Having my Cake and Eating it Too

Perhaps it's due to the guilt I feel deep down about being a working mama, but whenever my kids' birthdays roll around I place a great deal of pressure on myself to make it an idyllic occasion.  The main focus has always been the birthday cake.  Let it be known, I am not a baker.  I have never taken a cake decorating course. I am terribly type-A when it comes to constructing a birthday cake for my kids.  My husband has witnessed many a birthday-eve with me, covered in powdered sugar, fingers stained with food colouring, buttercream in my hair, crying with frustration because the cake just isn't good enough by my standards.  It started with my daughter's first birthday over ten years ago now.  I was obsessed with giraffes and her nursery was littered with them so of course I decided I needed to make her a giraffe cake.  I found my inspiration in a Martha Stewart magazine.  I should have known right there that I could never construct something that would look the same as Martha's.  It should have looked like this:

And this is how mine turned out:

Giraffe Cake - Abbie's First Birthday

Not bad maybe, but not quite good enough for me.  Every year since I've tried to improve on the year before.  I've also allowed my kids to decide what type of cake they would like once they're old enough to verbalize their desire.  That has certainly presented some additional challenges!  Here's a gallery of the cakes that have followed:

Elmo Cake - Abbie's Second Birthday

Elmo for birthday #2.  I hadn't discovered piping bags yet!

Cinderella Cake - Abbie's Third Birthday

The Cinderella Cake gave me my first experience with rolled fondant.  I wasn't in a hurry to try that again!

Rocket Ship Cake - Gabriel's First Birthday

My son then entered the picture and got a rocket ship for his first birthday.

Little Mermaid Cake - Abbie's Fourth Birthday

Daughter's Birthday #4 involved my first try using wax paper to transfer an image onto a cake after tracing it from a colouring book.  I even took on making my own "seashell" chocolates.

Bob the Builder Cake - Gabriel's Second Birthday

When my son turned 2 his big obsession was Bob the Builder.  Since I didn't feel confident creating a cake that looked like Bob, I created his construction site instead.

Tinkerbell Cake - Abbie's Fifth Birthday

I got the idea for Tinkerbell surfing the internet and got to make use of the pan from Birthday #3 again. The piping bag had finally entered my life!

Cars Cake - Gabriel's Third Birthday

Gabriel's third birthday posed a problem because his party did not take place on his actual birthday.  I felt obliged to make him a cake for his actual birthday and another for the party.  I threw the cars one together with some Oreo cookies and white icing, and put some of his toys on top.  The Dinosaur cake was from an excellent website found  here: http://www.instructables.com/id/3d-Dinosaur-Birthday-Cake/

Dinosaur Cake - Gabriel's Third Birthday

Minnie Mouse Cake - Abbie's Sixth Birthday

For birthday number 6, my daughter wanted a Minnie Mouse cake but all I could find was a Mickey Mouse shaped pan, so I had to get creative during the icing process!

Spiderman Cake - Gabriel's Fourth Birthday

I attempted the image transfer method again for my son's Fourth Birthday.

Belle Cake - Abbie's Seventh Birthday

Do you sense a princess theme in this girl's life?  Belle once again made use of the stand-up doll cake pan.

Puffle Cake - Gabriel's Fifth Birthday the 

Gabriel was a huge fan of Club Penguin around the time of his Fifth Birthday and wanted to have a Puffle Party.  Naturally he wanted a Puffle Cake too.  I used a ball cake pan and decorated it like a Blue Puffle.  He loved it!

Wiener Dog Cake - Abbie's Eighth Birthday

This is the year I literally cried myself to sleep over a cake.  My daugther wanted a weiner dog cake and I waited too long to figure out a design.  She was thrilled, but I still cringe every time I look at the picture.

Go Go Crazy Bones Cake - Gabriel's Sixth Birthday

Continuing his love of all things obscure.  For his sixth birthday Gabriel asked for a cake shaped after one of his "Go Gos".  The toy is in the top left of the picture and I carved this cake to look like it as much as I could.  Still fearing rolled fondant after the Cinderella cake, I tried my hand at marshmallow fondant and found it so much easier to work with!

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So plain, so boring??  Well, she didn't ask for a shaped cake, she asked for an ice cream cake . . . a homemade one.  One that included baked chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream.  Back to the internet I went . . .

Spongebob Cake - Gabriel's Seventh Birthday

Now it was the Spongebob phase, and to my delight Wilton makes a shaped pan so it was just a matter of following the directions that came with it.  Phew!

But, my son then became obsessed with Minecraft.  Anyone with kids into Minecraft know that there just isn't much stuff commercially made to assist with party planning.  I hit Pinterest and found some inspiration for this cake:

The whole party became a Pinterest dream/nightmare the details of which will have to be saved for another post.  These are the cakes that while driving me to pull my hair out, are a gift I can give my kids that I hope they remember when they're older.  I wish I could say I loved the process but I do love the look on their faces when they see what Mom's created.  

What things have you done that you dread but that you do anyway because it brings joy to someone else??