Whimsical Monique L'huillier collection for Pottery Barn Kids

Goodness, Pottery Barn Kids sure knows how to create dreamy spaces that children adore. My girls are mad for all the looks created in collaboration with Monique L'huillier - it's a world of whimsy and elegance that stands out from the more graphic looks that we've been seeing in kids' interiors lately. Come along with me to the launch of the Monique L'huillier Collection with Pottery Barn Kids in Sydney recently...

How To Make A Puppy Cake

If you'd like squeals of delight from your little animal-lover on on their birthday, make a puppy cake, just like the two cute puppies that I made for my daughter's 6th birthday! These cakes are inspired by the dog cakes from Breadtop bakeries, but I decided to make them myself using my own flavours (and much more within my budget!). Read on for all the tips and tricks...

Trend: Katherine Sabbath-Style Crazy Cakes

It's my daughter's 8th birthday party in just over a week and with a loose Royals theme, she has requested a 'Crazy Cake', inspired by the explosion of goodies and topping madness on Baking Goddess Katherine Sabbath's drip cakes. I follow Katherine on Instagram and my daughter is smitten.

I did a quick search, and guess what - Katherine's crazy cakes are now officially a trend that is sweeping the baking world. Expect to see lots of amazing cakes inspired by Katherine's work popping up at birthday parties. Feast your eyes on some of my favourite of Katherine's cakes for some birthday cake ideas:

5th Birthday pink dance party

It's a five-year-old girl's dream party - lots of pink, delicious treats, all your friends, and a dance party! Accalia's Mum and Dad always put together amazing parties for their girls (see the fairy princess party here, bubbas and bears here), and this one was no exception. Holly Hiphop was the star of the show, teaching the kids some cool moves and playing games with them. Accalia's Mum Renay kindly shares with us her tips and tricks for putting together a fun pink dance party:

Watermelon birthday cake on Oh Happy Day

I may have squealed a little. The watermelon birthday cake I made for my daughter was featured on the Oh Happy Day blog (my top 5 favourite blogs of all time!) recently along with some other fun watermelon party ideas. Beyond thrilled! See the whole watermelon party here.

Cutest Sylvanian Families birthday cake

The lovely Nicola from the concrete and honey blog made this gorgeous Sylvanian Families cake for her nephew Kingston's 1st birthday. Love it to bits! Pop your child's cutest toy on top of a freshly-iced cake for a super-cute surprise that you know your little one will love.

Nicola has these tips to share:

Natalia's 5th Mermaid Party at the park

Natalia's Mum Maria decided at the last minute to host a mermaid party for her daughter's 5th birthday. The text message invitation was sent six days before the party! Maria chose a colour theme (purple), a stunning cake centrepiece by Faye Cahill, and focused on good food to pull together a fun party at a local park. I love the grown-up food and the relaxed experience for everyone. These beautiful photos were taken by Anni from Milk & Honey Photography. Enjoy!

Party: Natalia's 5th
Organised by: Mum and Dad - Maria and Clark
Location: Beauchamp Park, Chatswood
Theme: Mermaid Party

Happy Easter

Hope you've all had a very happy Easter! My friend Tanya made this lovely Easter cake that I thought you'd love.

Today is also the last day of the giveaway to win $75 to spend on Etsy - head here for more details. Don't forget that KatyJane Designs is also clearing out all their stock of gorgeous stationery right here. Also, gorgeous Melbourne kids' online retailers Habitots have a pop-up shop in Albert Park for a limited time with lots of goodies and kids' workshops too. All the details right here.

We've just a few days at Avoca Beach with friends and now off to the Sunshine Coast to enjoy this glorious weather with our family. Stay tuned as I'll be sharing lots of great local products for Mum, Kids and Home. If you're in NSW, hope you're having a great school holidays and hooray for a short week. Enjoy!
Steph

Image: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

4th birthday dinosaur party

It poured with rain all day for William's 4th birthday party but that didn't stop the delight of a dinosaur party! There were party hats, dinosaur jellies, pizza sticks, popcorn, a dinosaur piñata and an amazing dinosaur excavation dig birthday cake to enjoy. William's Mum Vanessa shares with us her tips and tricks for a four-year-old boys' dinosaur birthday party...

Party: William’s 4th Birthday
Organised by: Vanessa, William’s mum
Location: At home, Sydney
Theme: Dinosaurs

Loving: Dinosaur bones birthday cake

This is one of the best kids' birthday cakes I have ever seen. Period. Mum Cheryl made the cake and frosting, and Dad Scott made the fondant dinosaur bones for their son's first birthday. Phenomenal team effort guys.

