The most observant of you all would have noticed that yesterday I didn't blog. Well it wasn't coincidental because I didn't and here is why; yesterday was Matthew's birthday and I couldn't let him go all day without a special surprise so I left work early and headed out on a mission to surprise him. Sit back and get comfy because it's time for the story: A Car, A Cake and a Big Surprise.
It's the afternoon of Tuesday May 2nd in the office and after discussing with Jasmine, my work friend *insert impression of Jay from the Inbetweeners- "WORK FRIEND"!* about the dilemma I had about seeing Matthew on his birthday with it being a work day, I decided on the spot that I would go and surprise him. I had to really. He's rarely surprised by anything and he was already guessing what his present might be so what could be more surprising than parking up outside his house armed with cake and waiting for him to come home?
With the decision made, it was time to start planting the seeds of the plan. Me and Matthew ring eachother before and after work so after work on Tuesday I told a little white lie: "I have to go in early tomorrow darling so I won't be able to ring." First seed sewn. I needed to get to work early the next day in order to be allowed to leave early and with that excuse I knew he wouldn't get too suspicious. He has an eagle eye for details and holes in logic so I knew I had to play this cool.
When I got home I told mum the plan and after dinner I cracked on with the cake I was going to bring to the surprise party. I decided to make a victoria sponge with jam and buttercream. I'm no Mary Berry but I've made enough victoria sponges in my time to know what's what. If you want to know how to make it and what you need look no further...
You'll need:
(for the cake)
- 200g self raising flour
- 200g caster sugar
- 200g butter
- 1 tbsp milk
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 4 eggs (I used large eggs)
- a drop of vanilla extract
(for the filling)
- 100g butter
- 140g icing sugar
- jam (as much as you like really and whatever flavour you like. I used strawberry jam)
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| picture: BBC Good Food. I forgot to take a picture of mine before I left |
Preheat the oven 190 degree's on electric or gas mark 5, grease your cake tins, whisk all the cake ingredients together into a batter and shove it all in the oven for 20 mins (or until the middle is cooked and not all wobbly) While your cake is cooking you can start on making the buttercream by mixing the butter and icing sugar. Once your cake has cooled, sandwich your cakes together with your buttercream and jam and Bob's your uncle! You have a sweet, soft, delicious victoria sponge. Unless you put the oven temperature too high or left it in for too long. Victoria sponge is a great example of a simple classic that you can customise in so many ways to make it your own.
So with my cake made and safely in it's container, Matthew completely unaware of my plans and my alarm set an hour earlier I was all ready to go. I would leave work at 4pm sharp and try to get through the traffic to be outside his front door before he even got home at 5. I had already given him his present ('box of Matthewness') the weekend before with strict instructions not to open it until Wednesday so I would (if all went well) be sat in my car outside his house as another present waiting for him. He has never really seen his birthday as a particularly special event worthy of a fuss but as I wanted to see him open the present box (I had been so excited about him opening it since I put it all together.) and make his birthday a little more special, I thought I would use my new found tool of spontaneity, Kiki, to make his day.
So it's now Wednesday morning and I'm making sure everything is ready to go. Matthew wants to open his present box to which I immediately told him no. "Later" I begged, "open it later" as he would then have more to look forward to. He reluctantly agrees and I then set off for work with no morning phone call. I didn't like telling these white lies as it meant he couldn't open anything on his birthday or even speak to me as I had to get to work but I, and eventually he, would appreciate the reasons why later on.
It's now 4pm and I'm heading out on my secret mission- A Car, A Cake and a Big Surprise. Matthew would still be at work until around 5 so I knew I had just over an hour to get there if my plan was to run smoothly. The only thing in my way was traffic. But having left earlier the possibility of getting stuck in rush hour traffic was slim- HA HA!
"I could just about make this" I thought reaching the halfway point and looking at the clock. I just needed all the traffic lights to go green simultaneously, the dual carriageways to be ghost towns and my right foot to stay limbered up. Unfortunately, the closer I got to the A34 the more the traffic began to build. I was getting perilously close to 5 now, my plan was going to fall flat on it's arse.
However, as I turned the corner into his road, I realised my plan was going to run smoothly after all. His car wasn't there which meant one thing: he wasn't home yet. Yes! I parked up and settled down to wait for him to emerge around the corner onto his drive way. I was practically jumping with excitement like a kid who'd just found the best place to hide in a game of 'hide and seek'. I then remembered the time. It was 5. Matthew was going to expect me to ring any time now! As I got my phone from my bag I saw the messages from him worried as I'd not rung him yet (start early, finish early right?) Dammit! First I deny him the chance to open his present and now I was panicking him! But I decided to ring him now, the excuse: I got held up at work. On the phone he was glad I was ok but sounded a bit deflated as he realised he'd have to potentially wait longer to open his present. I said I was on the way home and he should ring when he's opening the present, he then said he was nearly home himself so we said our goodbyes and hung up.
I was practically pissing my pants with excitement now as I waited for his car to come into sight. I was looking constantly in all my mirrors......no, not him. 2 mins later I look again.......no, no sign of him. They say a watched phone doesn't ring well in my case it was 'an anticipated car does not turn up'. I decided to let my mum and Jasmine know I'd arrived safely and that the big reveal was moments away. The next minute I look in my mirror.....IT'S HIM! Now I'm not hidden away or anything at this point so as he got closer to his house, it would become more and more obvious it was me. But that was not the point, the point was that I was here and he had no idea at all. He pulls into his drive and then walks over to open my car door. I wanted to shout SURPRISE! but all I did was giggle hysterically at the shock and surprise on his face. "You shouldn't have done!" he says as I go to hug him. I got the feeling I'd truly surprised him when he couldn't find much else to say. I'd done it! He was stunned to silence. My mission was complete and with the cake in hand we head indoors.
It was now time to open the much anticipated present box. Now this present box had been planned for months. I started gathering presents together and then got the box idea as something a bit different than just shoving them all in a bag. Only with this box came confetti. Lots of confetti. Oh and also some shredded paper for extra measure. It was to be a multi-sensory present. An elaborate experience. Also it was amusing to see him try and open everything over-cautiously trying to avoid a confetti explosion. Something his dog Tilly would no doubt have loved. It also surprised me just how much confetti I ended up using. He'll probably still be picking that confetti up for days- sorry Matthew!
After dinner it was time for cake! First for the 'Happy Birthday candles. Or more to the point, trying to find a complete set. Some of you may know this struggle well and you'll have attacks of OCD as you realise you're missing the A from HAPPY and suddenly the whole thing becomes an uncomfortable affair. There was no such awkwardness here. We embraced the missing letters situation and in fact played it off joking that it was pretty much correct. So with the 'HAPPY BRHDAY' candles lit it was time to break out into the 'Happy Birthday' song and for Matthew to blow out his candles and make a wish.
All told, Matthew had a good (his words!) birthday; he got the cake (which was delicious) and he eventually got to open the present box. Even if I did make him wait all day and panic on his way home, the surprised smile on his face as he opened my car door was all worth while.
The End.
I hope you all enjoyed my tale of 'A Car, A Cake and a Big Surprise'. Tomorrow I will be seeing Matthew again as he's coming over for the weekend and we may be going Ikea shopping! Come back tomorrow for a news update (as I didn't fill you in yesterday) Have a lovely Friday :)
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