Shirley's Party Advice Part 7 - how did they all get so big...

[stealthsquiggle]

Part 7 - link to previous one to follow!

Lol ah yes the scale of my snake and mouses tail snapped!

My table is currently covered in about 40 fondant pepperoni's drying! Far less trouble.

Great idea re: the takeaway bags - the proper gruffalo party bags are really expensive!

We love a decorated take away bag on this thread

or a fabric bag

No. Dragon bags (complete with tail) are OK for whole parties but not Gruffalos

Dragon bags were less time consuming per bag than embroidered gruffalo (I think. I choose not to work it out )

Gather round, it's getting technical now.

CAKE TIME

I Can't risk using the un-iced cake because the party is sun and family party Monday and I only have tomorrow to make them, I'm worried they'll be like biscuits if I leave them un-iced.

So I've made fondant pepperoni which all look fab. I need to make the cakes, so I've watched a lot of YouTube and done some googling and I think I'm ok with fondant covering and painting it up pizza crust colour. Then topping, grated white cholcolate then pour melted on too. Then the pepperoni and dab with a bit of colouring to make it look browned.

So do you think buttercream would be okay spread on a fondant covered cake otherwise I'll paint fondant. And secondly if I make a 10 inch sponge in an 11 inch tin you think it'll be thin enough?

Do you have a 10 recipe stealth? Google gives too many versions and I don't trust it!

I think buttercream spread on fondant would be better than painted sauce. It will make the fondant underneath it go soggy, but that really doesn't matter in this context.

Painting pizza crust - I think I would sponge it - cut chunks from new sponge and dilute the colour with some vodka. I would also have a real pizza standing by to keep me going use as a reference.

Do you mean a 10" recipe? It wants to be relatively shallow. What flavour cake are you after? I am about to get on a plane home from the land of starting-with-cakemix, so I don't exactly have any to hand but can probably find something when I get home tomorrow.

Sorry stealth I forgot you were away from the cake books.

Yes I ordered a dominos and photographed it to death. I made the pepperoni and painted them with vodka.

That's what I'm thinking to get a shallow cake, I've got an 11" 10.6" and 10" set then a separate 8 inch tin. I thought if I maybe did a 10 or even 9" quantity in the 11" tin it should be shallow enough?

9" mix in 11" tin sounds about right to me. I think I would lower the temperature a bit to try and get it to cook through to the middle before the edges own, but I seem to be a bit rubbish at these things lately fortunately the chickens are happy to eat the evidence as long as it isn't blue or purple

I seem to be rubbish at cooking at the moment. You know when you've made something a zillion times and it seems to have morphed into something different and horrible!

Having cake issues again DW?

I have possibly torn my calf muscle (3 days before a bloody race!) so have spent the day sat down. One the plus side, I have made notes for DD's pirate party. Who's bored and wants to critique?

Also, sewing gurus, I got a load of mega cheap black fabric from the scrapstore so I was planning on making pirate loot bags rather than using take out bags again.

Should I just cut circles from the fabric and gather it up with a piece of ribbon to tie the top (also bought cheaply at the scrapstore) or should I cut out and sew little pouches instead? Perhaps with the ribbon threaded through a channel - although that is probably pushing my sewing skills.

No cake issues, they are turning out perfectly so far. I baked them to utter perfection, ive buttercreames/fondant and painted them a crust colour. They looking good! Letting the sugarpaste dry as much as poss before adding the buttercream topping etc.

Sewing. Drawstring really isnt hard just sew all the edges and a channel at the top, thread it through using a safety pin easy peasy!! How many do u need to do?

Abd ouch to the leg!

I need a pattern. I'm floundering!

The invites are finally coming together though..

I'll find you and online tutorial later, Blathers. What sort of fabric and how wide is your ribbon?

Erm, It's heavy-ish, like something you'd make cushion covers from or maybe light curtains. Like a heavy cotton. It's shinier than cotton so I'm guessing some sort of polyester. It had staples in so I think it's been used to cover a table or something. Can you tell I don't really know? It's black and I got about 3 meters for £3.

The ribbon is about 6-8mm.

DSis is being a genius again. My delicate returning mojo is feeling a little bruised already

Whats Dsis done?

Oooh - just seen her creation.

Bet she can't beat your parties though.

I just finished my "quick" cake for DB2 and DS (yawn)

Whats sis done?!!!

And what was the easy cakes?

She's making badges to put in the party bags for me. Skull and cross bones badges on a treasure map backing card with a sprinkling of sand in the wrapper. No half-arsed attempt from my sister!

Other sister is making pirate hair clips.

Wonder what I can get brother to do?

I think the least bro could do would be to turn up in full pirate gear and lead the games.

Our house is too tiny for big games.

The plan is :

Spyglass decorating - I've painted the cones I got from the scrapstore brown (Jake's spyglass is wooden) I'm going to add some woodgrain and some gold bands and then I've got a load of self adhesive jewels for them to decorate them with.

Necklace/bracelet making - I've got a load of beads from the scrapstore and have ordered some beading elastic so they can make themselves some pirate treasure

Pass the parcel treasure chest - small chest bought from hobbycraft which I'm halfway through painting. Will fill with gold dubloons and candy necklaces and let them choose a prize when the music stops

Pop up Pirate - obviously.

Possibly Pin the spade on the map - I'm considering making a treasure map with a big X in the middle and then blindfolding the kids and seeing who can pin their spade closest to the right spot. Sound OK?

I'll have some colouring as a back-up for anyone who looks at a lose end.

Between that, food and plenty of pirate music, I think we can fill 2 hours. If not, I have plenty of episodes of JatNP on the Sky Box