Baby Shower Cakerer

(Okay, just in case you are worried due to my very Royal-inspired week thus far, no, I did not throw The Duchess of Cambridge a baby shower, I'm not that coo coo!!). 

My friend Lauren asked me a few weeks back if I would be interested in making a cake for a baby shower she was hosting for a friend of hers, and without hesitation I said yes! I had met the mama-to-be a few times and so was really excited to be doing some baking to celebrate the imminent arrival of her little girl! Plus, when Lauren hosts, she pulls together some pretty awesome people, and I for one was thrilled to bits to be the cakerer alongside the likes of tableware supplied by Laura Ashley. 

I started planning right away and luckily for me, there was already a theme (you know I love my themes!!). So, everything was to go with a general theme of yellow and grey. Knowing the mama-to-be works in children's book publishing, I thought of a few little ways of personalising the sweets in her honour.

Order One: A cake

I decided to make an Orange & Almond cake, because it would handle being made the day before, wouldn't dry out in the hot weather, and because it was in line with the theme colours! 

Recipe HERE

Order two: Small side cakes

Lauren and I had pinned the same exact idea on Pinterest! We both loved the idea of mini-ombre cakes, but with yellow of course. I used my trusty White Chocolate Mudcake recipe for this, which again, would be best made a day or two in advance and would be sweet enough on its own without all the icing that is usually on cakes. I baked four separate mudcakes, each a varying shade of yellow, and was happy with how they came out. Yellow is a tricky one for ombre, but I think it looked sweet. 

Order 3: Salted Caramel Anzac-Blondies

Being a group of Americans, it was no surprise that this was requested!! It's sweet, gooey, chewy and perfect for one who is soon to be due-y!! Haha oh dear. 

Order 4: Anything else I liked

Well, this one was a tricky one! The ideas just kept flowing and flowing, but I had to think of what would make sense with the other flavours, be easily transportable, and something that would withstand the heatwave that we were in. 

I decided to create Mini Lemon Shortbread Pavlova's.  

I loved how these turned out, and love that I can make them gluten free easily too. I used shortbread for the base, made lemon curd for the first time, and baked mini pavlova's for the tops! I think they looked gorgeous and out of everything, was a bit envious that I wouldn't get to have one!!

And then there were the little extras! 

Confetti-filled balloons

meg-made Confetti-Balloons on Etsy. I've also done them here and here.

Neither of us got a good photo of the yellow and grey confetti-filled balloons, but my darling husband spent two hours inflating every balloon and then hanging off the ceiling trying to tape them up. The heat combined with the high ceilings made his job difficult, but they looked beautiful scattered all over the ceiling (you'll have to take my word for it) and I was so grateful for him for staying and helping me out! He subs as sous chef often enough at home, and now can throw in balloon-tape-attachmenterer too).

Book Heart Picks

Browsing through Pinterest I saw these adorable heart food picks and knew immediately that I wanted to make some too!!

I went to our little antique store down the road and bought an appropriate old classic penguin book. It felt a little wrong cutting it up, but it was worth it when I saw the finished product. I think the vintage look of the texts compliments the modernness of the ombre cakes, and together is sweet, and yet personal. 

The bunting!

I was a bit chuffed actually with the little bunting I made. I resized some pictures of children's book covers and placed them on the front of some page inserts from the antique book I purchased. I then attached them all by needle and thread to some skewers, and finished with grey polkadot bows. 

Thanks for sharing some of your photos Lauren (meg-made-AK), I was in a mad rush to clean up and get my tired little girl out the door before the guest of honour arrived, and so my photos were pretty shoddy! 

From all reports, Grace had a wonderful shower and was well and truly pampered by all the girls! I can't wait to hear all about her little girl in a few weeks, good luck Grace!!!