance - but damn, I do love getting our deep fryer out of her dungeon every year for Deep Fried Friday!! And I hope that she will be around for many years to come!!!

So that is what Easter (well Good Friday) means to me ,,. this year we celebrated our deep friend goodness with our little family of 4, my 2 sisters and my brother in-law (& Jimmy's BFF - ironically) - so although we did not praise Jesus for dying on the cross - we praised scientific research of high cholesterol and saturated fat for telling us how utterly bad it is for us & for deeming a deep fryer such a taboo thing to have ... for this we love and appreciate this day every year!!

I hope you all had a great Easter - so from our family to yours Happy Easter beautiful.


May god bless you - or if you are not religious - may you have something to be grateful for (it may even be a deep fried dim sim or two!!
           
                                   :) xX

　

PS. I am doing an 8 week experiment and have banned myself from SUGAR!!!Arghhh!! I am forever telling everyone not to feed our babies sugar and highly processed crap - so I am practising what I preach and banning myself from it so I can see really how much difference it makes!! I will keep you posted!

I did it for 7 days and lost 3.5 kilos and felt like I was on top of the world - allowed myself chocolate over Easter (which was the plan all along), but am now going to stick to the 8 week experiment! I am pretty excited about it after the amount of enery i had last week, and only after one week!!)

Here's some food for thought .... 1 teaspoon of sugar shuts down your immune system for 5 whole hours ... imagine what a can of coke (with 18 teasponns) would do to your body!!Just sayin' !!

My CRAPPY day ...

FINALLY I have 2 children in bed!!!!

So today has been one of those days ... well, I shouldnt write off the whole day - maybe just this afternoon!!

I think the majority of this afternoon I have had both girls (Miss 9 months - Audrey & Miss 2.5  - Evie) screaming (usually both at the same time)

Audrey is teething so badly that I can't even get a few feet from her without her getting absolutely hysterical!! I feel for the poor little babe, she seems to be in so much pain. I also feel for myself. I would say that out of the whole day ... lets see she woke at 6.30 am and then went to bed tonight at 6.30pm - so that's 12 hours ... hmm, she would have been literally attached to me for I would say about 8 hours or so, give or take during the day!!!

I mean honestly how can this not drive a person to absolute insanity!!!!!???? Arghh, constant sucking on my boobs ALL day!!!! The only way that I could even get her to sleep was to just sit there & let her suck ... and suck .... and suck ALL my energy out of me .... then when she would finally start to nodd of I would gently get her off me only for her to stir and latch straight back on .... dont get me wrong, breast feeding is a beautiful thing but you have got to be kidding me!!

Well anyway - this has gone on all day, infact it has been going on for quite a few days actually ... when someone looks at me any moment of the day, 9 times out of 10 I have a baby attached to my boob!! Bahaha!! Yep lovin' life!!

To get back to my story ....

Hold on ... I can hear Evie screaming out about something (be right back) ...

Well that took me about half an hour to get Evie back to sleep (her special cuddly toy "Coco"  has mysteriously disappeared god dammit & she is not settling well without it! I have searched high & low for it too!! Arghhh!! Her screaming woke Audrey up, whom I had to then feed to get her back to sleep ....

... ok, so where was I????  Oh yep, So I managed to get Audrey to have a quick nap in her own bed this afternoon (it only lasted 20 minutes - but 20 minutes with free boobs is like freedom right now!! woo! Haha) ... our house looked like (& still does) a tornado has gone through it, but I needed to get out in the fresh air to get a bit of sanity back. I havent picked up dog poo for a couple of days (we have 2 crazy dogs) so I thought I may as well do something while I was outside.

It's been such an amazing day today that Evie was pretty stoked to get out in the fresh air too. We put her sandles on and she toddled off while I set about on my mission to pick up the poo. Now she is such SUCH a Virgo and cant deal with getting dirt/mess on her ... within a few minutes she was carrying on that her shoes were dirty (they were not) so she took them off and keep toddling about. I warned her that she might tread on something without her shoes on but she didint listen (never does).

