I have turned in to an expert at attending baby showers recently and have been to two in about as many days. Wild hen nights seem to have been quietly replaced without me even noticing and baby showers are where it’s at. This weekend’s do was beautifully orchestrated by the lovely TS who did very well co-ordinating a staggering 35 of us…and can only really be described as a Tatler accredited version of a shower (complete with snapper).

We are also talking of a total of six Birkin handbags, all present and correct with their owners in tow…

…in honor of the very glowing Mummy-to-be, GW.

As well as handbags to die for, I must point out that there was also some very chic scarf tying (Hermès, natch) including SL, who managed to juggle extreme pregnancy with extreme glamour:

CB also rocked in her daytime chic scarf:

Decorations were beautiful and set the scene perfectly (yes, it’s a girl).

And in a wonderfully united effort, everyone contributed in some way, whether with food (including some seriously impressive homemade macaroons)

flowers:

games:

which included ‘guess the tummy size’ (cut a pink ribbon to the size you think the mama-to-be’s girth is – I was so wildly out on this one I had to do a forfeit) and the old favourite, who can drink out of a baby bottle the fastest. Bottles were filled with your choice of champage, root beer or Ribena.

And the last but not least contribution? The venue. Thank you JY (pictured below right).

Pink champagne flowed non-stop from 2-6pm and there was homemade lemonade for the non-drinkers.

I got so many complements on my very easy to make Victoria sponge cake (above) which was what I brought in the way of contributions. I have duplicated the recipe at the very bottom of this post, taken from Nigella’s trusty Domestic Goddess baking book which yields  impressive results, pretty much every time.

BABY SHOWER #2

This was almost the opposite of the first (meant in a good way…I certainly don’t want to go to two identical parties) and was held yesterday at the Shangri-La in honor of ET & FR.

A very intimate affair there were a cosy 10 of us ensconced in the confines and comfy chairs of the Rose Veranda dining room for an angmoh afternoon tea extravaganza: there was fragrant smoky Earl Grey (always a bit of a pre-requistite for me) as well as sandwiches, scones and cake. We are talking a general, all round, work-it-off-tomorrow carb fest:

But the pièce de résistance were two very impressive diaper cakes made by the ever practical LR.  Paragons of good taste, each cake contained 72 nappies concealed behind neatly tucked and folded muslins, topped with Petit Bateau onesies and an iconic rubber duckie.

And here are the very neat mammas-to-be, both due to deliver within a month of today, with their bumps….

 and their ‘cakes’…

MY DOMESTIC GODDESS EFFORT: VICTORIA SPONGE

Ingredients:

225g butter

225g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

4 large eggs

200g self-raising flour

25g cornflour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2-4 tablespoons milk

2x21cm sandwich tins, buttered and or lined (5cm deep)

Put all the ingredients in to the food processor, EXCEPT the milk, and process it until you have a smooth batter.  If your butter is fridge-hard like it invariably is if you live in Singapore, just give it a quick mix along with the sugar before adding the other ingredients.

Now add the milk by pulsing the processor and gradually pouring in it through the funnel of the Magi Mix until you have a soft mixture. She doesn’t say this, but be really careful not to over mix it at this stage (I’ve made this mistake before now and you get a horrible rubberized mass post cooking; just do the minimum mixing required to combine the ingredients and milk).

Pour and scrape in equal measure in to two lined and greased cake tins and bake at 180 degrees for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in the tins for 10 mins before turning out on to a cake rack.

Once cool, sandwich together with Bulla cream and strawberry jam. Dust the top with icing sugar (also useful as it will cover up any scorch marks in the highly unlikely event of slight overcooking) …and hey presto.

From Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking, page 14