Little Miss Nine has just turned into Little Miss Ten. A second birthday in lockdown. Another birthday without a party. Was she bothered? Not at all. Presents, balloons and some treats were enough to keep her happy.

We made a cake. Miss Ten can’t eat eggs so I had to bake an egg free cake. I found a delicious looking chocolate cake recipe on the internet, that looked easy to make and it had great reviews.

I had all the ingredients in the press so I got out the mixer and began. If you’ve ever made a dairy/egg free cake, you’ll know that oil and vinegar are the main substitutes. The only oil I had was rapeseed.

Before I continue, you may wonder (or not care) why I had rapeseed oil in stock. Well…Stephano watched Neven Maguire using rapeseed oil in one of his amazing dishes. So, he bought rapeseed oil in the hope that…I’m not sure what he hoped actually.

Miss Ten had fun decorating the cake, so it looked quite nice but it tasted awful! If I had used sunflower, or even olive oil, I’m pretty sure it would’ve turned out delicious. But I ended up with a rapeseed oil flavoured chocolate cake. The Rice Krispie buns were perfect though, so not all was lost.

This year Miss Ten’s birthday presents were different from her usual cuddly toys, fairies, dolls and all things sparkly. She got roller skates, a fishing rod and a bow and arrow. She’s in love with Snow White and Robin Hood from Once Upon A Time (156 episodes) both of whom are expert archers.

Our baby is growing up. Fast! In every possible way.

Today’s post is part of Linda G Hill’s #SoCS (Stream of Conscious Saturday) The prompt is ‘growth’.