More birthday celebrations for Chloe!

Yesterday we had the big family party for Chloe’s 1st birthday – about 40 people plus a few kids which was just manageable – lucky I have a backyard now as there is no way they would have fit in the old place & lucky the weather held off & it turned out to be a great day despite the forecast. For food I decided on a nice table spread rather than a bbq as I thought it would give me much more time to sit & relax which was a nice theory but still didn’t work, food needed to be heated, passed out & drinks pushed on people too of course. I spent the previous weekend making loads of quiches which always leave the plate before they even hit the table, I think I only managed to score 1 myself yesterday which is a shame as I sit here starving today & wishing for leftovers. Also on the menu were dozens of sandwiches, fairy bread, sausage rolls & some cocktail franks which I thought would be fun for a kids party but I think are not going down too well today.

There was also a very delicious punch full of champagne, riesling, kirsch, lemonade, strawberries, oranges & apples.

For the fun part the cakes, I made this amazing pink cake, it’s a shame you cant see the inside as it was a vivid purply color thanks to the raspberries & pink food colouring. The recipe comes from Rosie Bakes a Peace of cake though I did change her decorating just a little to suit the theme, great recipe, great cake that not only looked good but tasted fantastic too, everyone loved it. I also made these yummy yoghurt & orange blossom cakes from Gourmet Traveller, which have been blogged about here previously if you want the recipe. They look fantastic & I love the Persian fairly floss. Note that I cheated a bit & made them as cup cakes to save time on icing them completely, great idea seeing as how I was still finishing the cakes as the guests were arriving. My mum also made loads of fairy cakes & cup cakes & I cant believe that every last bite got eaten, so much for my feast of leftovers today….

So the first year is over & I’m really looking forward to the 2nd – sure it will just as much fun as the first if not more.