Cake 20 - part one...what's inside?

A surprise package arrived in the post today. What could it be? Pepper is curious, and has noticed that the sender's name on the label looks very familiar!

The box contained this: cake, stars and a card (and two newspapers from Qatar)

The card inside revealed that this is Dennis' Aunty Jenny's recipe.

Yay! A very special fruitcake...a birthday cake which is fantastically timed for Christmas.

We miss our neighbours, and this cake will be savoured and enjoyed for many weeks.

Cake 19 - in Adelaide

October 30th.

Thank you to our wonderful niece Imogen for creating this delicious chocolate cake, topped with Lindt Choc Mint balls. Very nice touch.

We enjoyed Paul's cake with Catherine, Oliver, Pheobe and Imogen - thank you. xx

Our weekend in Adelaide celebrated more than just one '50'. First the cake for Paul, and then a short drive north to Gawler to our friend Abby's for her 50th birthday.

A great weekend with friends and family.

Special knife to cut the cake

Cake 18

October 18: Thank you to Nuala and Joe who visited for the weekend and surprised us with this delicious chocolate and fruit tart. Very yum.

Cake 17 - 17, 17, 17 and a 17th

17th October - with special thanks to 17 year old Seb who decided it was appropriate to bake the 17th cake.

Seb pointed out that this cake also involved losing a 17th of the tip of his finger. (sharp knife!)

No doubt this is why this chocolate cake tasted extra delicious.

Cake 16 - Paul's first virtual cake!

Kate's Auntie Annabel's Date and Walnut Cake

8 October 2010

Kate made Paul's 16th cake using her Aunty's recipe and her great-grandmother's cake tin.

Thank you Kate, Chris and Ben who live in the UK, for our VERY FIRST virtual cake.
At 9am UK time and 7pm Australia time, we connected via Skype.

For an extra fun twist, Kate sent me the recipe and I made an identical cake. We had two cakes, each with candles. Ben blew out the UK candle, Paul blew out the Australian candle.

We all sang happy birthday.

Paul with Kate's cake on Skype

Ben blowing out the candle

Both cakes together, both with the candles lit

Paul used my grandmother's mother's carving knife to cut our cake
Paul blowing out the Australian cake

The Australian cake in progress.

Great recipe, thanks Kate! I used my grandmother's spoon to mix the cake, and a special cake tin that was a gift from our wonderful neighbours who are overseas.

The Australian cake in progress.

The Australian cake and candle.

Cake 15

Annette's Delicious Cheesecake

2 October 2010


We celebrated with Annette and Nigel, and our friends from Sydney, Sue and Jeff.
Fantastic cheesecake, thank you Annette!

Cake 14

Seb's Special Chocolate Cake

26 September 2010

This is Seb's cake, this time with a creative twist, different sized layers and additional decoration.

Thank you Seb and Mike (Paul's brother), Steve, Arlene and Alex for celebrating Cake #14 with Paul.

Cake 13

Very Special Carrot Cake

25 September 2010

Thank you Joyanne and Andy for hosting dinner. Together with Kay and Grant we all had a wonderful evening.

Joyanne made what she suggested was an "almost disaster cake" which was not a disaster at all, instead it is on the 'must do again' list.

Special ingredients: carrots, glace ginger, pineapple and macadamias. The cooked cakes are then drenched in syrup and joined together and topped with icing. Very nice (as was the dinner).

Cake 12

Vanilla Cupcake and Lemon Icing with pansy decoration

25 September, 2010

Thank you Kay, so beautifully presented. Kay and Grant arrived at Joyanne and Andy's for dinner (see Cake #13) with this surprise. Kay whipped up this creation just before arriving.

Blowing out the candle

While I write this blog on this sunny Sunday afternoon, Paul, Seb and I enjoyed the cake. Yum.

Cake 11

Chocolate Guiness Cake, from Nigella Lawson's "Feast".

21 September, 2010

The cream cheese icing mimics the froth on a guiness :)

This was an experiment - I had never made this cake. Can Guiness really work in a cake? Yes it can! Thumbs up all round: "definitely must do again".

Thank you to Felicity and Vaughan for hosting a delicious dinner. Also included Bruce and his son Christopher, and Felicity and Vaughan's sons Nigel, Stephen and Warren.

This was a joint celebration: a farewell to Vaughan who is being posted overseas for a few months, during which he will celebrate his 50th. I made the cake to us all to celebrate and to wish Vaughan all the best.

Vaughan and Paul both cutting the cake

Felicity's gorgeous fruit salad went well with the cake


In the oven

Just before the trip to the oven

Cake 10

Yum! Poppyseed Cake, made by Nicole. A long-time family favourite, Nicole used the recipe passed down from her mother. Thank you Nicole, Bruce and Marie for a wonderful evening!

It's 10th September, and we have our 10th cake. In the year 2010.

A close-up shot of the delicious cake

Cake 9

Gluten-free Chocolate Cake

29 August, 2010

Thank you to all our walking friends - dinner at QStation in Sydney, 28th August with Alice, Warwick, Greg, James, Simon, Robert, Campbell, Maria, Mary-Anne, Wayne, Deb.
Cake supplied by QStation's restaurant (we spied a Michel's Bakery box in their kitchen!)

Cake 8

Chocolate Muffin

9 August 2010.

Thank you Jenny (my mum) & Bob (step-dad) for sharing this with us.


A cupcake enjoyed by the four of us for morning tea on Monday 9th August.

Cake 7

Chocolate-coated Strawberries

4 August 2010

With thanks: Irene and Graham. We were so happy and excited when we found this in our room! This was the surprise when we arrived at O'Reilly's for our 5-day rainforest walking holiday.




Surprise! When we arrived at our holiday destination last week, in our room were two platters of chocolate-covered strawberries, a bottle of champagne and a card from Irene and Graham.

Delicious.

Cake 6

Chocolate Cake

2 August 2010

Thanks to Irene, one of Paul's wonderful team, for baking this delicious Chocolate Cake, enjoyed by Paul and everyone at work.

It's only day 3, and we're up to cake six already....yum.