My baby boy, my Huckleberry Finn turned 6 months old today. Wiggle as I sometimes like to affectionately call him has reached a momentous milestone. An age worth celebrating because that's a big achievement for both baby and parents.

Life has been a whirlwind since Finn entered our lives 6 months ago. Life has changed irrevocably. Everything has been new & foreign from changing nappies, to bathing a tiny human, breastfeeding and burping (because babies get a lot of wind). But 6 months on and we are old hands at these tasks. Now that Finn is old enough for solids, it's a whole new phase we are going through again. There have been ups and downs. Plenty of emotional, mental and physical strains. Parenting is hard, you are sleep deprived everyday and feeling like a zombie starts to feel normal. But I couldn't imagine life without Finn and he has changed our life for the better.

Spring is finally in the air. Daffodils made their brief but bright appearance last month. The parks and gardens are blanketed in a purple carpet of bluebells. Cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

It's a time of new beginnings and the timing is very fitting as I welcomed my new bundle of baby joy and love into the world. I have spent the last month adjusting to my new hectic life in motherhood. You can understand why it's been a little quiet here of late.

I did find the time to bake this birthday cake for my husband. Not quite as grand as this cake I made for him last year but still delicious.

I feel so happy to say goodbye to Winter and welcome the arrival of Spring with open arms. It's been a while since my last post but I have good reasons for it. We bought our first home in London. I'm still getting used to the idea that we are home owners. Our spare time has been preoccupied with decorating, moving, unpacking and buying furniture and home accessories. All this has been taking place whilst I'm in my third trimester of my pregnancy.

I have also been busy with other projects.

Anyone fancy a decadent, chocolate cake laced with whiskey? This does sound quite rich for this time of the year but if you were offered a slice of this, I'm sure you wouldn't say no, right? I have been meaning to add this cake to the blog and it has been on my "to do" list" for a couple of months. I finally found the time to bake it and share it. I first made for Mark for his big birthday back in April, and it was so well received that I wanted to share it.

I combined chocolate with whiskey because Mark has a weakness for both. You can leave the whiskey out entirely, if you wish. I made a much bigger version for his birthday and it was only when I presented the cake did I realise how enormous it was. It was only right that we shared it around the pub, as there was no way we could finish the entire cake. This version is smaller version but can easily feed a party of around 15 people.

Baking is quite new to me and when I say new, I mean about one year new. My enjoyment for baking started out of greed and to satisfy me and Mark’s love for sweet things. Besides a love for chocolate, we love a bit of cake. It would be safe to say we both have a massive sweet tooth.

I don't come from a family with bakers and so I didn’t grow up eating home-made baked cakes but my sweet tooth was appeased through other sweets like these.  I suppose it’s because baking isn’t a part of Vietnamese cuisine. The oven in my parent’s house is still as good as new, and has been used once when Mark cooked them a Christmas roast dinner when we still lived in Sydney. This may explain why baking didn’t come naturally to me. But I have grown fond of it and I find the process therapeutic. It still amazes me that you can mix together a few ingredients, place it in the oven and after a short time a cake is born.