An Easter Birthday Cake

Happy Easter everyone, we have had a marvelous time, made even more special by my son having his 25th birthday today (it was a beautiful sunny Good Friday when he was born).

He was so tiny, and I was so young!

We celebrated Easter yesterday with an egg hunt for Imogen. It's not quite the same as when she was small, but still good fun and she enjoyed the searching.

Everyone who bought her an egg bought a One Direction themed egg, yet everyone was different and had something different inside (Imogen loves One Direction). This chicken and her chicks were very cute, the chicken was chocolate and had another chocolate egg inside it with smarties in it, very cute.

I made Imogen and Izzy a little crochet Easter bunny each. I found the pattern on Friday night on The Green Dragonfly and wanted to make them without Imogen seeing me.

sweet little pom pom tails

There was a lot of cooking in preparation for our Easter tea yesterday, and as I knew Adam wouldn't be eating with us today (he did come round for cards, pressies and hugs and kisses though), I wanted it to be a little celebration for his birthday too.

Imogen wanted to make her big brother a birthday cake, and decided to have a go at a cheesecake. She made it Saturday so it could chill overnight. It tasted absolutely amazing, far better than anything that could be bought readymade.

First the base. You need:

125g (4 1/2oz) digestive biscuits

5 tablespoons caster sugar

75g (3oz) melted butter

5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

You will also need a 21cm (9in) springform cake tin.

1. Crush the biscuits inside a bag into fine crumbs.

2. Mix together with sugar, butter and cocoa powder.

This is your base, press it firmly into your cake tin making sure there are no gaps (or your filling will drip through!)

Next the Filling:

675g (1lb 5oz) cream cheese

397g (14oz) tin condensed milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

120g (4 1/2 oz) chocolate chips

1 teaspoon plain flour

3. Mash the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl, gradually add the condensed milk and beat well.

4. Add vanilla extract and the beaten eggs, then continue beating until you have a smooth mixture.

5. Add the chocolate chips and flour (the flour stops the chips from sinking in the mixture, this does      work). Mix in well and pour over the base.

6. Pop in a preheated oven at Gas 2 (150c 300f) for 1 hour.

7. After an hour switch it off, but leave to cool in the oven for another hour. 

8. Remove from oven and let it cool completely. When cool, pop it in the fridge.

9. Remove from the tin after refrigeration, decorate and enjoy :)

Imogen made Adam's cheesecake look fantastic. She very patiently sat and put chocolate chips all the way around the top rim and the cake stand, then a nice big A for Adam.

It was amazing!

What a busy time we've had. I made a big pasta salad, some scrummy home made potato salad and dips and a lovely roasted gammon joint. I found some Easter plates and crackers in the supermarket and decorated the table with tiny chocolate Easter bunnies.

The girls enjoyed having crackers to pull.

I think this photo of Adam and his girlfriend Holly is sweet, he was reading his cracker joke, while Holly was pulling a cracker with Izzy

We all ate, chatted and laughed until we could hardly move, then went into the living room to watch Brave and try to keep our eyes open while the girls cuddled their new bunnies and ate chocolate.

Time to relax with a lovely strong cup of tea.

Take care

xxx