Birthday Cakes

Birthday cakes. The center of the Birthday party. This year I wanted two cakes, one for each bear to have a candle on and blow out. I thought of Max and Ruby or a Dora and Diego but I kept being brought back to Sponge Bob and Patrick. It’s a square and a star so how much trouble should it be? If you allot for the time it shouldn’t be any bother at all. Time, my fatal foe.

I bake two 9” rounds the morning of the party. Taking each round I cut out the figures. Piecing together arms and legs. Teagan and Kaitlyn come in to the dining room and see the uncovered chocolate figures and yell out “Sponge Bob…Patrick.” If nothing else the figures are recognizable so I suppose I’m off to a great start.

I mixed up a big batch of frosting. I am not use to frosting cakes and I was afraid of running out of frosting. There was so much leftover I could have made a thick frosting on another set of cakes but it was worth it to easy my mind. I took several bowls and doled out servings for all the colors; yellow, green, pink, purple, brown, and red. I cheated and bought black. The colors were okay but brown is not an easy color to achieve without it getting brackish.

I decide to frost Patrick first. His body was easy, as were the shorts. I pipe on the flowers on the shorts and they end up looking like blobs. I put on his eyes and pipe in the retinas, mouth and of course belly button. Patrick is done. He actually looks cute. I’m not going to win an award but he’s definitely Patrick and I’m happy.

On to Sponge Bob. He’s square so he should be even easier. I coat his body and move on to his sleeves and pants. I was not pleased with the color of the brown but the pants went on well. At this point I look at the clock. I have thirty minutes before people should start arriving and I have not taken a shower, done my hair, make-up or gotten dressed. Time, damn, damn, damn, time. Because of the new stress I decide to forget the shirt and I pipe on his tie. Well that just looks stupid without the shirt. So I lay out a line for the shirt. Better but you can tell it was an after thought. I put on his eyes and pipe out the tongue. I take the black and pipe the retinas, eye lashes (the are important), and mouth. I realize the little tube of black is not enough so his shoes will have to be the horrible brown. At this point compromise comes easily. Something is missing. Not just right. I forgot his two huge teeth. Without them it’s just not Sponge Bob. So I carefully try to squeeze in teeth. They are little nubbins but they will work.

I have no more time. They will have to do. No they are not as good as I could have done if I had mapped the time accurately. However, I am over all satisfied with them.

Every one recognized them and actually gave me kudos. My SIL was the only one who was brutally honest and chalked them up to a tolerable rendition. I think that’s why I love her so much. She did like the frosting and so that is notable.

The girls loved them and even their cousin was pleased. Once I gave her Sponge Bob’s eyeball. A good time was had by all and I will of course take a crack at it next year.

Birthday Cake Decorating

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.

Cake in a Cup

Saturday night with no real chocolate in the house I decided to try the infamous chocolate cake in a cup recipe that was an internet sensation eons ago. Now I received this recipe over two years ago and had not made it until recently. I made it a month ago with the bears and it was okay at best. They loved it and bounded around the house all giddy as they ate a forkful at a time. Back to the time at hand. It’s late, I’m in my pj’s and I am in need of a chocolate fix.

With my first attempt with the girls did fail to completely satisfy so here is the recipe with my modifications.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons cake flour (I used bread flour)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 large microwaveable mug

Instructions
1. Mix flour, sugar and cocoa powder.
2. Add 1 egg.
3. Pour in milk, oil, and vanilla and mix well.
4. Put in microwave for 3 minutes on maximum power (1000watt)
5. Wait 1 minute to cool and settle.
6. Drop out cake onto a saucer or eat from the mug.

Betty Crocker has no worries but it was better than last time. Last time I used regular flour and it was a little rubbery. I think this time it was the bread flour and extra vanilla that made it muffin-like. I normally have cake flour in the house so next time it might be even tastier. Oh yes there will be a next time. Why if it was only sub par? Because chocolate goes fast in this house and I am sure that I will again have an insatiable craving and not a thing to quench it but Cake in a Cup.