Then came the task of weighing out our ingredients. We didn't realise we owned weighing scales until we had worked out how much sugar we needed through math (what is 175+175? 250?), marking out rough halves and quarters and badgers. Then we remember (I remembered) that we had been amazingly proficient in our first IKEA shop and had purchased some scales. I guess it was a sixth sense that knew, 5 months down the line, we would make a banana cake.
Nigella said, put your butter and sugar in a bowl and let the mixer machine do the rest. Well. We did not have a machine that worked without someone holding it and were using a large fruit bowl. This meant that butter and sugar were being flicked all over the shop. Including into Sophie's tea. Which she weren't too happy about. Sophie then tried melting the butter a bit by putting the bowl into hot water. Obviously doing this our way simply meant plunging the bowl into the frothy washing up water. It didn't really work.
Next came blending in the eggs. Something disgusting fell out one of the eggs and I had to interrupt the creaming and blending to dry heave into the sink.
Sophie: The recipe says mash the bananas *slices the bananas and thwacks with the back of the knife* MASHED
Then we had to decide which tin to cook our cake in. Banana cake is typically a loaf and we had bread tins but we didn't want to make him a banana loaf, we wanted to make him a cake. We also had a huge roasting tin. This was too big. So. We did what anyone normal would do and put the loaf tin at the end of the roasting tin and covered it all in grease proof paper. Sophie made me butter the grease proof paper. I was all, why are we buttering grease proof paper? And she said, THIS IS WHAT THE RECIPE SAYS. But when I read the recipe afterwards it said grease the tin and put the paper on top. This was one of many things that could have affected our cake which didn't. It really was a very forgiving recipe.
After we poured our batter in the makeshift cake tin and put it in the oven, Sophie left to go to the Opticians. This made me very nervous as I had to watch the cake. But. After 75 minutes, it was done. I made Matt check it was done as well. It was definitely done.
When Sophie came home, and the cake had cooled, we removed it from the tin. Because the loaf tin didn't entirely cover the end of the roasting tin, some of the cake mix had seeped down the sides. Sophie decided to square the cake up a bit. I don't know why we allowed this since she will freely admit she can't cut straight for shit. Luckily, whilst her cutting was slightly skew whiff, the cake looked fantastic. We all tried a piece of the bit she cut off to make sure. It is vital to do this. You should also lick the batter spoons etc along the way. Just to make sure you do not poison your brother with his own birthday cake.
Then we iced the cake. I used nearly a whole box of icing sugar.
Me: Sophie. Iced cakes are SO unhealthy!!! I've just tipped a whole box of pure sugar over our cake!
Sophie: Well, more like, cakes in general are unhealthy Ro.
We made sure all the cake, top and sides, were covered with icing. Icing covers every flaw and it pretty fantastic. Then Sophie wrote happy birthday on the top and drew a ninja banana. For some reason my brother thinks he is a ninja. It is best not to question these things.
In all, the cake was perfect and Jamie enjoyed it. As did everyone else. Although I have to say, next to my mothers cakes, ours looked unbelievably home made. Whatevs though. She is just a big show off.
The party was brilliant. Mum and Dad emptied out and cleaned the shed and put in a gas fire, a heater and loads of candles. My little sister printed out some posters and me and my dad nailed them on the walls. It had a table and chairs and cushions inside and looked better than some of the places me and So and Hawk looked at to rent.
There was also a massive fire pit on the patio, which noone fell in, so that was a bonus. And there was a TON of food. My Dad and brother Jamie cooked up a storm on the BBQ and it was delicious. MMMM MEAT. Plus my mother had done loads of salad and pasta and vegetables etc. We had to take home a cake dog bag because I was so stuffed. The cake was especially delicious on Sunday night though.
On Sunday me and Soph and Hawk decided to go to Asda and buy some fruit and vegetables. This is because we do not trust Tesco to deliver us good ones since Lord knows they can't get the rest of the order right. We also were thinking to buy a microwave since ours is a health hazard and danger trap and we are sick of risking life and limb to use it. However. Instead of a microwave we somehow ended up buying Scrabble and Cluedo. Clyde enjoyed a game but he didn't win as he only knows how to spell a few words. Cat. Clyde and GIVE ME SOME FOOD BEFORE I RIP YOUR FACE OFF.
It was a very enjoyable weekend. I loved it.
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