180 Degrees Cupcakes :: Ivanhoe

Another fantastic guest post from our lovely in-house writer Miss Mel...

I LOVE cupcakes! Who doesn’t love cupcakes? With their light and fluffy interiors, creamy icing and gorgeous designs, who could resist? Whether you’re big or small, the lure of a good cupcake is hard to resist.

180 Degrees Cupcakes is located in the back of Mount’s Pharmacy in Ivanhoe. A strange place for a cupcake shop, but very Melbourne! They have been around for about one year now and business is booming in this tiny space. What better to do when you’re waiting for a prescription than have a coffee and cake.

The selection of cupcakes offered changes from day to day, with vanilla and chocolate always being available. Little Miss couldn’t resist the gorgeous Autumn themed ladybird cake with a vanilla base and the Little Man loved his mini chocolate cupcake with rich chocolate swirls. With so many options, the choice was difficult, but my white chocolate and macadamia was divine!

Other yummy flavours are lemon meringue, flourless chocolate, hummingbird, carrot, mocha, sticky date and nutella. There are also special cupcakes for special occasions (red velvet for Valentine’s Day, lots of green for St Pat’s) and beautifully decorated ones to match the seasons.

As well as the cupcakes, 180 degrees also make good coffee and tea, FREE babycino’s and a variety of softdrinks. There are only a few small tables available to dine in, with limited room for prams. There are no highchairs or changing facilities, so it’s really just a place for a quick stop when you’re in need of a sugar fix.

For new mothers, the café does host a one off Mother’s Group on Tuesday to Friday mornings or afternoons, with bookings. For a minimum of 6 mums and bubs, you can be treated to a complimentary coffee and cupcake, Jurlique hand massage and a demonstration of Mustela skincare products. Perfect pampering for new mums!

Thanks for sharing Mel - this place sounds AMAZING.
Cake and a hand massage, book me in baby!

Road Test :: Method Range

Method is a company who make a range of home cleaning and kid cleaning products. Their tag line is “for the love of clean”. Well l can safely say while l hate cleaning l do like their motto – “for the love of clean” – for l do love everything clean but hate the effort one puts into getting that result. But l guess no effort equals crappy results and in this case Method is a welcome relief on my “cleaning arms” as little effort is needed when l’m using their range which makes me happy. You know it’s the little things isn’t it.




I’ve been whizzing around our bathroom over the past few weeks with the Method range and have been most happy with the results so far. Method sent me some Natural Daily Shower Cleaner, Bathroom Cleaner and (my personal favourite and latest addiction) the Handy Tub + Tile Flushable Wipes. Oh yes the Tub Wipes have been just grand at wiping up messy toilet yuckies, and need l say more when l tell you that l’m the only women in the house and that l have good aim. Got it? Yes l think you know.

Not only do these babies wipe up your toilet mess but l’ve also been using them to mop up mess all around the house. No stain is safe, spilt milk, mushed up watermelon, biscuit crumbs and other congealed goo that ends up on my floors, cupboards, handbag and other unusual places have all been cleaned up with the Handy Tub Wipes. Yay!

And speaking of unusual places that collect congealed goo – like the kids hair for instance Method have a product for that too – yes the sweet smelling Crisp Apple Kid Wash and Shampoo have been a real hit at bath time. The kids love the smell and of course the cute penguin packaging and l’m loving that l’m using a 99% natural products on their precious skin. The Kid Wash and Shampoo also contains no animal by-products, parabens and it cleans the kids too so it’s a winner all round really.




So if you’re looking to give your cleaning cupboard a bit of a spruce up then Method are the folks you should check out. Happy cleaning!

Other Method products that the Hey Bambini Team have tested and LOVE are the Method Baby Squeaky Green Body Lotion and the Method Kid Fuzzy Peach Body Wash and Shampoo.

Friday Inspiration

Road Test :: Colorific Brain Noodles

Little Miss and I were lucky enough to trial the fantastic Brain Noodle ‘Primary’ pack from Colorific. What better way to spend a wet Melbourne day than to get crafty?

Colorific are an Aussie owned company that create all sorts of craft products and toys for your little ones.

Brain Noodles are big, fat pipe cleaners that you can do all sorts of wonderful things with, especially if you’re a bit creative. The great thing about the Brain Noodle pack is that you don’t need to be particularly crafty or imaginative because everything you need, including instructions, comes in the box!

From our packet, we made a panda, lion, parrot and butterfly. The instructions were easy to follow and I was pretty chuffed with the end result, even if they were a little wonky! Little Miss loved the parrot and was more than happy to fly it around the lounge room.

The pack is recommended for kids over 5, so I did most of the work, but Little Miss enjoyed sticking the eyes on to our creatures and playing with the left over bits and pieces. I’m sure older kids would have a great time trying to make the animals themselves, even if Mum and Dad need to help with some of the more fiddly bits.

The great thing about the Brain Noodles is that they can be reused over and over again, so if you want to have a go making something else with them, then you can. When I’m feeling a bit more creative, I might just have to give that a go! For now, we have a few more animals to add to the ever-growing collection on the book case.

Thanks Colorific for giving Little Miss and I something fun to do on a day when the weather gods had other ideas.

Wordless Wednesday

{Image}