Mary Poppins - 4 years

By the time my daughter turned four, Mary Poppins had become the number one watched movie in our home, so it was decided that that would be the theme of her fourth birthday party.

I made a carousel cake which was fairly simple: one large and one smaller round cake. I used a wide cardboard cylinder decorated with foil and ribbons as the central part of the carousel pressed through the center of the larger cake, and secured the smaller cake above it, balanced on a firm card. I found four carousel pony candles and used these at regular intervals in the large base cake. The cakes were decorated with icing matching the colours I had chosen for the party as well as rainbow sprinkles and plastic icing flowers and butterflies. The best thing about this cake was that I presented it on a well covered rotating table server - "a lazy susan". The server was decorated with green coconut grass and a brown sugar pathway leading to the carousel. Because of the server, the carousel was able to turn while we sang happy birthday. I also made umbrella-shaped biscuits, raspberry ice and toffee apples as treats.

As a take home treat, each child was given a celophane wrapped spoonful of sugar. I found a spoon shaped chocolate mould and made each child a chocolate spoon. I cut marshmallows in half, dipped them in milk and rolled them in coloured sugar crystals. once these had dried I iced them onto the chocolate spoons and had a truly splendid result.

Jessica - DURBANVILLE