The Great Birthday Cake NON-Fiasco
That's right, folks, you read that title right: a non-fiasco cake! I've had such memorable disasters posted here that I just had to circle back and post my one success. This was the year it really counted.
I bought a store-bought cake for Henry last week for our family party. I thought it would be a treat, but--although he was very sweet about it--it turns out he was very disappointed. He stood by me in the kitchen for twenty minutes saying things like, "but, Mom, I love your cakes. You don't have to do it by yourself--I promise I'll help you! We can do it together!" In the end, I didn't give in and we bought the cake. Which was another fiasco in itself. We stood in the Costco aisle for another twenty minutes talking about which cake to order. They had music, football, tennis, just plain "happy birthday," and any number of other cakes. The pattern Henry chose? The rosebud lattice cake. "Really, Henry? Are you really sure this is the cake you want?" He assured me over and over that it was. I dug a little deeper and discovered that it was the pattern he liked. After my fourth, "are you really sure?" I reluctantly filled out the order form and requested the rosebud lattice cake in green and blue. I added a note at the last minute, asking if they could make the roses "more like dots." When the big day came to pick up the cake... Henry was devastated that they had covered the cake in dots, not roses. I apologized and explained the heart behind what I had done, but he was--again--disappointed. He's so sweet that he quickly put his arm around me and said, "I know you meant well, Mom. I forgive you." And the cake was delicious. But for his friends' party this weekend, it had to be homemade and it had to be done well.
He stuck to his promise to help me, so we baked the cake together this evening. I waited to decorate it until after he went to bed, and I have to say, I'm REALLY excited it worked.
So here it is: the best cake that can come from my kitchen. My work here is finished...
I bought a store-bought cake for Henry last week for our family party. I thought it would be a treat, but--although he was very sweet about it--it turns out he was very disappointed. He stood by me in the kitchen for twenty minutes saying things like, "but, Mom, I love your cakes. You don't have to do it by yourself--I promise I'll help you! We can do it together!" In the end, I didn't give in and we bought the cake. Which was another fiasco in itself. We stood in the Costco aisle for another twenty minutes talking about which cake to order. They had music, football, tennis, just plain "happy birthday," and any number of other cakes. The pattern Henry chose? The rosebud lattice cake. "Really, Henry? Are you really sure this is the cake you want?" He assured me over and over that it was. I dug a little deeper and discovered that it was the pattern he liked. After my fourth, "are you really sure?" I reluctantly filled out the order form and requested the rosebud lattice cake in green and blue. I added a note at the last minute, asking if they could make the roses "more like dots." When the big day came to pick up the cake... Henry was devastated that they had covered the cake in dots, not roses. I apologized and explained the heart behind what I had done, but he was--again--disappointed. He's so sweet that he quickly put his arm around me and said, "I know you meant well, Mom. I forgive you." And the cake was delicious. But for his friends' party this weekend, it had to be homemade and it had to be done well.
He stuck to his promise to help me, so we baked the cake together this evening. I waited to decorate it until after he went to bed, and I have to say, I'm REALLY excited it worked.
So here it is: the best cake that can come from my kitchen. My work here is finished...
