A home made bean arch

We made this out of the branches from the tree we had to have pulled down. I love that it is functional and  decorative.

Lego party invite and thank you letters

Hidden design lego brick cake

 Max's fifth birthday and a birthday treat of a trip to legoland meant the obvious choice for the cake was going to be somehow connected to lego.
Trawling the internet for ideas, I couldn't find what I wanted which was a lego brick, but that looked like it was built of lego bricks when you sliced it. I was excited by the success of the polka dot Mr Tumble cake and wanted to experiment more with hidden design cakes. So I had a think and this is what I came up with.
A 'sixer' and a 'fourer'. Basic fondant icing covered rectangular and cubic cake but....

 ...with the hidden surprise of looking like it was built of lego cake bricks!

First I baked 4 food paste coloured cakes. I used Nigella's buttermilk birthday cake recipe from Domestic Goddess which promises a stronger shape holding/weight bearing cake, which I confess I can't dispute!

I divided a square cake tin with parchment to save time. I cut off the browned edges after they had cooled.

I then cut into pieces trying to think what it would look like cut in one direction. And stuck them together with buttercream icing as mortar.

I built up three layers like this.

 This is a close up of the building brick lego, inside cake design.