Monday, May 21, 2012

Grace's 3rd Birthday Party



Well, with Grace's birthday party finally over for another year, I feel as though I can now relax a little.  I'm still not on top of housework and our sleep has continued to be very disrupted thanks to both girls having had head colds this past week and Sophie teething badly, but not having the pressure of a party (albeit a simple one) to put together, means this week will be much less stressful.

I kept Grace's birthday celebration as simple as I could and decided that my focus should be on the birthday cake.  After all, when I think back to my own birthday parties as a little girl, it's the cakes that I remember.  My Mum and mother-in-law also made a few dishes to help me out with the food.

The good old rainbow cake really was a bit of an experiment and I had all my fingers crossed that it would turn out in the end.  On Saturday evening as I was icing it, I honestly thought it hadn't turned out as well as I'd hoped.  I had already decided to just stick to four coloured layers to make things simpler (four was fiddly enough as it was) and so I bought yellow, green, pink and purple food colouring paste.  I also bought packet butter cake mix to make things easier still.  However, as I mixed in the purple, I suddenly wished I'd gone for blue instead as the purple looked shocking.  It was a real grey, sick looking shade and I hoped that perhaps once it had cooked, the colour might change and brighten up.  No such luck and so the purple layer found its way to the bin.  In the end though, my three layers was plenty high enough and I actually think any more would have been a bit too much.


For anyone on Pinterest or who blogs, a rainbow-style cake is a bit 'yesterday'.  But to my family who had never seen such a design, they were very impressed.  To make one like I did I used two packets of Green's Golden Butter Cake mix which I divided into four 8 inch round cake tins.  I doubled my recipe for buttercream frosting and so used 250g softened butter, 3 cups icing sugar and 4 tablespoons of milk and beat it for a very long time to get it nice and fluffy and smooth.  A palette knife helped ice the cake neatly.  This was exactly the right amount of icing for what I needed.  I layered the cake and iced it the night before, and kept it in an air tight container overnight.  To decorate the cake I just sprinkled hundreds and thousands on top and put Jaffas around the bottom edge.  If you like buttercream frosting, you will love this cake.  I'd like to try one with different shades of the same colour next.



Sitting down after the party yesterday afternoon, I was so happy with how it all went.  And while a lot of things I had planned didn't eventuate (rainbow tags for the favour bags, a 'rainbow' of helium balloons and a rainbow skirt for the birthday girl), it really was a perfect, simple, good old-fashioned birthday party.  The weather was gloriously sunny and warm, we had a good number of guests where I felt like I had the chance to speak to everyone, the cake was a hit and Grace enjoyed herself. 

32 comments:

  1. 3 layers for a 3rd Birthday seems pretty perfect to me, those layers look perfect you did a fantastic job. We are always our harshest critics arent we? It looks amazing honest! Happy Birthday little princess Grace from your fellow Taurean x

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    1. I hadn't even thought of 3 layers for her 3rd birthday!!

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  2. That's wonderful Amanda. So good to hear. Incidentally, I wanted to say thank you on my blog this week for introducing me to so many very cool sites, which led me to something I've been looking for for months. P.S. I love your curls!

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    1. Glad I've been of help :) Thanks for the compliment too x

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  3. Happy Birthday to Grace! Your cake looks wonderful Amanda and I bet Grace loved it!
    Xx

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  4. Happy Birthday Miss Grace! So love how you only did 3 layers! Hamish is still insisting on a rainbow cake for his birthday and I think I will follow your advice and stick to only a few layers. Thanks for all the tips! The party looks gorgeous and I would love to know where you got the rainbow tablecloth from please! xx

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    1. The tablecloth is actually fabric from Spotlight, in the section with the polka dot/striped cottons.

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  5. It all looks wonderful- and a three layer cake is perfect for a third birthday! xx

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  6. Happy birthday to little Grace! You did a spectacular job on the cake!!!!

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  7. Happy Birthday Grace. I love the cake, a different colour for each year.

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  8. Happy birthday grace ! The cake looks amazing Amanda - yum !!

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  9. Oh that cake is divine, so clever.x

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  10. it really looks delish......I'd love a piece and the frosting yummmmm, i'd like to make one sometime smooch have a wonderful week lisa xx

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  11. aww, it looks like a wonderful party and those three layers look deeelish! lucky birthday girl :)

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  12. the cake turned out beautifully! well done you! i am very impressed. (i'm not going to even attempt a cake for olive's 1st birthday..it's bought cakes all the way! but with sherbet and ruby's patisserie close by, who would even bother to bake?!)

    it looked like such a lovely day...happy birthday grace!

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  13. Awwww Happy Birthday Grace! Grace looks very happy (which really is all that matters). The cake is beautiful and looks so delicious, I absolutely love buttercream frosting!! The table setting is beautiful, too! Looks like the perfect party! Great job, Amanda!

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  14. The cake looks gorgeous amanda! I can imagine how purple can sometimes look a bit odd, but I think your combination is just lovely!! So glad the weather was nice ad you all had a wonderful day! Lots of love to you!
    laura xx

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  15. Glad to hear you have got a quiet week after your crazy one last week! Sounds like you are due for a bit of R&R and feet up time :)

    The rainbow cake looks great, I bet Grace was so pleased with it, who cares if it is 'yesterday's news' - I bet she didn't!

    Also, I meant to send you an email a week ago, my Secret Garden book arrived, thank you! It is even prettier than they look in the photo :)

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    1. Glad it's arrived safe and sound and you're happy with it x

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  16. You did a wonderful job of Grace's birthday party, it looks lovely and you're right most important is that she had fun. I think Grace's cake looks fabulous and sounds a lot easier to make than it looks, I may even be able to manage it. xx

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  17. Happy Birthday to your little girl Amanda, you did a great job, the cake is gorgeous (I luurrve buttercream frosting), I'm sure some beautiful memories were made :)

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  18. Nice work - I think it's nicer to keep kid's parties simple. They're a bit nutty now with all the themes and elaborate "favours" and matchy-matchy dessert tables etc! I liked the simple parties from my childhood - all we needed was a cake, maybe pass the parcel and chocolate crackles and we spent most the time running around the back garden.

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  19. Isn't Grace looking so grown up these days :)
    Awesome job on the cake Amanda, it looks fantastic and now that you mention it the cake it the only thing I remember about any of my birthdays.
    Sounds like a lovely day of memory making.
    x

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  20. That cake looks absolutely amazing Amanda, so lovely and it sounds like the best kind of party to me! I hope you all had a lovely day together x

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  21. Beautiful! The cake, Miss Grace, and you. Well done. Now, to rest xx

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  22. The cake looks fab, the colours are really pretty!

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  23. Amanda that cake looks beautiful. I really love how you kept it simple and the sprinkles and jaffas on the cake are really creative touch. I bet Grace just smiled when she saw it:) Happy 3rd birthday to your sweet girl:) xx

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  24. Sounds - and looks! - like a pretty ace party for a 3 year old...I tend to think simple parties with a few cute handmade details are the best - for both the littlies and the parents throwing the do! Grace looks adorable in those pics. Such a sweetie x

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  25. adorable cake Amanda, the colours look really lovely, well done you! And I hope you get a few better nights with less colds and teething this week x

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  26. Looks like a very happy day. Happy three to Grace! Well done on the cake. It's very clever of you. x

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  27. Beautiful cake Amanda,looks lovely without the purple.

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