Tuesday 25 June 2013

Family Holiday in Latchi, Cyprus

So I have been rather quiet, and here is one of the reasons why:
We have spent our family holidays in my parent’s villa in Cyprus.  It is in a fishing village called Latchi which is near Polis which is near Paphos.

3 double bedrooms so we were all comfortable even with Mum and Dad!

We hired a car at Paphos airport, drove the hour trip to the villa and had a truly lovely holiday. 
Everyday was spent with mornings at the Latchi beaches
and afternoons by the pool.  James our 4 year old learnt to swim and Sophia, 7 learnt back stroke. 





  Both were able to snorkel by the end of the 10 days too

 (baby thought she could - but was just a sea monster instead!).

 Most days lunch was on the side patio, allowing the food to go down by laying on the sun loungers.


We cooked in a few nights having bought food at the Papantonio Supermarket in Polis (5 minuets drive) and lit the BBQ for a couple.  Others we ate out at some of the great local restaurants in Latchi and Polis.
There is some great food to be had, our favourite being Moussaka, Loukaniko and Sheftalia sausages.  We loved ordering the Meze where a mix of dips, pitta, and meats came ...ooh and not forgetting the grilled Haloumi Cheese!  Hindsight - should have taken some photos of the delicious food.  I have even made Tzatziki (Greek yogurt with cucumber and garlic dip) several times since getting home!

The villa now has wifi set up, (doesn’t mean I logged onto my emails though!!) and British TV through it.  We barely watched television, but the kids borrowed a DVD from the shop in Polis and had a film night one evening while we were on the mojitos!

We celebrated Daddy's birthday there!


So if you are looking for a lovely restful break then conveniently it is for hire, and you can pick up cheap flights to Paphos.

There are more pictures of inside the villa on it’s Facebook page so take a peek!  3 Bed Villa Neo Chorio, Cyprus to rent
A really great villa to rent near Paphos, Cyprus!

Tuesday 4 June 2013

How to stack a cake with a central dowel

I recently had to transport a wedding cake already stacked (safest way to take a tiered cake is unstacked and stack at venue).  I searched the internet for the best ways to do this, and all I could find was using a central dowel which has been hammered into the top of the cake.  The thought of doing this scared me too much, I just can not take a hammer anywhere near a cake that had taken so many hours to create!

So I decided to deconstruct it and dowel in reverse.

 Firstly cut out circles the size of your bottom tier out of cardboard.  Using a compass to get perfect cirles, also the hole created is the centre - useful for cutting out the hole.

I cut out 5 cardboard circles and stuck together with hot glue.



Using a sharp implement (my craft knife was perfect) and cut a circle from the cardboard the size of the dowel.  I cut out 4 of the cardboard layers.


Cover with tin foil to make food safe.



Find the centre of your cake cards for each other tier and cut a hole a tiny bit larger than the size of your dowel (I used a large white polydowel, but the wooden ones would work just as well (pour boiling water over first))



Centre the bottom tier and dowel - secure under and above with some chocolate (or Royal Icing if not doing a chocolate cake.).  You can do this and the following with iced cakes - provided they have been left the covered cakes for the covering to harden.

I roughly ganached my cakes at this stage and made a whole through the cakes with another dowel. 
Now is the time to measure and cut your central dowel as you do not want it sticking out of the top of the cake.

Dowelled tiers too.  Don't forget each tier will still need dowels in.



Between each tier, layer with melted chocolate or royal icing to stick each tier together
I stacked while still needing a couple of layers of ganache - due to the style of my cake, this did aid to its security.



Ganached again while stached.  But now the cake is lovely and secure, perfect for boxing and transporting. 

I wrapped this cake in modelling chocolate, transported then added the final details at the venue.

I placed the cake in cardboard box, placed a non-slip mat in the boot of the car and box on top.  Even with the cake nice and secure I still drove very carefully for 60 miles.

Ok so I drove for the 60 miles - however I did not place the cake in or out of the box it was SOOOOOOOO heavy!  So be warned you will probably need help to carry a cake this big!

It arrived in a perfect condition, and I could finally breath!!


Taa dahhhhh  Here it is fully decorated at the venue!  I was very pleased with how the cake arrived and turned out!