tres leches cakepudding

After the resounding inter (and intra) national success of The Rainbow Cake I think I've been suffering from baking-fatigue. Or maybe just feeling a little intimidated-slash-porky?

Husband even baked his own birthday cake in July!

But last month I got the call again: I had to bake.

Tres Leches Cake has been on my To Bake list since, well since back when I used to read The Pioneer Woman. You know, back before I decided she can't be real and must be a product of Harpo Studios (don't laugh, I'm not the only one who thinks so), and back before frankly I found a whole bunch of other much better reads!

Anyhoo, it was time. And with the enormous number of new and breast-feeding mums I know out there (in real life and the blogosphere), I thought a Three Milk Cake was kinda appropriate.

I used PW's ingredient list, but moved closer to home for the method. Nook Eatery is a gorgeous little food blog I've been enjoying lately and their method produced a lighter cake, more delicious for refrigerating overnight.

You know I'm a lazy slag when it comes to actually writing out these recipes, does this look like a food blog to you? But I can recommend visiting the links and making this yourself.

Served with whipped cream and fresh fruit it's almost more of a cakepudding. Three-milk-cake-pudding-cake. What's not to love?

rainbow cake

For the best visual impact : actual effort ratio I can't recommend this cake more highly.

The most time-consuming part was having lots of fun reeling through Pinterest finding 'inspiration'. All hail Pinterest.

The easiest part was taking heed of the advice to freeze the layers before constructing the final product. This meant I could bake the layers in two batches, over two evenings, and keep them in the freezer until the night before the party.

The most important part is to use decent food colouring. I did not, as one guest's mother (half?) jokingly inquired, use natural food dyes (have your seen those colours??) but soft gel paste colouring made by Americolor . Brilliant stuff.

 pre-outer icing, with the wooden rainbow puzzle which inspired it all

The most anti-global imperialism part was staying true to my belief that I spell colour correctly, despite what blogger and every other website on my path towards creating this masterpiece told me.

The yummiest part, in my opinion, was the creamy vanilla icing I made from Julochka's recipe. This even after I abused it's subtle constitution by re-beating it on the evening of construction (I'd made it much earlier that day) instead of having the patience to allow it to come to room temperature in her own, sweet, time.
Thank god Husband is such a good plasterer - his skillz came in handy.

The most anxious part was when I thought my final layer was looking decidedly brown, but it turned out a beautiful deep purple once baked.

The most engineerical (real word, I promise) part was dividing the batter. Once I'd calculated I should use 360g per layer the rest was a ... well, cake walk.
Digital scale ahoy.

The funniest part: when the final chunk collapsed at the party.

Such fun!

over the rainbow

It was a little unnerving, when looking for ideas for this party, to discover that Rainbow Party had a whole other meaning I'd not been aware of. It seems my tweenhood was far more protected than I thought at the time ....

Anyhoo, be assured that Frieda's 4th Birthday Party on Saturday was not that colourful.

It did however feature some orgasmic deliciousness, not least of all my darling girls.

(alas, little friend Eva's life will now never be complete without a rainbow cake all of her own)

 

ye gods, what is this thing of such colour and deliciousness?

yes they have matching cardi's - but only for Very Special Occasions.

mein gott it's goot!

Stella can't eat bananas. Seriously, I may as well feed the child a bag of cement.
Frieda's not that into them.
I'm not a huge fan having eaten far too many when I was pregnant with Frieda (Oh wait, I'm seeing a correlation here ...).
Husband likes bananas but can't really be expected to solely consume all the bananas which still somehow manage to make their way into our house.

Banana bread however - we'll all happily eat that. (Except Stella who still has the whole er ... solidity ... issue to contend with.)

And really, when it comes to banana bread there is no contest. Julochka's Grandma Goot is The Ultimate Banana Bread Babe of all time.
Don't take my word for it. Make one today.
With or without chocolate.

And incidentally, a good Mama, when baking banana bread a couple of days before Easter, takes the time to blow the eggs required in order to have blown eggs (or hollowed eggs) available for decorating over the Easter weekend.
This Mama was good, but who knew blowing eggs was such hard work!
I think I may have had a harder time than the chicken who originally produced them.
Seriously, for someone who narrowly managed to avoid natural labour twice this was some exertion. I had to check my eyes for burst blood vessels afterward.

I think we'll only have a few eggs around for decorating this year ...

baby got back

I like big bundts and a cannot lie ...

And finally I have my own.