Well I ended up picking up a MASSIVE bag of poo and was just about finished when ......  ARrgHGHHHHGHGHGHHHH ....... the worst scream that I had ever heard, it sounded like Evie was being murdered (she is SUCH a drama queen) .,.. I immediately went into protective mum mode ASAP & ran to her as fast as I could, flung the bag FULL of shit that went flying trhrough the air & bolted to her ... only to find that she had stepped on a nail ... ,literally just stepped on the bloody thing ... it HAD NOT gone through her foot, it HAD NOT even hurt her .. and it was tiny!!!!

For god sakes ... I brushed her off, threw the nail away (that I doubt would have done any damage had she of stepped on it anyway) and then looked back at my now  EMPTY bag of poo ... NOOOoooo - there was, and still is SHIT all over the place!!  And I must have flung the bag with quite a bit of force becuase it has actually splattered in some places so I am now going to have to literally scrap it off!! Bahaha!! FML!!! (Just incase you dont know what that acronym stands for ... its Fuck My Life!! Hahaha)

To make matters worse Evie's massive overreaction had woken up her baby sister ... so I did not have time to pick all that shit up!! Infact I am just about to do that now. I am just trying to work out if I clean up all the mess from the tornado first or the dog crap!!

Even though I dont smoke I do have one single cigarette stashed in our junk drawer and I am going to smoke it right now ... before or after the tornado of toys and the dog shit I am not sure of yet!!??

Bahaha ... I can see the funny side of things now but I tell you what today I was ready to ... well I am not really sure?? Do they have some sort of a helpline for poeople like me?? When I was little I remember there used to be all those stickers on pay phones and about the place for the number of the kids helpline ... well I needed the equivilent today!!

HAHAHAhhaha .... oh  fuck me!!!!

Has anyone else had a CRAPPY day!!?? Please do share!!

:) xX

Reminiscing ...

I popped in and visited my Aunty this afternoon, who has been in the process of selling  her house so has just packed up a whole heap of stuff that she has been storing for a few years ...

She actually found a book that I wrote for her in 1991 - so I would have been, hmm ... just let me work it out ... 9 years old!!

Growing up I really wanted to be a children's book writer & illustrator - just thought I would share this with you ...

Back then I used to spend hours & hours making little books like this! Ahh, such big dreams back then ... ahh, reminiscing!!

(sorry - its a little hard to read ... it has been sitting around for the past 21 years & has faded a bit)

:) xX

#iheartorgainsing ...

So in the past week I have become a bit obsessed with organising just about EVERYTHING in sight!!!

I am one of these people that really has to have a bit or structure & routine in my life or I go a bit batty! So I decided that if I set myself a household chore list & stick it on the fridge then at least I will have a bit of structure in my day & then feel like I have gotten something done each day instead of just going crazy watching the hours go by ...

So I did just that!! And my chore list is now my new best friend!! I love it! Hahaha, its a bit funny really that I can become excited over something like a chore list! I mean seriously if the me ten years ago thought that something like this would make me so happy then I would be just a tad bit worried for what was to come.

But honestly I can't believe I did'nt do this sooner! Organising is awesome!

I am doing all this with the aim that I will become an organising guru & have so much spare time on my hands that I will be able to get back to my sewing ... hmm, only time will tell, but I will keep you posted!

Now, what else can I organise??

:) xX

"just" a mum ...

Well it has been such a long time since I have even opened my almost forgotten about “Evie & Henry - creations for little people” blog .. ..

I am sure that there are some of you that have been wondering why I disappeared off the face of the planet (well almost) & for a while there I also had so many supportive customers that interacted almost daily on my Facebook page, many of you who have purchased several dolls from me & then gone on to tell your friends great things about my creations.

Well, where do I start .. ..

