Rainbow Cakes

In the wake of the stupendous news from the other side of the pond (or from your own side of the pond, or the top of the pond, or round the back of the pond… it all depends where you’re standing), and with Pride celebrations happening across the world this weekend, I’m seeing wall-to-wall rainbows all over my social media. I’m delighted to see them. Wordpress is flying a rainbow banner at the top of the very page I’m typing on. Half my Facebook friends have rainbow profile pictures. My online world is a brighter place.

And it made me think – remember when I made beautiful rainbow cakes?

You don’t?!

Look at these glorious beasts. I’ve only made them once, but I feel like I nailed it.

Let this post serve as a reminder that I once made these, and they were awesome. If you want to make your own, I put together a Rainbow Icing Tutorial that you can have a look at. It uses more than one piping bag, and will make a dent in your patience reserves, there’s no denying it.

You, too, can get your Pride on in the form of cake. If you can convince a baking fanatic friend to make them for you, all the better.

Be warned, though. People can come over a bit funny when faced with so much rainbow.

Foodie Penpals May 2015

My parcel this month came from Ingrida in the Netherlands. I asked her to send me snacks that were ready to eat – and she didn’t disappoint!

She also included a massive wedge of gouda, which is still keeping me going. Generally I don’t know that it’s a great idea to put cheese in the post – though this one did make it unscathed, as did the packet I got last month. What do other people think? Anyway, this one is strong and smoky, it was the first thing I opened – I couldn’t even wait to take a picture before I tried it.

The next things were stroppwaffles – I’ve had these before, they are SO good. I have one left, I’m saving it (though I’m sure it won’t last much longer. Fact: the happy man on this packet makes them taste even better.

There were some speculoos biscuits, too – these were just about right for tea time, the biscuits stand up admirably to being dipped in a hot beverage. And that happy man is there again, too!

The rest of my parcel was full of boiled sweets, none I’d ever tried before. I tried to figure out the flavours even though I don’t speak Dutch. I figured out the two in tins – they’re coffee and butter flavoured. The butter ones are kind of like Werther’s Originals, sweet and buttery hard caramel. Plus there is a lady on the tin who looks like knows what’s what.

The coffee sweets were excellent – I couldn’t imagine how they’d taste, but they were kind of like mild coffee creams, but longer-lasting. I took all the sweets in to work and there were a lot of pleasantly surprised ‘mmm!’ noises going around the office as people tried these.

There were another two bags of sweets, too – Ingrida really spoiled me! We’re not absolutely positive what these flavours are, but we think these ones are cherry flavoured:

These were kind of like the rock you get at the seaside, but softer. Not as soft as Edinburgh rock – it has a bit of crunch to it, especially round the edges. I’ve just translated all the writing on the package – they are cherry wands, and the bottom of the label says ‘sweets from the old times’. There’s something very charming about roughly translated phrases, isn’t there?

These were also a kind of caramel toffee sweet, which was unexpected – we were thinking maybe pineapple, by the colour.

They translate as ‘butter wafers’, though I think ‘butter waffles’ might be more accurate. I love the shape of them! I must try making my own boiled sweets some time.

I loved everything in my parcel – and so did my colleagues – so a big thank you from all of us, Ingrida!

If you’d like to get involved in Foodie Penpals, here’s the lowdown:

We have a Facebook page, where you can see photos of other parcels, read blog posts about them and get to know people who take part.

We use the #foodiepenpals hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.

In Europe, you can sign up through the drop down menu at the top of the page, or by clicking here. We’re taking a break this month, but we’ll be starting up again in July.

In the US and Canada, you can sign up through The Lean Green Bean.