Madhouse Family Reviews: Children's book review : Butterfly and the Birthday Surprise (Fairies of Blossom Bakery)

We were delighted when we received a new Fairies of Blossom Bakery book to review a few weeks ago. You may remember that in the past, we've reviewed Cookie and the Secret Sleepover (and made chocolate-dipped hearts), Plum and the Winter Ball (and made Plum's Upside Down Pudding) and Cupcake and the Princess Party (and made - you guessed it - cupcakes !)

This time, it's Butterfly's turn to take centre stage. It's her birthday and she wants to organise the perfect birthday party for herself, making sure every last detail is taken care of. The problem is, this means her friends feel a bit left out and can't surprise her. When things go pear-shaped, Butterfly has to stop being such a control-freak and learns that it's actually quite nice to be surprised rather than bossing everyone around and organising everything.

It's now become a bit of a tradition that we make the recipe at the back of the book after we've finished reading the story, and this time was no exception.

Can you guess what we made? It's always linked to the story, if you need a little clue.

As Pierre has now mastered the art of cracking eggs ...

I decided to let him have a go with my hand whisk, which he thought was great fun !

The final job is licking the spoon and the bowl while it's in the oven !

And here it is - a fluffy lemon curd filled sponge cake, topped with a butterfly and scattered with dried cranberries - yum !

The Fairies of Blossom Bakery books are lovely, with fun stories that alway contain a good life-lesson about working with your friends, and the recipe at the end is a great follow-on activity that the whole family can get involved in.