Friday, October 23, 2009

The one about the cake...

I think it's more Ingrained than Genetic. My mom did her best to make our birthday cakes amazing. She even took a Wilton's decorating class before we moved to Tanzania.

There were three of us that shared this train cake...my foster brother, Michael, some other kid I don't remember and myself. As you can see, I was quite in awe.


My 6th birthday was a joint labor of love Lego cake...my dad made the marshmallow blocks and my mom did the rest.

Out of all of the cakes my mom created, this one from my 9th birthday is probably my favorite. Hefty Smurf complete with a little heart tattoo on his arm (yes, that's Melanie D, Kathryn R. and Ruthanne B. in the picture for those of you who are looking and thinking you recognize them).

So then along come my own children. And I want them to have those same feelings of most definitely being Someone Special on their birthday. Besides, it's a lot of fun being able to create and see my ideas come to fruition. It's certainly not something I would ever do for someone else and get paid for it. I once painted a watercolor on commission and it was one of the most stressful experiences of my creative life. I
am making a cake for a friend's 4-year-old in a couple of weeks but I'm doing it because she's my friend and I offered. The only guide lines I have from the Birthday Boy is chocolate and cars. I've got one or two ideas brewing.



For those interested...here's a back and front picture of the Monkey Cake. The pink, the arms, legs and tail are marshmallow fondant--so unbelievably easy to make and work with! The rest is chocolate buttercream. Hershey's cocoa powder comes in the perfect shade of Monkey Fur brown! I used Wilton's Cuddly Bear stand up cake pan, trimmed off non-monkey parts and repositioned the ears. When I brought Kyleigh down the stairs after her nap she saw the cake and started making monkey noises. She very much approved! Pound cake for the monkey and chocolate fudge cake for the rest--yummy.

9 comments:

Erin said...

You "repositioned the ears"? Um, I can barely get a cake to come out of the pan whole. Scratch that. I can't get a cake to come out of the pan whole.

mrsofficer said...

Hey creative use of a pan cake that way it isn't a one trick pony! All the memories you have of your special cakes made with love by mom are going to be the same as kyleigh's:)She is bless to have you! p.s. that is my daughter's name!

Momma Val said...

Those are some pretty darn cool cakes! My mom made some kid cakes but nothing compared to any of these! I think it's cool that your dad helped too :) Feel like flying to Chicago at the end of January to make Little Buddy's 3rd birthday cake?

Dori said...

Val, if you can promise me it won't be OMG Butt Freezing Cold...then maybe. :D

Erin, I learned something new this time--greasing the pan liberally with Crisco...didn't have an issue with any of them! I was doing a happy dance when the bear came out.

Momma Val said...

Ha! Guess, I'm on my own. This last January was one of the coldest on record for Chicago. Poop!!! Here's the depressing link, it was nose hair freezing weather just walking from garage to the car :(
http://weblogs.wgntv.com/chicago-weather/tom-skilling-blog/2009/01/

Dori said...

Mrs. Officer...one of my dearest childhood friends is Kylie and the husband agreed on the name as long as he could spell it like he wanted which is how we came up with Kyleigh. And I am *not* shy about correcting those who call her KAYleigh! Nothing against the name--one of her little friends is Kaylee--it's just not what we named our daughter.

mrsofficer said...

haha I know what you mean.We spell is Kylie because I like how it writes.I met a girl in Iowa named that and I had never heard it before. this was like 6yrs before she was born and I told the hubby when we have a girl its kylie.I just love it!

Suburbia said...

Wow! You are very talented. It looks delicious too.

My mum makes my childrens cakes, she has always insisted and I felt quite bereft once, but now I have got used to not having the stress!

Anonymous said...

That. Is. Awesome.