Some old friends of mine, Hilda and Mitchell, are having a baby... very soon now.
As Hilda and Mitch hail from Barbados, the colours of the party are based on the Bajan flag and organiser Joan's brief was chevrons and pom-poms.
Since early on the baby's been known as the Cocoa Bean, shortened to CB in all communication.
Hilda's lovely friend Joan organised a baby shower from across the Atlantic, which was impressive.
At one point though, I really didn't think it was fated that I would get to the party. I was stuck for hours between junctions when the M23 was shut down, had to go cross country to get around (had to navigate a couple of ditches and a gravel road on the way to the A24), diversions on the A24, very heavy traffic on the M25, severe delays on the M4 so went for the M40 only to find that was shut down for 3 junctions too. Eventually got there just as the guest started to arrive rather than the very, very early arrival I'd planned for... thank god for my OCD contingency time scales!
This was my first chevron cake and I used the Jessica Harris, waxed paper transfer method (see her craftsy class @ http://www.craftsy.com/class/clean-and-simple-cake-design/209?_ct=sbqii-sqjuweho-dum&_ctp=4&rceId=1437656063514~ohxnsua5).
The thing I would change for next time though is that I mixed Culpitt gold flower-paste with the cocoform. I wanted the yellow to be irredescent but didn't want to screw up the straight lines by painting it afterward. That gold flower paste is so ridiculously hard to use and it made the cocoform much less stable so I had to make the chevron's thicker than I would have liked and it bugged me every time I looked at the cake.
Congratulations H&M,
CB, really looking forward to meeting you,
Joan, it was lovely to meet you,
Jason, Happy Birthday,
Everyone else, it was great to see you
xxxx
