Watching Preschooler (I’m on notice now since I accidentally called ‘long daycare with preschool hours’ just ‘daycare’ the other day)  SSG lick the whisk after we made icing for our cake together.

The icing was for this cake.  The one where I realised, too late, that I’d forgotten to add a cup of oil to the carrot cake batter component of.

Well, the cake was a huge success even without the oil.  There was just enough spice in the carrot cake with all the sweetness coming from the orange glaze.  The unique twist on having the cream cheese baked in as a filling rather than as the more common cream cheese frosting somehow made it less decadent to me.  Once something is baked into a cake, it would be sacrilegious to scrape half of it out in the manner of trying to be ‘good’ with the chocolate ganache on top of a layer cake, for example.

I baked the cake at a lower heat than the recipe specified and got in early with my sheet of foil to prevent it from browning as it baked.  I also refrigerated it overnight in an airtight container which I think also helped prevent it from drying out.  Without the oil, the cake had a little toughness to its texture and the cream cheese layer was a little dry but when you consider that the cake was virtually fat free, they were minuses I could happily live with.  When I do make the cake again, I think half a cup of oil would be more than enough for me.

The stem of a champagne flute framing my cake action shot belonged to this glass.

Which I enjoyed as I took in a view similar to this one that greeted me at every turn I took up to my friend’s house in that little slice of heaven on earth Sydney calls the Northern Beaches.  It really is magical driving across the Spit Bridge on your way in.  Boats bob gently on the water either side of the bridge and the sun always glitters off the water.  Always.  It’s only twenty minutes or so away from me (in heavenly long weekend traffic) but it feels like a different world completely. To all of you living in the Northern Beaches, how do you drag yourself (if you need to) away from home to deal with things like work, school drop offs and the shopping?

The egg hunt was an exercise in friendship.  The bulk of the eggs were found quickly by the eldest but there was enough to be excitedly discovered by the preschoolers.  The eggs were then shared out a little more evenly and rationed between healthier meals over the course of the day.  My friend and I made an executive decision to hold over the giant Kinder eggs for today.  We’re both just a bit curious ourselves to see just how giant the surprise will be inside the eggs…

There’s been random kindness along with the friendship this Easter long weekend.  Preschooler SSG was having a moment in the middle of the busy local bakery cafe we often visit for breakfast and no amount of reasoning or reassurance was going to make things right for him.  So the baker on duty popped over to our table and crouched on the floor to have a chat to the preschooler.  After a few minutes of chatting, this chocolate cupcake was offered and politely accepted.  And peace was restored.  It was such a lovely thing for her to have found the time to do on a busy morning as her delicious baking was flying off the shelves and lines of customers were snaking across the cafe and out onto the pavement.

Thank you.  On behalf of all the parents who’ve been there.