Image: Scott Gledhill via Bondville

The Tomkat Studio Aussie Party Challenge

Here's one for all you party fans out there. Fabulous US printables designers The Tomkat Studio know how many talented party stylists there are in Australia, and are hosting a fun competition that we can all participate in to win a $100 voucher in their online party store. They challenged eight Australian party stylists to create a party shoot themed around The TomKat Studio printables, and we get to vote.

Here's a sneak peek of the parties - simply click on the party you like best and leave a comment to enter (US and Australian entrants only):

Leanne from Sweet Style put together a Vintage Surf party. I adore the layered jellies.

 Vesna from My Little Jedi created a Vintage Ballerina party. I spot glorious tutu du monde dresses!

Suzanna from Mon Tresor designed this Little Red Wagon party. Yum. Toffee apples.

Daisy from Leo & Bella wowed with this pink and grey Chevron Stripe Bridal Shower. So polished.

Leoni from Just Call Me Martha created an Owl Themed Baby Shower. Must check out the doily gift tags.

Belinda from Styled By Belle designed this sweet Flower Garden Party. Those cake slices look amazing!

Lilian from Lily Chic Events created this Blue Giraffe Party. So classy.

Louisa from Little Big Company put together this Vintage French Patisserie Party. The yellow cruiser is a cute touch.

What a great way to showcase some of the talent we have here in Australia. Congratulations ladies on beautiful work - everyone wins in my book with all this creativity on display. Head over to The Tomkat Studios to vote for your favourite.

Our Big Girl's Spring Ice Cream 5th Birthday Party

Well you know that birthday parties are big news around here, and my daughter has been planning her 5th birthday party for at least 6 months. She wanted to make sure that everyone could wear "whatever they want" and that there would be lots of ice cream and games and goodie bags. We put together a casually-styled, low-budget party, with lots of DIY, seasonal fruit and garden flowers. These are some pics from our big girl's Spring ice cream party!

Party: Spring ice cream 5th birthday party

Organised by: Steph Bond-Hutkin (that's me!)

Location: Sydney, NSW

Theme: Casual, budget-friendly, pretty ice cream party

The first of the flannel flowers, whale rock and a sponge cake

What a gorgeous weekend; I hope you had a fantastic time. A big happy birthday to my Dad who turned 70 yesterday - we can't wait to have a family celebration in two weeks.

Yesterday some friends came over for a hike in the Lane Cove National Park behind our house. We made it to Whale Rock (can you see the face?), and we found the first of the wild flannel flowers (I got a bit over-excited), and lots of raucous nesting cockatoos. Then home for a BBQ and my first attempt at a sponge cake for our friend's birthday. Here are some happy snaps...

We also spent a lovely morning on Saturday at the Hawkesbury Harvest Farmers and Fine Food Markets at the Castle Hill Showgrounds on Saturday. It's a great market (not too big, not too small) with a lovely atmosphere and of course lots of fresh produce. We picked up some beautiful spelt bread loaves, fresh yoghurt, antipasto mix, and some greens. Although the highlight was probably bumping into a dog show, also at the showgrounds. It was a real life Best In Show! Brilliant! These people are serious about their dogs; and their dogs' hairspray. 

Did you get out and about? I've been sharing lots of pics on Instagram (sbond) and Twitter. If you'd like to follow along, let me know you are a reader. I'd love to find out more about you too.

Images: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

Alison Lawson Cakes - the peach ombre cake

When Alison (of Alison Lawson Cakes) contacted me a few months ago about collaborating on a project, I knew that one of her amazing cakes would be perfect for our special abcd Saturday Soiree, held a few weeks ago. Alison was keen to try her hand at an ombre cake, and once Lisa and I gave her our colour palette for the abcd meetup, she concocted this absolutely incredible three-tiered layered lemon cake.

Divine! And I can honestly tell you that the cake itself packed a delicious citrus-y punch and was super-moist. Truly a magnificent, and luxurious experience to enjoy. (oh, and did I mention that Alison is the sweetest, loveliest person you could ever work with?).

And how about these gorgeous images of Alison and her cake, thanks to the wonderful Anni from Milk and Honey Photography, who captured our event.

You can contact Bowral-based Alison via her Website. Thank you Alison for sharing this beautiful cake with us!

You can read more about Alison Lawson Cakes here on Bondville. Stay tuned for more amazing photos from our latest Sydney abcd meetup.

