Thomas & his Friends

Hope you're all thinking the quietness here was worth it. The anticipation /excitement / challenge was for me!

Since then, we said good bye to Summer and hello to a whole lot of rain and humidity. Not exactly a baker's friend. However, you bake what you gotta cake.

So this week, we had to be super duper prepared and efficient and precise. We got a bit of a head start with all our fondant pieces for our Thomas cake. Left them out to dry for at least a few days so that they were easy to pick up. Even in this weather though, it would have been better had the pieces had another 3 or so days. Some of it was still quite soft in the centre but workable.

About 4 days before the party, we had our cookie party treats finished. We made 60 and a few spares in total. Thomas, Edward and James. And bringing back pieces from our childhood, Thomas is #1, Edward #2, Henry #3, Gordon #4, James #5, Percy #6, Toby #7 and Emily, the only girl engine!

2 days before the party and this cake business is beginning to get real. 2.5 quantities of vanilla cake and 1.5 quantities of vanilla buttercream makes this strange looking dirty iced cake. Don't let it fool you. It is so heavy and pretty fragile at this stage. If you were in a hurry, then I'd say stick it in the fridge for an hour or two to set. But leaving it out overnight was our preferred method. The cake is iced and therefore sealed so all the moisture of the cake stays right there!

Night before the party, moment of truth...

Fondant the board, cut out your letters and assemble that cake! This is where we would have benefited from a kitchen that had air conditioning. I guess an open kitchen with ample air flow is the next best thing. However, we could definitely feel the humidity and it took a few goes to get the fondant right without too much pulling and tearing. (Note to all you other bakers out there, go with the good fondant, cheap fondant just doesn't work as well).

And ... 3 hours later... Ta da!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Justin! Love you loads munchkin xx

Thank you to Ann from howtocookthat. Her tips are amazing as are all her other posts and tidbits.