Homemade Recipes!

The Cheshire Cat and Aliens

It was my boyfriend's 21st party yesterday, and seen as I was lucky enough to have LOTS of amazingly constructed cakes when I was younger, I decided to follow in my mother's footsteps and make a special one for him (with a fair bit of her help). I searched and searched online for inspiration, passing some off as too difficult (Woody from Toy Story) or too simple (a caterpillar cake) and finally settled on doing the Cheshire Cat from Alice In Wonderland.

I found a picture online, and made a template out of paper, so that once I'd baked the two cakes (vanilla madeira sponge- it lasts longer) I could cut the shape out by placing the template on top. I chose to sandwich them together with jam and buttercream, but if you wanted to make a chocolate cake you could use chocolate spread, or lemon curd if you wanted to make a traditional citrus madeira cake.

I cheated slightly and bought some pre-rolled royal icing, and after putting a bit more buttercream on the top of the cake to act as glue, I placed the icing on top, and moulded it into shape using my fingers, and a bit of water to stick bits together. I'd bought some black icing gel to do the outlines, so I drew the tail on first as it seemed the easiest place to start. I then had the task of trying to make the right shades of pink and purple for the stripes. I only had pink (which was basically red anyway) and blue food colouring, so with great difficulty I reached a colour I thought looked at least slightly purple, even if it wasn't exactly right.

I then painted in the stripes using two thin paintbrushes. I decided to do the face next rather than painting the whole body first, so i moulded some pink food colouring into some more royal icing to make the inside of the ears, the paw and the section around the mouth. I cut two circles for the eyes and stuck them on with buttercream and then iced the pupils, nose and whiskers on with the black gel.

The next bit was a bit of a guessing game. I painted the stripes in one by one, basically stopping once I thought they looked thick enough. The end result looked good though, so at least it worked! The final thing I did was to outline all the stripes with black icing. It made the colour look a lot brighter, and also clearly defined the stripes.

I was really happy with the end product, as was my boyfriend. I also made some little cupcakes that looked like the Toy Story aliens to go with it, simple fairy buns with green icing and white chocolate buttons for eyes. I snipped up some green Haribo sweets to make little ears for them, and after a fruitless search for green laces to use as their antennae, I improvised with spaghetti dyed green with food colouring!

Summer Views...

Toy Story 3- 5 stars *****

Despite now being twenty, I still always feel the need to go and see any new Disney film when it's released, just to relive the feelings of childhood. When I heard they were making Toy Story 3 in summer of last year, I was pretty excited, so when it came out in cinemas I was certain this was one film I wasn't going to miss out on.

With my dad and sister in tow, I headed to our local cinema to see the picture in 3D. Neither of them had seen a film in it before, so we all decided it would be worth it (and when I wasn't paying, I couldn't complain!) Whether it was just the cinema we went to I don't know, but I was horrified when I learnt that you now have to pay for the 3D glasses on top of the already pricey ticket fee, and that if you are using Orange Wednesdays, you only get a free ordinary ticket, so then have to pay to upgrade it to 3D as well. If it wasn't for us using the Orange deal, a trip to the cinema with parking would have come to nearly thirty pound!

Grumbles aside, the film was amazing. I'm not just following the masses or liking it for the kiddie factor, I genuinely thought it was a very good flick. I was wary with it being third time round, that the storyline may be stunted, or the jokes a little stale, but it was action packed, funny and still retained the Toy Story essence that made it popular in the beginning. All the characters remained loyal to their original personalities; nervous and panicky Rex, argumentative Mr Potato Head, money conscious Hamm, and of course the famous duo that is Woody and Buzz Lightyear, as well as them being joined by some new faces that were memorable, in particular the fashion conscious Ken.

The plot was simple but effective. Andy, the toy's owner, is leaving for college, and the dilemma of where the group will end up begins. There are a number of times when it seems like everything is solved, only for another problem to befall the crew and they are left back at square one. The pace is kept up by the diversity of the characters, and the jokes that are scattered throughout, so it is entertaining despite the lack of complexity in the storyline. The ending is a tearjerker too!

It was good to watch in 3D, but I certainly don't think it is necessary in order to fully enjoy the motion picture. There is always so much going on that just the scenes, colours and action are more than enough to keep your eyes firmly on the screen. I would recommend Toy Story 3 to anybody, whether you have seen the previous two instalments or not. Any film where a seventy year old can sit next to a four year old and both can enjoy and relate to it surely deserves some recognition. Oh, and look out for Mr Potato Head's 'wrap' scene. Absolute comedy gem!