Porcelain Plates, Cupcake Stands & Parties

 If you have a little girl then you'll know just how much importance they place on their own birthday (or in my little one's case birthweek). I am 90% sure that I was no where near as demanding when I was a little girl, but then again I'm also sure that that's what all adults think, so it's probably not the world's best defence.

Anyway, as I was saying, it was my little girls birthday-week recently and I was torn. On the one hand I did not want to spend a fortune on making her feel like she was Sissi, (who for those who don't know is Elisabeth of Austira, a historically popular Austrain Empress who was also the Queen of Hungary and the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I), but on the other hand I did not want her to be cry and upset (which is partially due to wanting her to be happy and mainly due to me wanting a quiet, easy life).

Sissi - wasn't she pretty?

Fortunately it is easy to trick children (in a white lie way of course), so all you need to pull of such an elaborate ruse is a couple of sparking things (like glitter) and a centre piece for them to focus all their attention (and ego) on. I decided, as I was baking the birthday cake, that I would kill two birds with one stone, which is to say that I actively searched for a way that would make my daughter feel like a queen, whilst also showing off my breathtakingly amazing (distinctly average) baking skills.

My daughter and I love watching the Great British Bake Off, and she mad about Mary Berry. I remembered hearing that John Lewis were selling Mary Berry's range of cake accessories so I popped onto the internet to do a little research (I went to look at how expensive they were).

Mary Berry - She Makes Great Cakes

There was good news and bad news:

Bad news – The Mary Berry Collection's Ceramic Cake Stand was £40 at John Lewis.

Good news – I found a site where I could by the same Mary Berry cake stand for £29.40!

I will undoubtedly go back to that site for more Mary Berry cake stuff in the future, but for now I had to worry about my daughter's birthday party so I had a little snoop around this site (it's very cake orientated), and found a range of acrylic cupcake stands.

I decided in the end that in addition to the Mary Berry Porcelain Cake Stand (which sounds better than 'ceramic' I think) that I'd get a couple of these acrylic cupcake stands too, which I could use to display French Fancies, biscuits, cakes, sandwiches and lots of other snacks and stuff so that the kids could just help themselves.

I think they look fantastic and because they are made from plastic they are so easy to clean to and maintain. The site I found all this stuff on (called Crystal Clear Cake Stands) has a wide range of cake plates and cupcake stands made from acrylic plastic, porcelain and metal, so If you're in the market for any such things you should definitely check them out!