twin cakes

Our neighbors Ben & Melissa have young twin daughters. When looking through my scrapbook album Melissa noticed the pictures of the fancy birthday cakes I had made for my twins Ben & Kate when they were small. I showed her my trusty Women's Weekly (Aussie magazine) "Favourite Childrens Birthday Cakes" book that I had used all those years ago and offered to help her make something from the book for Ava & Ella's next birthday. (They were turning 5 - quite a milestone for a mother of twins!) So with a "princess" theme in mind we decided to go for the "dolly varden" cake (times two of course). Basically the cake is the skirt of the doll with a Barbie look-alike inserted in the top. Unfortunately Ava is allergic to eggs, dairy and peanuts so the biggest challenge was finding a cake receipe that didn't use eggs, butter or milk! Eventually we found a vegan receipe that with some experimenting (and an extremely long cook time) turned out quite well. With a little bit of instruction on how to use the piping nozzle and bag to decorate the cake with icing rosettes Melissa soon had the girls (and herself) squealing with delight at the results. I think she did a very professional-looking job. You'd never know it was it her first attempt. For me it was a great walk down memory lane remembering the "fun" of choosing a design, having it actually turn out like the picture and seeing the delight the children had at having such a "special cake" made with love by Mom. I think the princesses had a lovely day.