Saturday Cake Day – Rum Ham

Today I look back at the previous weekend and the cake I made for my brother’s birthday: a pineapple upside-down cake. And believe me, on that day, cake was needed.

I’ve said before about my father being terminal, and though doctors gave him this year, we’ve really no idea (experience tells me you never really know). The cancer caused an infection in his hip, damaging the bone enough that it needed to be removed. Not replaced. Removed. And thanks to Covid, this was not a night of family getting together in the hospital. Instead it was an evening of waiting by the phone to see if he’d pull through the Hail Mary of an operation. To cut the tension, he did make. I remained glued to my phone, only to wake Saturday morning to news from my uncle, not about Dad, but Grandma. Taken to hospital during the night with heart failure. Ringing my brother to give him the update, and fitting in a Happy Birthday, was not easy. But the week has seen the situation improve, with my grandma able to return home, and my father managing to walk around his hospital room with a zimmer frame.

Oh, and because bad things come in threes, my brother had a reaction to some bug bites and had swollen and blotchy legs the whole day. He rated it his second worse birthday, so apparently, it could have been worse.

Now to move on from the trauma of the day, lets get to the cake. Like me, Little Bro is a huge It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan. How does that link to a pineapple upside-down cake? Loosely at best! But link it, I did. Those familiar with the show will know of Rum Ham, Frank’s alcoholic snack he’s forced to bid farewell to Wilson style. 

Rum Ham GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

See the comparisons? Yeah, I did say it was loose, but the pineapple went down a treat on the hot day. And the fruit basically made it healthy, right?

But in conclusion… Happy Birthday Little Bro!

May be an image of 1 person, sitting and outdoors

Saturday Cake Day – Playdough and Pride

I looked through the back catalogue of cakes, and given that it’s June and Pride Month, I thought I’d share enough rainbow cake.

My oldest is rainbow mad, so I made him this cake on his 4th birthday. And yes, for the observant readers, he also had a Frozen cake, but that was for his party and this on his actual birthday.

Remember when we could go places? We visited the Sea Life Centre, had sushi (his favourite), and came home for cake. Good, so far. Except… The buttercream icing is meant to be made using unsalted butter, and I may have picked the wrong butter up at shops. Salted! The cake tasted like playdough and no one ate it! Whoops! But it looked okay, which is odd for me, as before I started trying to make decent looking cakes, mine were always ‘tastes good, looks awful’.

Saturday Cake Day – A Frozen Birthday

As I’ve just finished the busiest period of the year for birthdays in my family, I thought I’d take a look back at the second busiest month – January. And I’m going way back, back when Covid was just something on the news that would probably just blow over (yeah right…). So we’ll travel back to early 2020, to my oldest son’s fourth birthday, when the only thing he had any interest in was Frozen.

Absolutely everything was Frozen. Frozen bouncy castle, Frozen decorations, Frozen dressed, and of course a Frozen Cake. My son lived in the Elsa dress he’d gotten for Christmas, and with his friends coming dressed up too, we had Elsas everywhere!

As a Frozen cake had been requested, I set about coming up with ways I could make the cake look icy. In the end I went with the geode cake, using sugar crystals and food colouring to create the frozen look. I must admit I wasn’t completely sure what to do about the top of the cake, and the candle arrangement always makes me think of the Iron Throne, perhaps if the Night King claims it.

My son talks non-stop about the idea of having another birthday party. This year we were able to blow out candles with the family over Zoom, so we’ll have to wait and see what next year brings. He’s moved on from his Frozen phase, but if his current likes are anything to go by, I’ll be making either a rainbow cake, unicorn cake, She-Ra cake, or a cake that encompasses all three!