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To celebrate my son’s 2nd birthday I opted for a Koala themed party as he is koala obsessed! This is an unusual interest for a two year old as Australian animals don’t tend to be very popular. However, he has carried around his beloved koala ‘Binky’ for a year and a half now!

After an elaborate 1st birthday party we had agreed to only celebrate the big milestones, but we still couldn’t resist having a small celebration at home this year. When deciding on his birthday cake, I didn’t want to opt for a professional or fondant style cake for a couple of reasons. These included the cost and that I didn’t want to feel the pressure to have an extravagant cake every year (especially now that I have two kids!).

Instead, I opted for a traditional koala themed cake from a vintage cookbook, The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book. Now I am no Martha Stewart, so with the helpful guidance of my own mother I did a trial run of my very first cake and was really impressed!

It involved a simple butter packet cake mix, green icing (made with a small amount of food colouring), some coconut dyed green, blue jelly, some confectionary (licorice, musk sticks, sour straps) to decorate to your taste, and finally the star of the show – Cadbury Caramello Koalas and Bob’s your uncle!

I love this cake! It is old school but is cool, fits the party theme perfectly, my son’s face when he saw it was priceless, but best of all it tasted great!

Now I feel confident enough to let him choose a creation every year for his birthday (I remember browsing through the book as a little girl), without the pressure of feeling like he needs a professional birthday cake, which these days is all to easily becoming the norm for the modern or busy Mum.

If you don’t have a copy of this book then why not check out Aldi, Woolworths, Big W or your local newsagent for the revival of the traditional The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book. I was lucky enough that my Mum had this gem hidden away in the pantry cupboard.

Look out for my blog next week on hosting a birthday party at home!

What is your favourite childhood cake memory? Please leave a comment below.

Z.