Every single year, I attempt to make a cake or cupcakes for my son's birthday. Something that is a reflection of what he's interested at the time. I remember them all like they were yesterday. A few times I got lucky enough to have some extremely talented friends make the cakes for me, but the ones that I baked myself were particularly memorable because of the stress they caused!
There was the Elmo cake for the first birthday that gave me a terrible cramp from piping all of those red stars to make up his furry face. The caterpillar from Baby Einstein with the fondant polka dots that was so attractive to my precious two year old that he decided to shove a hand into it an hour before the party started. Spongebob cupcakes, worms and dirt, conecakes, sharks (yes, sharks! Made of Twinkies dipped in melted frosting dyed grey), Pokemon and Kirby.
This year the request was for Minecraft cupcakes to bring to school. With the invention of Pinterest, it was easy to find some good ideas...but the problem with Pinterest is that while something may look amazing, it can turn out to be an epic fail. Trust me on this one. That's a whole other blog post.
Still, I figured I had to give it a whirl. If the boy wants Minecraft creeper cupcakes, I will try my best to make them. There is a lot of technical work involved which is being delegated to the husband. G is a graphic artist and unlike me, can cut a straight line. So he is in charge of making the templates and cutting out shapes. WHAT? Templates? Shapes? What happened to a box of Duncan Hines and a can of frosting? Or better yet, buying cupcakes already made at the grocery store or bakery?
I know, I know.
But honestly, as stressed as I get...I love doing it. I may not be as skilled as some, but they are made with 100% love. And some bad words. And a couple of silent hissy fits.
Like the one I had earlier today when the first cake I made wouldn't come out of the pan. When I flipped it over to a tray, only part came out. Fortunately no one was hear to hear the filth that came out of my mouth. I wonder if Auntie Ina ever lets one fly? She HAS to. I can see her spilling a bottle of her "good" vanilla and dropping an S-bomb. Or maybe Jeffrey came home late and now the f-ing chicken is cold and ruined. Who knows?
Anyway, the cakes are baked, cream cheese frosting (Auntie's recipe) is tinted green (boy she would probably be up in arms about that), shapes are cut out of fruit leather. All I need to do is cut them, frost them, spray them with green aerosol frosting using the template, and put the faces on. As Auntie says, "How easy is thaaaaaat?"
Update....
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