it's what's inside (of the cake) that counts

Oliver and Stella's birthdays are fast approaching, so I'm thinking about cake cake cake! I love love love cake. Oliver and I have been playing "Name Your Cake". He says "truck cake", I say "ball cake", he says "carrot cake", I say "blue cake" and on and on. I love that the wheels are turning in his brain enough to imagine what birthday cake he might get.

Last year we celebrated Stella's birthday out of town, but had one friend over for dinner and to eat a cake I have been fantasizing about since I was six years old. My Aunt Billie gave me the book "Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls", and I have looked at the photo of the Big Burger Cake over and over throughout my life. The frosting recipe is out of this world, a sort of penuche flavor. REALLY GOOD.***

The year before that we had a Mexican themed party. I baked one pink, pretty cake decorated with papel picado, and then this beauty, a replica of our piñata:

Only a month or two postpartum, baby hanging in front of me in a sling, eleventh hour jelly bean decorating job. It was a hit.

If you were at Stella's party three years ago, you might remember the extremely phallic and grotesque pile of cakes which were supposed to be my Lorax cake. David will tell you, watching me frost this at one a.m. with my bare hands was quite a scene....

....and my quick fix....

That was a pretty party. I sewed a over a dozen felt stuffed birds and hung them from the ceiling. I narrated "The Lorax" (by Dr. Seuss). David was the Onceler, Stella the Lorax.

Then there's this beauty. A "Dorothy of Kansas" cake as a reward/bribe for taking the Spanish language assessment test and not freaking out.

Now I'm just waiting for inspiration to hit for this year. I need to take more showers, these things always come to me in the shower.


***A few days after this post, I found this on Sea of Shoes blog, a burger cake, with fries! I've been out-caked!


Sea of Shoes blog Hamburger Cake