That Was Fun, Let's Never Do It Again

Today was a baking day, in preparation for our Australia Day Picnic Extravaganza with Mr & Miss In Wonderland.

After many hours of careful contemplation, I had put together a small dessert menu consisting of red velvet lamington squares sandwiched with strawberry and raspberry cream, chewy Anzac biscuits, and a family-sized raspberry pie with perfect home made pastry topped with a little pastry Australia.

After many, many hours of mixing and baking, I have a small dessert menu consisting of chewy Anzac biscuits, a family-sized raspberry pie with patchy home made pastry (don't even think about trying to create a map of Australia out of that stuff), odd shaped red velvet lamingtons coated with a dark chocolate ganache and no cream filling, and a green and yellow layer cake sandwiched with strawberry and raspberry cream, iced with sky blue royal icing and decorated with a southern cross made from white hundreds and thousands...

All in all, not a roaringly successful day of baking! But, as I was reminded by a friend, it's all about the finished product - we'll see how the picnickers vote on Tuesday. Besides, I did learn a few valuable lessons... Namely, there is a definite logic to Mum choosing her stress-free pastry from the freezer section of the supermarket and, $8 trays of lamingtons at Woolies are an absolute steal!