Terrarium

Last weekend, Kabir and I worked on this joint project : Terrarium for his dinosaurs.  We spent our Saturday, shopping together in the nursery and a Pet Store(where we found most of the stuff needed).  Once we had everything, it was only a matter of minutes to put it all together. However, Kabir could not make up his mind on where to place his dinosaurs. Eventually, he decided that all his dinosaurs were herbivorous, so they had to be placed next to a plant(not that there was any other option). Then he spent rest of the evening feeding his dinosaurs of all sizes, the plants in the terrarium, in the process of which he toppled the container. So, we got a chance to redo the whole process. Fun of doing a project with a toddler.

Here are the directions I followed from Jill Fehrenbacher. This is another link which I found helpful.

Stuff you would need

Glass Bowl of any shape

Small Pebbles

Activated Charcoal(Pet Store)

Sphagnum Moss

Plants

Big Rocks and Fauna for decoration.

Directions
1.Start with a glass vessel in which you want to make a terrarium.  I used a large, clear, sphere-shaped glass bowl which I found at Michaels.You can get creative here - glass bulb, a hanging terrarium.. etc
2. Add a 1 1/2″ layer of small pebbles on the floor of the container.
3. Cover the pebbles with a thin layer of loose charcoal, which will help keep the water in your garden from stagnating.
4. Cover the charcoal with an inch layer of sphagnum moss. Look in the aquarium/terrarium section of a pet store for the pebbles, charcoal, and moss.
5. Now add enough potting soil so that the total contents occupy about 1/4 of the container. There will be some settling of the layers.
6. Choose small or miniature plant varieties so they do not overtake the container. The plants that have found to be the best suited are asparagus fern, mistletoe fig, and succulent aloe varieties. Add rocks, driftwood, etc to create the atmosphere of your choice. I added Dinosaurs and a wood Turtle.



Happy Making!

Lightining is ready.. vroom..vroom...vroom....

This is the cars cake I made for Kabir's friends' birthday recently. His Mom told me that he was Cars movie fan. So, I tried to incorporate some stuff from the movie. For the cake topper, I made 'Lightining McQueen' from fondant using the tutorial here. And a flag was an easy addition in the end.

My son was not sure why I was not making King(Blue car) and Mater(Brown car) as well. So, I convinced him that the brown(almost) cake is Mater, and the Blue icing is the King. Not sure if he bought it :-)

, As the Birthday boy wanted a Vanilla cake, I tried few recipes before I finalised this one. Its almost identical to the mom's sponge cake recipe. 

This Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe is adapted from Erica's recipe on allrecipes.com 

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup cake flour (after sifting)**
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

**If you are out of cake flour, 1 cup of cake flour can be substituted with 2 tbl spoon of corn starch in one cup, with rest of it filled with regular cake flour.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Separate the eggs. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks until very thick and lemon colored. Beat in sugar gradually. Add water and vanilla extract. Beat in flour.
3. In another bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Then add cream of tartar and salt. Beat mixture until whites are stiff, but not until they are dry. Fold this whipped mixture into yolk mixture.
4. Pour batter into an ungreased 9 inch tube pan. Bake for one hour, or until done. If using two 9 inch regular pans, reduce the cooking time to 35 minutes.

Tips, Tricks & Lessons learnt

• In a sponge cake, pan is not to be greased, as the oil in it will hold the batter from rising. But I lined the base of pan with parchment paper. Not sure if I was suppose to do it or not, but it worked out fine for me.
• Baking powder is not added to sponge cake. The leavening comes only from beaten egg whites.
• Either warm the eggs before using or take them out of refrigerator much before use. Warmed eggs hold more air and create more volume when they're whipped than cold eggs.
• Sponge cake tastes the best when soaked with a syrup or flavouring. I always prefer the pineapple syrup in the canned pineapple.
• Once the batter is ready, it should go into the pans and in the oven immediately. 
• If using a convection oven, always reduce the baking temperature by 25 degree F than what the recipe calls for. In this case, the baking temperature would be 300 degree F.

Happy Baking!

Rainbow Cake

I can already feel the cool breeze in the air and a sinking feeling that summer is almost over. But I could not have asked for a better summer time. With my Mom, brother and sister visiting us, we had an amazing time with many special moments. One such moment was a small celebration for my sister's birthday long after it was over :-)

  

It all started with our family trip to Niagara where we spotted a rainbow at every corner. So Kabir was all about rainbows for a while after that. I promised Kabir that I would bake a Rainbow cake on the next occasion. So once we reached home, I decided to have a belated birthday celebration for my sister with a Rainbow cake.

