Still further back in time - a Recess Raglan

So yes, I have been sewing some stuff recently, but some of it is pattern testing which is not quite ready for release yet, and I am actually forcing myself to do a wee bit of self back patting that I did actually do some creative stuff since March!

So we delve further back into the photo archive to the first sewing project I completed in 2014 - in July - shocking!

I eased myself back into sewing with a simple raglan t shirt for zbl.

Sew details:
Pattern: This is the Recess Raglan that I have blogged about before.
Fabric: The star fabric is a knit I got from trusty Spotlight and the white is some lycra from the stash.
Other stuff: This is a very simple sew and because I was using some firmer weight knit and lycra it behaved nicely.  The toughest thing about this was appliqueing the star on the front. I ended up popping a bit of the stuff I trace my patterns on to to stabilise it and then cut the excess off, which seemed to work well.  

I made up a 3T to give room for growth and altho it is a bit big, she quite liked it and we have worn it a few times. It needs to get back into rotation after having to get a bit of  extra washing TLC after a run in with something chocolate.

I should say this outfit is self styled, she was already wearing the pants, but added the shoes, beanie and ukulele to make a slightly grunge rocker 2 year old.

The cake

So, as I mentioned in the previous post I love to cook (and eat!)

Every year since we met, I have made tl a birthday cake. To start with they were out of the Australian Woman's Weekly Children's Cake Book - the tip truck was the first one, followed by the train cake and numerous others. More recently we've started down the slightly more adult track with a Red Velvet Cake, which was delicious, but huge for two people. Last year we had an elaborate icecream cake including cones which did not look flash, but tasted ok and this year the request was for a chocolate salted caramel cake.  After spending what felt like 400 hours scouring the internet looking such recipes, (about half of that was just spent looking at the fabulous things that Deb makes, most of which were not even cake related!, by the way this cake is divine) I decided on this Martha Stewart one. Since we were only going to be 3 for the initial eating of the cake, and tl is travelling for work this week, I decided (for my waistlines sake) to make a half size one - still six layers but 10cm cake tins rather than the 9 inch ones for the full recipe.

Here is the final result:

And here is a very dark photo of the inside - lovely even layers - not! 

So how did it taste - well, I am a lover of butter, so the fact that this cake contained oil rather than butter could contribute to the fact it was a tad dry, it could also be that in a couple of days it would have moistened and will be amazing.  In the future, I will stick with my my go to chocolate cake (altho in order to get four layers for this cake you need to double the recipe otherwise they are like biscuit thin - Donna Hay you need to update this online, like you did in the more recently published version of the cake!).

Back to the cake! The caramel was delicious and the frosting - amazing, I will be using this again! Altogether, not a bad cake, and tl thought it was delicious and it matched what he asked for so that was the main thing! Now I just have to refrain from eating it in place of lunch and dinner while he is away otherwise I will turn into one of these: