More space for cake.

I wasn’t the only one who celebrated her birthday last month. A good friend of mine has her birthday 2 weeks before me. For me the birthday of others is always a good and a bad thing. The good thing is that there’s cake and celebration, the bad thing is I have to think of a present. Don’t get me wrong. I love to give presents to people and I honestly don’t care how much they cost (with a certain rage of course) or that they take a lot of time (for handmade gifts) if I have the feeling the gifted person is genuinely happy with it. I always hesitate to give handmade presents because I always have the feeling that people only like those because of the gesture. Like my mum who got so many paintings from little me. I can’t really imagine how you can make a happy face after the 153rd. (I guess I have to be a mum myself to understand this mystery.)

Well back to the purpose of this post and my friends birthday: she’s a crafter herself and I knew that she would appreciate a handmade gift. That’s why I made her a plate and a cake. I’m actually so happy with the combination: handing over a cake and the plate is for you to keep as well?! Genius. At least that’s what I thought. And I’m sure my friend too. First the hero was the cake …

 

All you need is:
– 3 eggs
– 1 cup sugar
– 1 cup sour cream
– 1/2 cup oil
– 1 tbsp Vanille sugar
– 1 cup flour
– 1/2 cup poppy seeds
– 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate
– 1 tbsp baking powder

For the cream & topping
– 1 cup sour cream
– 1/2 cup cream cheese
– 3 Tbsp sugar
– 3 Tbsp poppy seeds
– 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180 ° C. Beat the eggs with the white sugar and Vanille sugar. Add slowly the oil and sour cream and combine well. Fold in the flour, baking powder, poppy seeds and dark chocolate. Line a baking tray with paper and spread the sponge on the baking parchment. Bake for 20 mins and let it cool down.

For the cream mix the sour cream with the cream cheese and the sugar. Spread it on the cake. Mix the poppy seeds with the cinnamon and sieve it on top of the sheet cake. Voilá!

This cake doesn’t look like much but it’s just so delicious! It could easily be one of my favorite. No. It certainly is one of my favorites!

I made the plate the same way as this Valentine’s day present for my boyfriend and what a surprise it was! The text is german and means “more space for cake”. Unfortunately it’s not dishwasher-safe. My friends tried. Well, such a gem needs to be taken care of, so only washing by hand! Luckily they can just bring me the plate and I restore it. So no harm done!

The cake was gone in no time as you can see…

Now. Carry on!

 

Give me an A!

I’m actually really proud of the result of the project I want to show you today. I started it before Christmas and I intended it as a present for my sister. I had a few problems with the sticking tape I used, so the whole thing ended almost destroyed in our storage room. When my boyfriend doesn’t like something that I’m really fond of, he says “we need to decorate with it” and puts it in the storage room which is basically a bigger wardrobe with a door. So you get a feeling for what this room is for. It’s where dreams go to die.

But the project kept sneaking up on me in my mind during the holidays. I went to a craft shop to do some research and I bought a textile tape. It’s like duct tape but smaller and in black. It was actually quite expensive for the few meters I got. However it was exactly what I needed. I took the leftover from the projext out of the room of broken dreams and built it in an evening. And I’m so pleased. I don’t even want to give it away. But I don’t have any relation to the letter A whatsoever. So a present it is!

The print you see on the picture below is from an Hungarian artist and I bought it in a little shop in Vienna. Because I was asked, you can get a print here.

All you need is some cardboard, fairy lights, a scissor, black textile tape (or any other colour that you like) and a power drill.

So I cut out the shape of an A and made a 3D effect through adding side walls. On the next image you see the letter from the back. This gives you a better idea of what I try to explain here.

Me. Drilling. Feeling very productive.

The A with holes. No giggling. It’s serious business!

Then I inserted the lights just so far that they hold in place. In the next image you see the A with the lights. As long as they are not switched on you can’t really tell the difference.

And now the A with the lights switched off. Beautiful, don’t you think?!

Look what I made!

Now. Carry on!