I started with a regular vanilla cake batter and divided it equally into 6 bowls using a measuring scale. This took so much longer than expected.

 Then started the coloring process. Kabir choose the colors for each bowl. After choosing each color, he sang the Birthday song for his Masee(aunt) while I mixed the color to batter. And then we both moved onto the next bowl, new color and same song.

And batter goes into the baking pans..

 

All the 6 layers baked and ready to be assembled..

Cake with whipped cream icing. After icing between all the 6 layers, I was out of icing and was lazy to make another batch. So, skipped icing the sides. But I think it looked ok..

Super excited birthday girl - Henna(or should I say Kabir). Kabir was jumping with excitement as he wanted to blow the candle and cut the cake. Henna can be seen physically restraining Kabir from falling into the cake :-)

And there goes the candle..

Whole family blowing  the candle.. If it wasn't for Henna, Kabir's face would be in the cake.

Finally, a peek into the inside of the cake.

Warmest birthday wishes to the best sister I could ever wish for. Love you!

 "A perfect sister I am not, but thankful for the one I've got"

--Unknown

Ice Cream Party

We all scream for Ice Cream!

We hosted an ice cream party for Kabir and his friends, this past weekend. I was so excited that we could have an outside party for a change. Weather God took mercy on us and decided to keep the temperatures in bearable limits. All the kids had a blast.  The small pools and the water slide made it even more fun.

This is the invitation which I sent out to all of Kabir's friends, a week before the party. Almost everyone turned up.

Even though it was just an Ice Cream party, I could not resist baking a cake. I got inspiration for this cake from Onecharmingparty

I made this general sign a while back with chalk paper on it. Depending on the theme of the party,  I can change the message on it. For writing on it, I prefer Chalk Ink pens which I got from Michaels.

Along with 5 flavor of ice creams, there were lots of stuff for the toppings. Sixlets, marshmallows, shaved coconut, dark chocolate chips, peanut chocolate chips, maraschino cherries, chocolate and strawberry syrup, whipped cream and tons of fruits.

 I also took out my chocolate fountain after a long time. There were fruits and marshmallows that kids could dip in it.

 

 

There were different types of cones and cups to choose from.

 I made Melonade drink for the kids. I got the idea for it from jessicaNdesigns. It was simple Lemonade with lots of chunks of watermelon in it.

For the adults, I made Italian Soda in Mango and Peach flavors.  It was a big hit. I think this is going to be a staple drink in all our next parties. I served it in Mason Jars.

 

Here's the recipe of Italian Soda I used from JessicaNDesigns:

• Fill the bottom of Mason Jar with Ice
• Add 1/4th cup Torani Syrup
• Add the jar with sparkling Mineral water
• Top with Redi Whip & add a straw

 I wanted to share the printables I designed for this party, but I need to find a good format to load it up in. Working on it. In the mean time, here are the pictures of kids having fun at the party.

That's my little one enjoying his share of Ice Cream

Some of the kids gathered together for the cake cutting. Many preferred to stay in water :-)

 

Looking forward to hosting another one next Summer.

Barney Party Ideas

Just this morning, I was asked some ideas about a Barney Birthday party. That got me thinking if it really would be that hard to pull off a purple party. I searched on the web, and I did not find anything interesting on it. So, I composed a list of the stuff and decorations that I would incorporate if I was hosting a Barney party. I have included a list of sellers for everything featured here.

Burlap Banner by ExpressionsInDesign.

Cake and cupcakes by Pearly Cakes

Cup cake wrappers & Candy cones by iecreations.

Polka Dot Balloons, Paper plates and Napkins form Plates and Napkins.

Bunting by BlueMoonStudios.

Ruffled Crepe paper from TheRedRobin. 

Paper garland by InkWhimsy

Tissue Pom pom by PomLove shop

Mini Pom pom by MissPropShop 

Felt Crown hat from Stell and Livi

Rustic Decor Balls by RusticWeddingStyle.

Birthday Banner by PartyTreats.

Purple polka dot paper straws from Isakay Boutique.

Burlap favor bags are from the White Thistle Bridal

I hope parents of Barney fans find it helpful.