Monday Moodboard - Expecting

Have we mentioned that Nat is expecting a baby boy in May?

Olive is going to be a big sister!

Top left: "Waiting" - Wool needle felted tapestry by woolicious

Top right: Crocheted baby chicks by sabahnur

Bottom left: Felt family feet by mellsva

Bottom Right: Yellow & brown slouchy hat by afra

A little collection of sweet goodies from the Etsy European Street Team 

to celebrate Nat's blossoming belly :)

Easy cake for toddlers to make - Gluten and Dairy free options

After successfully trialling this recipe with Olive I decided I just had to share it with you. I was so amazed at how Olive (age 3yrs) was able to complete so much of the preparation independently. Olive had so much fun and she was thrilled at being able to prepare her very own cake. It was a totally different baking experience to our usual adult led sessions which often cause her to lose interest. Most importantly, we both VERY much enjoyed eating it! :)

"Yoghurt cake (Gateau au yaourt)" is a traditional French recipe that I stumbled across in a book, and is apparently the first baking experience that a French child might typically encounter.

For the purposes of measuring ingredients your toddler will use standard adult size single portion yoghurt pots, hence why the following ingredients list refers to "tubs of" and not your usual ounces or kilos.

You will need:

2 tubs plain yoghurt (for a dairy free version you could always use soya or another alternative)
2 eggs
1 or 2 tubs sugar (I encouraged Olive to measure two tubs on the smaller size)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (Okay - I assisted a little at this stage!)
Just under 1 tub vegetable oil
4 tubs plain white flour (we used gluten free due to an intolerance in the family and it worked just fine)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tub flavouring of your choice such as dried fruit, berries, or our preferred option, chocolate chips :)

Oven 190 degrees Celsius. Grease 9 inch pan with oil.

Method:

• Set out your packets of ingredients on the table and direct your toddler one ingredient at a time on how many tubs they will need (starting from the top of the list). Encourage them to give the mixture a stir in between additions. After they've tipped out the yoghurt give the tubs a quick rinse and dry so that the dry ingredients don't stick. You could always encourage them to use one pot for the wet ingredients and another for the dry, or, like me, just let them go at it and have faith!
• Give the mixture a final "grown up helper" mix, and then pop your cake in the oven for 35 minutes.
• Olive always likes to lick the bowl at this point.

After 35 minutes remove your cake from the oven, leave to cool, pop the kettle on and let the tea party commence.

Happy toddler time :)