Making Cake Pops

I am experimenting with cake pops at the moment as we are going to a wedding and the bride and groom set up a competition to make cakes or sweets that will be fed to the guests. So I thought I would have a go at cake pops with a twist.

Saturday 11th May - First attempt:

I dyed the sponge pink and tried different fillings - jelly beans, marshmallows and strawberry flavoured chocolate. 
The marshmallows disappeared when cooked so I won't be using those again but the chocolate and beans worked well. Weirdly the pink dye didn't come out once cooked. Not bad for a first attempt and hubby seemed to like them after tasting well almost half of them.

Next step was to decorate, so I melted white chocolate and poured all over the cake pop then sprinkled with hearts and hundreds and thousands.
 
One mistake learnt was that I put the covered cake pops onto a flat surface so when it hardened one side of the cake pop was flat so I will put them in a glass next time to stand.

I'm pleased with my overall first attempt and they actually tasted pretty good.



Friday 17th May - The Recipe:
4oz Caster Sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp Milk
6oz Self Raising Flour
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract 

My extras :
Heart jelly beans - to add to each cake pop
Strawberry Chocolate to add to the mixture
White chocolate to cover the cake pop

The Final Entry


Decorated with white chocolate and covered in edible hearts, purple sparkle, hundreds and thousands and some had popping candy to give them a little extra twist.

Final Entry

All placed in a silver pot with white ribbon and filled with pink and white heart jelly beans.

Fingers crossed.














The Competition - Saturday 18th May
   
 
I knew I would have some competition but I thought I had a chance with the presentation alone.


GUTTED...........I didn't win and not even a runner up :(


I'm retiring from cake pop making.
 

4 years....OMG

Four years ago today I was wearing my lovely white dress and celebrating with family and friends. I can't believe where the time has gone (I said that last year too)

We've only really celebrated our anniversary once which was the first year as it was also to mark our 10 years together plus it was just the two of us then. We travelled around Scotland seeing Fort William, Loch Ness, Inverness, John O'Groats, Ullapool, Skye and Edinburgh, It was quite a trip.

Our 2nd anniversary we had a 9 day old baby so we had our hands full that year. 
Last year our 3rd I can't really remember I think we stayed in with a bottle of wine.

So how to mark our 4th, well I've been out and about with the boys as hubby has been at work. Starting at a sure start group this morning which was awful as I didn't know anyone and just got stared at so left half way through and spent a sunny day in the park and lunch at asda ( living the high life lol!).
When hubby is back We said we would go out or dinner at a local pub suitable for children of course, life is so different nowadays.

Look At My Little Guy

I just wanted to share a picture of my little guy, we went to a wedding on Saturday and look at him in his mini suit he's so cute.

In the park

If you love clothes I wrote a post on Mummy Beautiful on our wedding outfits

What Did I Choose To Wear

We had a wedding yesterday, I was debating over the outfit last week and I chose the black and yellow dress and added a black velvet jacket and a yellow flower in my hair to break the black up a little.

See last weeks post on this outfit as it was under £20.


My little man Ollie wore a mini suit which can you believe was more expensive than my outfit put together - madness. I would never normally spend over £30 on myself let alone mini clothes that will not last all that long but it had to be done as look how cute he is.

 
His out fit was from NEXT
Shirt, waistcoat and tie set was £19 and trousers £13 so a whooping £32. I can't believe I agreed to it but I did get lots of comments. 


He is going to have to wear this a few times now to justify the cost.

Three Years Married

It was my 3rd anniversary yesterday, I can't believe how quickly it has gone.

It's a lot harder to celebrate now we have our little man, last year he was only 9 days old so it was all about him and this year I thought I would surprise my husband and take the day off work but we ended up looking after the little terror and running errands.
Our first anniversary we spent travelling around Scotland which was pretty amazing, hopefully we can do that again some day.

Last month I read a post by fellow blogger Rachel the Hat celebrating her 2nd wedding anniversary with pictures of her budget wedding so I thought I would do the same.

 Here goes my wedding in pictures.

Me & my Daddy

Moments before seeing my groom

You are Husband & Wife

Our Guests

Mum, dad & mother & father in law

My Brother , new sister & brother in law

Narrow boat ride for all

Cutting Our Cake





Speeches



Our first dance

Caricature

Our day is over

We had a pretty special day considering we were on a tight budget, but I don't think it looked cheap. We had a late afternoon ceremony which was in a registry office (it was a pretty ugly room but you aren't in there that long) so we didn't have a sit down meal which saved us a fortune. Our wedding car, photography and cake we're at a huge discounted cost due to family friends or friends providing the service. My dress was brought in a closing down sale. Our band was 'Chris Cole and the rockets' which my dad is in so was free to me. My Father in law was just setting up a video company so our wedding was the practise (Northill Video) you can see a clip of our video on you tube.
 Our reception was at a small venue next to a canal who provided a buffet for the evening which was our biggest cost. We had a boat trip for our guests before the evening reception to make up for not having a sit down meal.
And we loved our caricaturist (well worth the money) and made the evening for us and our guests as they could take something away with them. 


If you are planning a wedding and have a small budget see if you know anyone who can provide a service or maybe do things yourself. I made our invites and put together bits and pieces for the tables such as love hearts and confetti. Disposable camera are great for tables as you catch great moments from guests with these.

Hope you like the pics.