Lynn, from Fraserburgh, made these amazing lockdown themed cakes. Who wants a slice?…
What did you do?
The kids and I enjoy baking and they fancied a cake one day so we came up with the idea of sticking to the current pandemic theme and designing it like a coronavirus. It started out as a simple Victoria Sponge Cake, with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam filling, which we decided to decorate with royal icing (we bought various colours from our local Home Bargains).
The first cake was green and black and we made him look a little bit menacing given that he was a virus after all! We covered him with a layer of green icing, then made splotches/spines and a face with black icing, and used some white icing to pipe around the base and for his eyes.
We named him Colin the Coronavirus cake and as I was pleased with how he had turned out I decided to share him on a couple of pages on Facebook and was amazed by the response he got. He really seemed to make people smile during what can only be described as such a crazy time in everyone’s lives.
I wrote a little poem about him too, where his name was shortened to Covid Col. Receiving such a good response prompted us to make another cake who we decided would be Colin’s wife, Verity Virus!
This time we made a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling and decorated her with red royal icing and again used some black (and black mixed with red) for her splotches and spikes. We gave her a smiley face and I had managed to obtain edible eyes from the shop too. In the centre I placed some chocolate sweets, red and green M&Ms and red and green Skittles with the thoughts that this could be her babies. Again I was delighted with the finished article and decided to share her on Facebook.
I also made up another poem to incorporate her into the story. The response has been brilliant for this one too. It is nice to know they have brought a little lightness to the table so to speak and that people liked the idea. The kids helped with baking and with decorating the cakes, providing a great source of amusement!
Most things went quite well considering the fact I am definitely an amateur in this field and not used to cake decoration really. I would say I learned things the first time like better ways to handle the icing.
Do you have any other projects planned?
The next project idea would possibly be to introduce a couple of littler cakes in the form of Billy and Bobby Bacterium or something along those lines – again I would write a little poem to incorporate them into the story so far. Just a little bit of fun!
Tell the Housebound With Kids community a bit about yourself…
My name is Lynn and I live in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire with my 2 children Nicky who is 11 years old and Leonie who is 7 years old. I am a single parent who works part-time, and who is also studying for a degree with the Open University.
How are you finding being housebound so far?
Being housebound has its ups and downs. For the most part it has been a very positive experience. I did not realise how busy our lives were and how little precious time we had together. We have made some great memories, and had lots of fun too. We’ve shared ‘movie nights’, we’ve baked, we’ve cooked, we’ve gone walks and played lots of games like I Spy and question games. I’ve now got a bike and we go out bike rides together almost every single day, weather permitting. Being housebound has had its hard times too – home schooling plus working from home plus studying plus entertaining children is a bit of a juggle but it has been more than worth it. The good times have far outweighed the bad!
Do you have any tips for other parents?
I would say not to put too much pressure on yourselves or your children to get things done. Enjoy spare time with them, and do lots of fun things and definitely get out for fresh air if possible, that’s good for everybody and I find it makes you feel better when you feel that you are hemmed in all the time.
Has being part of our community helped you?
I think this is a great idea as it allows you to socialise in a way and get inspiration for things to entertain the kids with, or even just something to work on to pass the time a bit.
