NEW GIVEAWAY - yes another one!

It's giveaway time again, this time hosted by the amazing Maggie at Smashed Peas and Carrots. There is a set of 4 - 8x10 prints of the winners choice up for grabs and you only need to comment to enter.

Good Luck!

Some of the huge range of prints that you can choose from if you are the lucky winner:

Puppy Dog Cake for a 2 year old - Can I keep this up?

Each year I make my two boys a cake. You may remember my post regarding the dilema with my 3-year olds 3rd birthday cake which ended up being a pretty satisfactory lion (albeit a licensed TV character, but that is all part of the story). This time it was nearing my youngest son's 2nd birthday so again the preparations begin:

Me: What type of cake would you like for your birthday?
Nearly 2: A birthday cake
- 1 point him, 0 points me

Me: Ok, then what color would you like it to be?
Nearly 2: Grey
 - I didn't even know he knew that grey was a color

Eventually we got an answer and ultimately he wanted a 'Dog Cake'. This was lovingly supported by his 3 year old brother and seemed easy enough to me so a Dog Cake it would be.

TIP: when let your kids choose their cakes, encourage them to choose something generic like a dog rather than an existing character (Raa Raa anyone?) there is so much more room for error. What starts out as a rottweiler might end up as a beagle and that will still be OK. There are only so many ways you can do a Dora cake before it starts to look like a football or an Elmo cake before it starts to look like a big red mess.

ANOTHER TIP: if you keep making each cake better than last year's cake you will end up with no where to go. At least at the ages of 2 and 3 the expectations are not too high, but I can see that the pressure will continue to mount.

TUTORIAL: I keep getting asked for tutorials or tips. I always plan to take great photos and post them here with a tutorial, but then end up making the cake at midnight the night before the party with no time to do any of that (most of the time I am lucky to get the cake done) so apologies that again, there is no tutorial.

If you have any specific questions though, feel very free to ask and I will answer where I can. If it helps, I got my inspiration (and a lot of my 'tips') for making this cake from this lovely post here: http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/coolest-dog-cake-41.html