This post is missing some photos due to a website crash. While it’s sad that they are missing, we can still remember it through the blog post x

It was our youngest Monkey's 5th Birthday Party on the weekend.We had all the classics; Fairy Bread, Chocolate Spiders, balloons, and of course, cake.After an *exhaustive* cake selection process, our Son decided on an M&M cake. No worries. How hard could that be?....The thing that's not immediately obvious when you agree to stick a few hundred M&M's onto a cake, is how rapidly you'll lose the will to live.

Its like counting sheep in hell

For me, it was about 20 minutes, my husband, the wonderful, supportive, sucker that he is, agreed to help me, and to his credit, hung in there with more tenacity than I did. It took the two of us, working fairly quickly, a full hour to stick M&M's to an A4 sized cake.

Let that sink in. It took both of us 4 times as long as it takes me to ice a cake smooth on my own. FOR REALS.

I tell you this, mostly to whinge, but also because this is one of those stealth cakes. A cake that sneaks up on you, that takes WAAAYYY longer than you imagined, and if you are selling it, almost certainly wasn't worth what you charged. Even I, experienced decorator, epically underestimated how long it would take.

Once the cake was done, now I just had to put it on something.

Aw nuts. I don't have any rectangular cake stands. Or plates big enough. Phooey.

Here's where I start cutting Hipsters some slack. I'm not being trendy putting my Son's cake on a wooden chopping board, it was literally the only food safe thing big enough. And the birthday message? Well I guess that's getting piped straight onto the board. Candles? Stick 'em in the damn cake and let's be done with it! At least there was 5.

Fortunately, our Son loved it, and he has told everyone he's come across about his awesome M&M cake. Good boy.

What is Fairy Bread you ask?

Fairy Bread is an Australian delicacy. Made by adding Sprinkles to buttered bread, and cut into triangles (yes triangles, I don't know why, you just DO).Sounds simple? Yeah, but try having a party here without it. You'll be shunned.

Sure you'll have to scrape the kids off the ceiling by the end of the day, but that's all part of the "fun". Seriously though, try it. As Australian food goes, its way better than Vegemite.

Chocolate Spiders!

Yes we are strange in Oz, but we're not eating ACTUAL spiders. Well we're not, but some people might be. That would be gross. I digress..Chocolate spiders are made by mixing fried noodles, with peanut butter and melted dark chocolate. Tasty, and messy, and a big hit with the big kids too.

Maybe try adding a little Kahlua or Baileys for the adult version. Especially if you agree to make an M&M's cake. Just sayin'

Traffic Light Jelly

What's better than one flavour of Jelly? 3 favours of Jelly! Awesome!

The downside is it takes nearly two days to make, because each layer has to set before you can add the rest. Worth it.When you really stop and think about it, even a really low key shindig like ours was a lot of work. Don't get me wrong, total respect to those that go all out, but damn, I'm tired just thinking about it!

Things I learned

Never let a 5 year old choose their cake. You will grow old waiting for them to commit to an idea.
Balloons are the BEST thing about parties.
Birthday parties are like Raves for children.
My kids had better pick out a nice Retirement Home for me after all this work.

Viva La Buttercream x