Please can I show off - oh go on, please let me!

[Littlefish]

Have a look on my profile at the birthday cake I've just made for dd. It's the mermaid one at the top.

I'm very, very proud of it. It turned out so much better than I expected .

Carol Deacon Party Cakes for Kids and her Easy Party Cakes are both good for beginners, lots if tips, cake recipes and quantities are included and the cakes really are simple but look great. The sunbather on my profile and the rabbits in bed are from her. Dora is too - it's a Jungle animal one originally. The birdwatcher on StealthSqiggle's profile is also hers.

The other person to look out for is Carol Deacon, The make up bag, tent and baking lady are from a couple of her books. They're a bit more complex if you're a complete beginner though, imo.

Stealth, is that the Cosy Coupe you made after a night in the pub (was that you?) = it's good if it was . R2D2 is fabola, did you make it up? I'm dreading the birthday when ds1 or 2 asks for something like that. Power Rangers are hard enough!

OK cake for 30 [gulp] in oven

DD undecided between orange or blue icing with silver balls & snowflakes

Life gets easier when they make choices (age 11)

Olihan I think you mean Lindy Smith is the other person to look out for.

Yes - that was the post-pub Cosy Coupe - it was a bit wonkier than it looks in the photos (I chose the angles with care) but it travelled across the country in DH's care fine and was well received.

R2D2 was 'made-up' from a photo of a professional one I found online - he was huge though and the poor family I made him for was eating cake (and forcing it on all passers by) for weeks

they are fantastic!! I love the cat one.

Wow Littlefish, they are fantastic. How did you do the wool?

To do the kitten and wool one without going nuts you need one of these but I have a funny feeling it might have been Littlefish who did it by hand?

KatyMac how big is your cake for 30?

Oh yes, Lindy Smith, she's another good one but possibly not as simple as Carol.

I was actually thinking of Debbie Brown who did the baking day, etc.

4 egg victoria sponge in a 6 by 9 tin - which I have just iced in the dark, because the power cut we were having was supposed to last until tomorrow

But the electric just went on

I'm not sure I dare look

Go on, be brave. My DM made what she swore was a brown monster for DB at 3am under florescent lights - she was most annoyed when we told her in the morning that he was in fact purple

(he was a very cute monster though. Fortunately she had a back-up cake since DB burst into tears and refused to let anyone near his monster with a knife)

My dsis did that with the original rabbit's in bed cake. Howled the place down when mum tried to cut it, party bags went out cake-less and the cake sat on the side in the kitchen for months. The tears when mum finally binned it were immense.

I swear she would have done the same with the replica I made her for her 30th . In fact the two rabbits are still in a box, 6 months later!

Well it's very icy looking

Pale blue Icing, white sugar snowfakes, silver balls (occasionally pink ones, I guess they were in the wrong box

Not bad actually once the edges are off & it is cut into 30

fortunately the monster in question was made of fruit cake (so that he could support his own weight) so we had a few weeks into talking DB into letting us eat him (from the back)

Icy pink and blue cake sounds good

[nosy] where did you get your snowflakes?

In a biscuit decorating pack a while back - snowmen I think (might be last Christmas)

Stealthsquiggle - it was indeed me who made each strand of wool individually by rolling out very thin "sausages" of fondant icing.