Tomorrow is the big party for the bears combined Birthday’s. There will be presents, games, food and of course the very special Birthday cake. This year I am once again taking on the task of baking and decorating the cakes. My experience in this area has not been stellar. When it comes to cooking and especially baking I can make decadence out of the ingredients. However when it comes to decorating I am not skilled or even competent. Yet here I am trying again.
I blame the fact that I am abysmal at decorating on not getting enough practice. Three times a year is not adequate preparation. This is why there is a niche for cake decorators. Alas I strive every year to be the Mom who makes the best Birthday cake.
Last year for Teagan’s Birthday I made a Tinker Bell cake. Or at least that is what I called it. We had Grandparents and their Great Aunt coming in so I saved the baking and decorating till the very end. The cake was lemon with just the right amount of tart in the midst of sweet. Perfect. Then came the decorating.
I thought I was being easy on myself by making a 9” round and doing a 2D image of Tinker Bell. Ha! I frosted the overall cake. Good job. Next, time for the actual figure. I started with her dress. This was surprisingly painless. When I started mixing the food coloring for the body I was having issues in achieving a pale peach. You see Tinker Bell is a fair fairy and food coloring doesn’t come in fair. Mix, mix, mix. The best I could accomplish was spray tan orange. Have you ever seen an orange fairy? Me neither. Running out of time I sucked it up and decided to proceed. Neck merging into the first arm. Not bad. Next arm... oh, stop that… no, not that wide… gorilla arm. Damn. I tried lifting the excess off with a toothpick, smudging white frosting over some more. Okay so Tink has been working out. Moving on. Legs. Now this fairy does have massive thighs as if she does squats every morning before breakfast. So I go for thin and add where I need to. Right leg… left leg… hey, not bad. Little green shoes. Yea, that just looks like blobs. Running out of time, tick, tick, tick. Time for spray tan face. Oh wow. That’s bad. The arms, the legs, but having the face with the spray tan makes her look like an oompa loompa. Tick, tick, tick. Blonde hair. Not the best tresses but you at least know it’s hair! Facial features. Eyes and mouth only, because the nose is not going to stand out in the sea of orange on this face. Left eye… right eye… dot of blue for each… outline in black. Uh, that looks odd. Maybe because they would be better suited for a larger face that was on a man. On we go. Mouth. Red puckered lips. Lips that look like they have been injected with silicon. Seriously at this point Tinker Bell has morphed into a street walker. Short skirt, spray tan, heavy eye make-up with a slathering of red lipstick. The gorilla arm just adds to the mystique. Ah yes and to finish off the look, scary blue things sprouting out of her back suppose to be light and airy fairy wings. It looks like she is holding gigantic scissors behind her back with her gorilla arm. I suppose women of the night need protection too. I can do no more. Damage that is. I write Teagan’s name and add sprinkles.
As I stand back and scrutinize the disaster in front of me I feel little arms wrap around my leg. “Hello Mommy” comes a semi-sleepy voice of my then almost two year old Teagan. She spies the counter. “Me Birfday cake?” I pick her up to show her the mess. “MOMMY! That’s Tinker Bell!” And she hugs me.
And that is why I will once again make a cake. She knew who it was and more importantly was over joyed that Mommy had made her Tinker Bell.
I blame the fact that I am abysmal at decorating on not getting enough practice. Three times a year is not adequate preparation. This is why there is a niche for cake decorators. Alas I strive every year to be the Mom who makes the best Birthday cake.
Last year for Teagan’s Birthday I made a Tinker Bell cake. Or at least that is what I called it. We had Grandparents and their Great Aunt coming in so I saved the baking and decorating till the very end. The cake was lemon with just the right amount of tart in the midst of sweet. Perfect. Then came the decorating.
I thought I was being easy on myself by making a 9” round and doing a 2D image of Tinker Bell. Ha! I frosted the overall cake. Good job. Next, time for the actual figure. I started with her dress. This was surprisingly painless. When I started mixing the food coloring for the body I was having issues in achieving a pale peach. You see Tinker Bell is a fair fairy and food coloring doesn’t come in fair. Mix, mix, mix. The best I could accomplish was spray tan orange. Have you ever seen an orange fairy? Me neither. Running out of time I sucked it up and decided to proceed. Neck merging into the first arm. Not bad. Next arm... oh, stop that… no, not that wide… gorilla arm. Damn. I tried lifting the excess off with a toothpick, smudging white frosting over some more. Okay so Tink has been working out. Moving on. Legs. Now this fairy does have massive thighs as if she does squats every morning before breakfast. So I go for thin and add where I need to. Right leg… left leg… hey, not bad. Little green shoes. Yea, that just looks like blobs. Running out of time, tick, tick, tick. Time for spray tan face. Oh wow. That’s bad. The arms, the legs, but having the face with the spray tan makes her look like an oompa loompa. Tick, tick, tick. Blonde hair. Not the best tresses but you at least know it’s hair! Facial features. Eyes and mouth only, because the nose is not going to stand out in the sea of orange on this face. Left eye… right eye… dot of blue for each… outline in black. Uh, that looks odd. Maybe because they would be better suited for a larger face that was on a man. On we go. Mouth. Red puckered lips. Lips that look like they have been injected with silicon. Seriously at this point Tinker Bell has morphed into a street walker. Short skirt, spray tan, heavy eye make-up with a slathering of red lipstick. The gorilla arm just adds to the mystique. Ah yes and to finish off the look, scary blue things sprouting out of her back suppose to be light and airy fairy wings. It looks like she is holding gigantic scissors behind her back with her gorilla arm. I suppose women of the night need protection too. I can do no more. Damage that is. I write Teagan’s name and add sprinkles.
As I stand back and scrutinize the disaster in front of me I feel little arms wrap around my leg. “Hello Mommy” comes a semi-sleepy voice of my then almost two year old Teagan. She spies the counter. “Me Birfday cake?” I pick her up to show her the mess. “MOMMY! That’s Tinker Bell!” And she hugs me.
And that is why I will once again make a cake. She knew who it was and more importantly was over joyed that Mommy had made her Tinker Bell.
No comments:
Post a Comment