As some of you may know when I first started my little business “Evie & Henry - creations for little people”, it was then just my 2.5 year old Evie & I at home most of the time (her daddy, and my husband-to-be works away in the mines most of the time)

I started my sewing business simply because I needed something else to focus my time on other than “just” being a mum (I emphasise on the word “just” because that has a lot to do with what I am trying to get to). Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE being a full time mum, it really is the best job in the world, but since starting work when I was 14 & hardly remembering a day since then that I have not been completely independent & earning my own money it was a huge change for me to get used to, to now not have a cent to my name (well, not anything that I have gone out and earned myself) & to now spend day in, day out at home - well being “just” a mum!

By doing something with my sewing skills where I could actually do what I love & zone out for a while by simply bringing my own creations to life it was just what I needed. Not only could I be Evie’s full time Mummy, I could also do something that I loved & also make some money at the same time.

Well after starting my face book page in Jan 2011 business started off more successfully than I could have ever imagined! Within a few months I have over 1000 fans & SO many requests for dolls & other toys that I could barely keep up.

I not only had orders coming out my ears from customers, I also had requests here & there from business’s wanting to sell my products! (I still have some dolls at www.quirky kids.com.au )

Originally I would sell my dolls as “made to order” then make them once I had been paid for an order, then before I knew it I just had too many orders so decided only to sell the stock that I had! To be honest for a small business owner like myself business was going like a dream and I was feeling great about myself being able to earn my own money again.

For my regular face book fans you may remember that in early 2011 I found out I was pregnant, which didn’t have an impact on the running of my business at at all until after our beautiful bub Audrey was born in June.

I thought that initially I would put things on hold for a couple of months and then once we were in a routine I would be able to get back to my sewing again and things would resume to running as smoothly as they had!

Well, boy was I wrong - with my other half away most of the time I am pretty much running our day to day life as if I was a single mum (& I must add I have the utmost respect now for singles mums, you are super mums!).

I am not sure what is was - if it was really that much more work having a baby in the house, or if it was just that Evie was getting to an age where she needed to have constant interaction - or at least something to occupy her mind most of the day!? I am still not sure what it is but I was finding that I did not have time for anything at all, let alone my sewing! L

I started to feel some days that I was going to go crazy sitting at home all day (well not that I sit very often at all, but you get my drift) & being well “just” a mum!

There was one particular day that I actually thought I may have had post-natal depression!! I mean, seriously I was feeling that crappy .. . I even pulled out an old brochure I had remembered that I was given my the child health nurse when Audrey was born and was going through the check list seeing if I have any thing on the list!! Arggh!! Haha, not exactly one of my best moments I assure you! J

Being home by myself with a baby & a toddler (whom I might add, do not get along - well Miss 2 has not taken to her baby sister at all! Only now after 9 months I can see hints of kindness coming out!! Eeekk!) I felt like I needed to see that there was a light at the end of the tunnel & I needed to know that when the day comes when our babies are old enough to head off to school I will not be sitting here scratching my head wondering what the hell I will do!

So I figured that if I could not really put the time I needed into “Evie & Henry- creations for little people” then I would have to work towards something else, something that would prove my worth to the world, myself & most of all my partner, James!



So I made the decision to enrol in university & study my Bachelor of Education!

Well, I started uni one month ago . .. & I dropped out of uni, hmm, one week ago!!

Now I was never one of those people in school that really gave a stuff at how well I went in school, and although I passed I never put in any effort. I always new that if I really focused I would be able to do well, but it was never something that was a priority to me.

Well, I had decided right from the start that uni would be different - I was determined to excel in everything I did & get the marks that I knew I could have gotten had I bothered to put in any effort at school.

I wrote myself up a strict schedule around my day to day routine - starting from 6.30am and going through till the girls were in be by 7.30pm every night - I then would tidy up, feed the dogs, water the lawn & then it was strictly study time for 4 hours!! Bedtime was usually not till at least midnight every night!

I did all the readings, listened to all the lectures at least once or twice & conversed regularly with the other students & tutors like I was supposed to. I even organised a study group to catch up with other students in my area, I was so super organised and to be honest was getting quite a kick out of how well I was able to understand & make sense out of everything I was studying. I mean, I could have actually done really well in school had I of actually given a s*** - but not to worry, now I was able to make up for that so was feeling great!

