A Slice of the 90s - An Introduction

Years ago, probably when it first came out when I was a disillusioned teenager in 2009, I watched the film Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. It was the final film of Nora Ephron prior to her death in 2012 and was the culmination of a career of well worn, well watched and well loved rom-coms throughout the 80s, 90s and 2000s.

Julie & Julia is a biographical film following the lives of both Julia Child, a war time OSS researcher turned chef who brought French cooking to the American masses, and Julie Powell, an aspiring writer in a bit of a slump who decided to blog her challenge of cooking every recipe in Julia’s cook book (Mastering the Art of French Cooking – 524 recipes) in 365 days.

The film poster of Julie & Julia

The film splits its time between each of the women’s lives and is a cosy and heart-warming view of two women seemingly at turning points in their lives, unsure of what they truly want to do next, and dissatisfied with where they currently are. Both manage to succeed in becoming published authors and catapulting their lives into something they never could have dreamed of.

What is the point of all this? Well. I have always enjoyed the idea of following in Julie’s footsteps and setting myself a bit of a challenge to make my way through a cookbook within a timeframe and blogging about it. Something to give me a challenge with a bit of creativity and to bring people along for the journey. However, the right cookbook has never quite presented itself… until now.

While I absolutely see the merit of being as ambitious as Julie and finding an ever so famous, serious or critically acclaimed cookbook to feel alive about as I rise to the challenge… that isn’t quite me. Not right now. I am at a point of my life where I too perhaps am feeling in a bit of a slump, and slaving over complex sauces or souffles just isn’t going to cut it for me.

In steps an internet recommendation which set me back approximately £3.84 for a second-hand copy. The perhaps not-so-famous Children’s Party Cakes by Carole Handslip, first published in 1991.

The challenge in question

This book, upon reading the introduction, is designed for the parents who wish to make their children’s birthday’s special with homemade cakes – I imagine in a time where Colin the Caterpillar who was introduced the year before in 1990 might have been out of reach of some families from the ever so posh Marks and Sparks.

As someone who was born in 1992 and grew up with birthday cakes that looked like clowns or had Barbie or Sindy dolls shoved into the top of a homemade dome made to look like a dress, this book called out to me. Flicking through the book shows a grand total of 50 differently decorated cakes starting at Porky Pig and ending with Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary (a classic of British nursery rhymes).

From Concorde to Freddie Frog to a Grand Piano, this book demonstrates a point in time in the 90s which will resonate with those who grew up in the 80s, 90s and 00s – as well as their parents. However, as always goes the way of the passing of time, the 90s are now becoming a bit more trendy and vintage but without perhaps anyone seeing the parts of life beyond Polly Pocket, Blockbuster and the rise of the World Wide Web.

Katie Caterpillar

SO. That is why this blog has been created. In homage to Julie & Julia and my own quest to perhaps develop my skills and my sense of self, as well as share a bit of 90s nostalgia and fun, I am going to document the year from 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2026 baking my way through Children’s Party Cakes. I do not have any children, but I have friends, family, co-workers and you, my internet pseudo children for whom I will be painstakingly making these cakes.

We live in a time where the world is absolutely full of horrors. Genocide. War. Racism. Misogyny. Billionaires. Poverty. You name it.

Am I perfect in the midst of all of this? No. Do I try to be an okay enough person? Yes. And what I want to try here is to just lean into a little bit of joy to provide a little corner of the internet for the times when you can’t doom scroll the news, think about your job, family, or the latest climate disaster. Here, you can think about what life was like growing up throughout the 80s, 90s and 00s, cake flavours, what colour should a poorly decorated hovercraft be and whether Mr Blobby should be included on at least ONE of these cakes (the answer is always yes). Maybe somewhere along the line we can raise a bit of money for charity, make some people happy with some cakes and if at some point I can generate a bit of money to somehow break even on cake making supplies (as well as embrace a bit of nostalgia with other people) then I shall consider it a success.

Blogging started in earnest in the mid-late 90s and while I will be documenting my little year-long challenge through the horrendously complex world of social media, attempting to make TikTok’s and Reels and whatever else the algorithm demands to allow me to crawl towards the masses for attention; I want to lean into the 90s theme and take bad photos and pretend that I don’t really care about the opinions of the internet and just shout into the void, providing at times slightly haunted looking cakes as I go.

I want to provide a space that allows people to communicate and reflect on the fun and joy of some whimsy and wonder of the years gone by and talk about hobbies, cake, crafting, food and whatever else we might segue into. It may be that ultimately, I will be talking simply to myself and recording my year long challenge to hopefully get better at baking and have some fun and if that is the case, well at least I can read each post to my dogs and force them to participate.

Anyway, all that being said, fancy a slice of the 90s with me?