Images: Milk and Honey Photography

Gruffalo Party 2 by Bronnie Bakes

Boy I have some very clever readers. Bron from the lovely blog Bronnie Bakes was inspired by Alison Lawson's amazing Gruffalo party, and created her own version for her daughter Molly's 3rd birthday. I love the beautifully-made Gruffalo birthday party picnic on top of the cake. Look at the mini cupcakes, sandwiches, pie and cake with candles! Bron shares with us her tips for a fabulous Gruffalo birthday party.

Strawberry Chocolate Layered Ice Cream Cake

My darling baby Bondville turned 'big girl' 2 years old just after Christmas and we celebrated with this amazing strawberry chocolate layered ice cream cake. (Note to self: never again make an ice cream cake in the middle of summer in Queensland. It looked fantastic. It tasted fantastic, but the ice cream softened immediately, not helped by the warm chocolate poured on top. Oh, and the chocolate topping and bottom were too hard to cut through, and slipped all over the place when trying to cut slices. Yikes!).

So! If you'd like to try this pretty fabulous cake, I'd recommend cooler weather to start with. Otherwise it's pretty straightforward:
1. line a spring form (important!) cake tin with non-stick baking paper
2. melt chocolate for the base (either very carefully in the microwave, or in a bowl over simmering water, being careful that the water does not touch the bowl). I used Belgian Callebaut dark chocolate. Amazing!
3. pour the melted chocolate into the lined cake tin and freeze until set
4. soften 1 litre of ice cream and pour over chocolate base. Freeze until set. I used honey macadamia ice cream for the first layer.
5. soften another 1 litre of ice cream and pour over the ice cream base. Freeze until set. I used strawberry ice cream for the second layer.
6. melt chocolate for the top as per method above. Cool chocolate as much as possible while still maintaining runny consistency. Have candles and lighter ready as steps 7-9 will need to be quite quick to ensure your gorgeous cake doesn't melt too much.
7. Carefully release the springform tin, pull off the baking paper, and lift the cake off the base onto a board or stand.
8. Pour over the melted chocolate (don't worry if it drips down the sides) and place hulled strawberries on top.
9. Add candles, cut and serve before it melts!

It's a fabulous cake that requires no baking, but a careful hand with the topping. Enjoy!

PS - this cake would be amazing with the strawberry-themed printables party pack by the red thread.

Images: Steph Bond-Hutkin

Party Ideas: Zoe's 2nd Babushka Birthday Party

Little Zoe turned two in style with a Babushka party (using the Babushka printable party pack). Her Mum Tamara pulled together a gorgeous spread, and the most incredible Babushka Doll cake! Tamara shares her tips for Zoe's special day:

Birthday: Zoe's 2nd Birthday Party

Organised by: Zoe's Mum, Tamara
Location: Willoughby, NSW
Theme: Babushka Doll

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Did you get any early bird trick-or-treaters last night? Now that our little ones are old enough, we put a tiny bit of effort into Halloween this year. We used Pilgrim Lee's great Halloween printables for a small gathering to celebrate our friend's birthday and I baked a creepy chocolate cake, covered in chococlate-coated pop rocks and topped with a googly eyeball.

I repurposed Pilgrim's treat box into a round paper lantern (with glass and tea light inside) for the front steps, strung up the bunting, and attached the round toppers to bamboo skewers to line the pathway to the front door. I had my basket of goodie bags ready by the door.

But we only got one set of kids trick-or-treating! We might get a few older kids tonight. Did anyone come by your house? Or did you turn off the lights and pretend no-one was home?

Images: Steph Bond Hutkin

Party Ideas: Just For Daisy's Rainbow Birthday Party

Blogger and creative Mum Rebekah from Just For Daisy created a fun bright rainbow-themed birthday party for her daughter Scarlet's first birthday. There are so many great ideas, including the Kit Kat and Smartie-topped layer cake, the amazing patty cake and streamer rainbow, layered rainbow jellies and playdough to take home.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to you! I saw this amazing cake on Pinterest (first pinned by the ever-so-cool Joy Cho of Oh Joy!) a few weeks ago and thought you would love it too. It's an amazing Red Velvet heart cake, made by I am Baker. If you're feeling super-creative, there's even a tutorial (promise to send me your pics if you make it). There is also a really lovely Valentine's Dessert Brownie recipe on the sister blog I Am Mommy - chocolate heart-shaped brownie covered in cream cheese and strawberries. If fact, there is a totally amazing list of Valentine's baking ideas on the site here. Drooooool.

Steph
x

Image: I Am Baker