This went on for almost 3 weeks until the first cracks started to appear .. . First it was my washing that started to pile up, then it was Evie constantly whinging at me, and me snapping back (which is not how I would normally react). I went for pretty much 3 weeks with out leaving the house hardly & barely catching up with any of my family or friends . .. Then after a couple of days of me sensing that our household was not running as smoothly as usual Audrey started teething really badly!

She was, and still is super clingy to me and wanting to be breast fed every second of the day . .. I felt like every time I fed her she was literally draining all my remaining energy out of me. (Poor little babe, she was probably sending how I felt too). So within just a few short days, my super strict uni study schedule was completely messed up and before I knew it I had lost about 18 hours of study time! Well, there is no way in the world that could ever get those 18 hours back!!! So this is when I started to really start to crack . ..

I think I went a whole week where my head was just so strained with tension that it was sore to touch, I was snapping at poor little Eve & being totally grumpy and hardly spending any quality time with James when he got home from work, and poor little Audrey, I think she must have been sensing how stressed out I was!

One afternoon, I had some friends over & after sitting outside smoking a cigarette with a couple of them & distressing (I don’t smoke by the way, but on that day I really needed one! Haha!) I made the decision to drop out of uni.

I knew deep down that I had really put in all my effort and that to myself at least, I knew that if I could have actually dedicated myself and I would have done pretty well. But I had to make the decision there and then (there was a census date creeping up & if I didn’t withdraw by a certain date I would be charged for the whole (expensive - I might add) semester. I still do wish that I could have just completed my first assignment because I would have loved to get a good grade for all my effort .. . But none the less, after my friends had left that day (while drinking some red wine, that I had totally deserved) I contacted the student advisor & withdrew from my course.

That night I sat down on the couch in front of the TV & did NOTHING!! For the first time in the past month I actually sat there had a precious moment to relax.

I went to bed that night feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders & that I had done my best, but had totally made the right decision.

The next morning, it was like I woke to an aftermath of chaos from the previous month of totally neglecting my family & home (although I had not even realised at the time L )

I have never had so much washing to catch up on, cleaning to do & had LOTS of quality time to spend catching up with our babies.

This whole experience with uni & my effort to try & prove that I am more than “just” a mum has made me have a real hard look at myself and what I am doing!

I have know realised that I have the BEST job in the whole world, sure it gets a bit hectic & full on at times but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I also now realise that although I have always been a hard worker, never in my life has anything ever been as hard as the job I do as a mum!

So even though I had to learn the hard way, I am glad that I attempted to do uni even for the simple reason that it has opened my eyes and made me totally comfortable with being “just” a mum! In fact I am now determined to be the very best mum I can be by creating the best environment possible for our inquisitive & creative girls. And even though I wont have a piece of paper to prove it, or my parents wont have a graduation photo of me displayed on their wall - I don’t care because I am putting 120% into being the best mum I can be for our children.

So my reason for posting this blog is that in the past week we have had SO much fun in our little house with so many fun new activities that I would love to share what we are up to.

I would also love to stay in touch with some of my lovely friends that I have missed chatting with in the past few months.

Since I am no longer studying I have spent some time having a massive clean out & have re-organised every aspect of our lives in an attempt to have as many precious minutes in each day that we can.

I am hoping to get back to my little business soon, but want to focus on “just” being a mum for know.

So for all of you Mums out there, it has taken me a while to realise but what we do is the hardest job we will ever have in our lives & we should all be proud of what we do.

So really to me, whats the point in wishing I was somewhere else on days when it all gets to much, from now on am going to embrace what I do & just do the best job I can and will cherish every moment of raising our beautiful girls. And to be honest since I have made this decision Evie & Audrey have been having a ball every day from all the different activities & things we have doing & I am loving every minute of every day too.

:) xX