Easter preparations

Easter this year was a really quiet affair here for me....it's usually a great big celebration with baking and cleaning and decorating the home just like Christmas, but somehow the celebratory mood was not quite there.
The house was cleaned, but then again I am in the middle of a huge spring cleaning job, so that was definite.
Didn't do any decorating at all.
However, I did bake and bake and bake.
There were a few items in the pantry that needed to be used up so I baked up a storm as we say here.

Ingredients for Rum Bread & Butter Pudding, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and an Easter Egg Cake for our friends at the RSPCA.
Actually the Rum Bread & Butter pudding turned out to be a virgin Bread & Butter Pudding, since when I checked the liquor cupboard, there was no rum to be found, and I didn't feel like braving the crowds in the supermarket....thus the raisins were soaked in almond milk instead.

Icing and decorating the Easter Cake

The cake all trimmed and waiting on the Creamy Butter frosting.

Easter Egg Cake

A special treat for my RSPCA family.

 I also made a batch of coconut ice cream since I had a tin of coconut milk sitting in the pantry.

Coconut Ice Cream Ingredients:

1 tin coconut milk

1 tin condensed milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1 tablespoon of desiccated coconut

Blend everything together and freeze. When frozen, remove and blend again.  Freeze again. Lovely and creamy and tasty....oh soooo GOOD.

After the church service on Easter Sunday, there was a dessert sale, and we could not resist the Cherry Cheesecake and the Black Forest Cake, even though we had baked goodies at home.

Talk about temptation!!!