Because life’s celebrations shouldn’t cost the Earth

Monday 11 August 2014

Dr. Livingstone's 'Crocodylus Niloticus' I presume.....

We're hosting a Victorian themed Halloween party later this year and the children and I have been using the summer holidays to get ahead with preparations.  We have crafted some fantastic, if rather macabre, decorations (which are going to be featured in a national magazine!) and we're now busy planning menus.

Today we made 'Crocodylus Niloticus' in honour of Doctor Livingstone's search to find the source of the Nile, as well as highlighting the evils of slavery.


 The Nile Crocodile in pastry form!

Check out those teeth

We made two versions but in between dodging the rainstorms, which apparently are the result of the tail end of hurricane Bertha, we ended up with the 'before' pictures of one and the 'after' shots of the second!


Watch your fingers!


The first specimen was made using shortcrust pastry and when cooked it looked much better than the second, created with puff pastry. This was due to a lot of the detailing being lost as it 'puffed' up during baking.


Happy Halloween!

11 comments:

  1. Oooh you are very organised!!! Mr Croc looks great and look forward to seeing your published work xx

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  2. Haha! Looks like "fun was had by all!" They turned out fabulously!

    Can't wait to hear all about your feature!

    Hugs and happy week,
    Kelley~

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  3. Ha, ha, bet you had great fun making this. You'll have to make one out of salt dough that you can keep. Xx

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  4. This is so cool. Are you going to hang it from your ceiling, Alchemist-style? One of the things I remember from childhood was someone bringing in a (small) stuffed crocodile into primary school. This looks a pretty great facsimile and really loads of fun to make. Xx

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    1. Ha ha, that would be too funny! However, we have other plans for the ceiling so crocodile pie will just have to be served on a silver platter.

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  5. These are brilliant Josie, looks like you had the perfect activity to keep you busy on a wind and rainswept day :)

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  6. Hi,
    I never saw so brillant crocodile. Great!!!
    Manu

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  7. He looks great, what a clever idea, can't wait to see more of your Halloween preparations

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  8. Your crocodile looks fantastic. I bet the children had a wonderful time making him.
    Ali xx

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