Monday, August 17, 2009

Essay: Quirky Cake Day

Image: Hope C1 gets his wish for his 11th birtdhay.
Image: Our babysitter, "K" rescued the cake the best she could. Of course she had "help." The orange frog C1 is holding was one of the froggy-themed gifts from her.

C1 turned eleven years old today. "I love being 11!", he said first thing this morning. So I'm guessing that the Olay Age Defying soap he put in my shopping basket later in the morning wasn't for him.

I chuckled to myself when I saw his spontaneous choice. We were actually on a mission to buy birthday supplies, not soap. Lately though, he seems to have appointed himself as an inventory supply specialist--especially when it comes to hygiene products like toothpaste and soap. Hopefully that means he won't have hygienic problems as he approaches puberty, which is (gulp) just around the corner.

At the top of our grocery list was soy ice cream (for C1) and regular ice cream for his brother. Two "1" Birthday candles and a dozen eggs for the cake were also on the list.

That brings us to the quirky cake. He did have a beautifully made cake (from a bakery) with a "froggy" on it for an early birthday celebration with family in Ohio on August 9. For his actual birthday, August 17, he requested a homemade cake. He helped stir up the white cake, though I was glad he wasn't around as the crumbled out of the pan.

Bits of the cake stuck to the bottom of the pan and what was left sort of fell into pieces. It was a bit disappointing because I took every precaution to prevent such a disaster. I greased the bottom of the pan, floured it, and waited the usual ten minutes before attempting to separate the cake and the pan (kind of like how I took all my prenatals, avoided cigarettes and alcohol and went to all my doctors appointments when pregnant).

Nervously, I put the pieces aside and hid them with a paper towel and visualized making a cool artistic piece out of the chunks. Mostly, though, I was hoping that when the time came, my boy who sometimes prefers perfection, wouldn't request a redo. There simply wasn't time.

Having to take a very sick cat with cancer to the vet, I left the decorating of all these pieces to the babysitter. Fortunately she is an artist and doesn't mind a challenge, so I didn't feel guilty leaving the white base frosting, the green trim paste, and the colorful sprinkles with her and the boys. When I came back from the vet, the cake was iced and decorated.

I smiled at the results. The cake looked kind of funky and cool as well as appropriate--a quirky cake for a quirky eleven year old.

2 comments:

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Casdok said...

Happy birthday C1. A quirky cake - perfect!

Corrie Howe said...

I love it! Thanks for sharing the story of the quirky cake for a quirky son.