Diver Cake

This cake is one of the favourite ones I have made. I hope you like it.

My friend Pete is a keen diver, he actually was one of my diving instructors so it seemed apt to make him a diver cake. He also prefers the icing to cake, so this allowed for icing additions that he could eat with the cake.

The reef was fun to make, and included a number of seaweeds, clams (complete with some pearls) and a starfish. It may not be ecologically accurate, but was fun to make and did taste good. He even approved of the cake underneath the icing.

Lactose-free cheesecake

This title can be interpreted two ways: one, I have tried to make speedily using lactose-free substitutions and it didn't really work; and the other turned out quite well:

My sister has a lactose intolerance, so most dairy she avoids like the plague. Even before her intolerance, she didn't eat much cheese at home. So, it is quite funny, at least to our family, that she ended up married to someone who likes his cheese.

Therefore, when it can to his birthday, the idea was to make him some cheese that she could also enjoy, so the "lactose-free cheesecake" or really "lactose-free cheese-board cake" was born.

Unfortunately the blue-cheese did not come out quite as I hope, probably linked to my lack of experience eating blue cheese, however, I did like my cheddar, edam, speckled Tintern and gooey brie.