The Cake That Made Me Cry

Ok, ok, ok.  Sorry for the delay.  I wasn't really trying to be all suspenseful about a cake. 

Not only did I have to finish the cake, but I had to emotionally recover.  Then we had an actual birthday party to celebrate.  Oh yeah, and just to add layers to the weekend, throw in a puking kid (thankfully not the birthday boy and not as a result of the cake).


When we last spoke, I had a cake in the freezer getting ready to be frosted.  I should probably start off by noting that, before yesterday, I had only ever frosted a cake still sitting in the pan.  Yes, that was the extent of my cake decorating expertise.

Let's back up.

Came out of the oven looking great.

I let it cool and was able to transfer it to a cutting board by flipping it with no problems.

Now it should have occurred to me to remember back to the educational video that she said something about cutting the top (browned side) off to level it out.  And that perhaps I might think I should do that sooner than later.

But noooo, I failed to do that.

Instead I started cutting out my pieces using the template I downloaded from the site.   Easy as, well, cake.

Suddenly it looked like I was making a church birthday cake.

I froze the pieces as instructed and came back an hour later to start assembling and frosting.

But then my cardinal mistake.  I flipped it again to put it on the foil-lined tray and it all fell apart.  It was my own little spaceship meltdown.  This ship was no longer space-worthy.  Giant pieces fell every which way.  The sides stuck to the tray.  Both the ship and I were a mess.

And this is the point I had to kick everyone out of the kitchen as I, admittedly, was starting to tear up.  Over a cake.

(My favorite part of this photo is Caleb shoving the unused pieces of it into his mouth).  This is also the moment I abruptly stopped taking photos.

As I frosted and repaired, I started to laugh at myself.  I mean really, if this went along perfectly it wouldn't have really been a very "me" experience.  So this was, in a way, about what I expected.

I did some surgery.  I made some adjustments.  And I, to quote Tim Gunn when a Project Runway contestant doesn't have enough fabric, "made it work."

Ending with a cake that looked like this.

Not perfect.  But cute.  And, more importantly, something that made Eli yell "Birf-daaay Caake!"  And that is what mattered.

 Tomorrow I'll have the details on the great giveaway Betty Crocker is offering to one of my readers!


*Betty Crocker provided me with coupons, materials, information and a camera.