Our son Christian turned 10 yesterday. Ten years old. I really can't believe how fast the decade went.
He asked for a Pokémon cake for his big double digits day. Calling around to different grocery stores and a bakery or two, it was hard to find a Pokémon themed cake.
With the greatest of sincerity, Christian asked, "Hey mom. Why can't you just make it?" (insert laugh here)
"Ummmm, well...Buddy, I could try but it probably wouldn't turn out that well."
"You can do it Mom."
For whatever reason, a spark of inspiration came over me. (I CAN do it! I'll make that cake and it will be the BEST 10 year old birthday Pokémon cake EVER!)
I remembered a cake mold we have for sports that's two half spheres. You bake each side then put them together to form a ball. If you happen to know anything about Pokémon, you know there's a ball thingy that's a part of the game.
I would make the prized confection perfection then smile as the kids sang praises of their amazing and talented mother who should have been a cake decorator.
Baking both halves in the oven, the house smelled like Heaven. I could hardly wait for the fun part of putting the whole thing together. When the two halves came out perfectly, I could already imagine the hugs and adoration from my son as he blew out the candles on his amazing cake.
Aaaaaand that's when fantasy finally met reality.
Putting icing on the bottom half, everything actually looked great. Both sides were cooled and ready to be put together. When I carefully placed the top half on the bottom, it started to crack. The crack became a split, then the split began to cave in altogether so that it looked like one big pile of cake destruction.
My best friend from home is visiting and in between screams, we frantically called any bakery number we could find. I tried to shove chop sticks down into the collapsing sections to save them but it was too late.
I began to make the icing for the top in attempts to cover the mess. The top of a Pokémon ball is supposed to be red, but no matter how hard I tried, the icing was pink. Yes, pink. It was a complete and total nightmare with pink icing on top.
I failed my son and was going to give him the worst 10 year old birthday cake ever.
Trying to put some Pokémon toys around it to mask the disaster, I called him in to see the sad and sorry results.
"Baby, I tried. I'm sorry, but it's awful. Maybe we can go get a cake that's already made at the store."
Looking at the cake, Christian shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay Mom. It looks alright. Besides, it all tastes the same."
Have I ever mentioned that I love this child?
Christian's birthday turned out to be a ball (no pun intended) and nobody really seemed to care about the cake other than to get a good laugh or two out of it.
I'll know from now to never EVER try to make a birthday cake from scratch again and I have the utmost respect for the people who do.
Happy 10th Birthday Christian. We love you more than all the cake in the world...even the ones that don't look like this.
He asked for a Pokémon cake for his big double digits day. Calling around to different grocery stores and a bakery or two, it was hard to find a Pokémon themed cake.
With the greatest of sincerity, Christian asked, "Hey mom. Why can't you just make it?" (insert laugh here)
"Ummmm, well...Buddy, I could try but it probably wouldn't turn out that well."
"You can do it Mom."
For whatever reason, a spark of inspiration came over me. (I CAN do it! I'll make that cake and it will be the BEST 10 year old birthday Pokémon cake EVER!)
I remembered a cake mold we have for sports that's two half spheres. You bake each side then put them together to form a ball. If you happen to know anything about Pokémon, you know there's a ball thingy that's a part of the game.
I would make the prized confection perfection then smile as the kids sang praises of their amazing and talented mother who should have been a cake decorator.
Baking both halves in the oven, the house smelled like Heaven. I could hardly wait for the fun part of putting the whole thing together. When the two halves came out perfectly, I could already imagine the hugs and adoration from my son as he blew out the candles on his amazing cake.
Aaaaaand that's when fantasy finally met reality.
Putting icing on the bottom half, everything actually looked great. Both sides were cooled and ready to be put together. When I carefully placed the top half on the bottom, it started to crack. The crack became a split, then the split began to cave in altogether so that it looked like one big pile of cake destruction.
My best friend from home is visiting and in between screams, we frantically called any bakery number we could find. I tried to shove chop sticks down into the collapsing sections to save them but it was too late.
I began to make the icing for the top in attempts to cover the mess. The top of a Pokémon ball is supposed to be red, but no matter how hard I tried, the icing was pink. Yes, pink. It was a complete and total nightmare with pink icing on top.
I failed my son and was going to give him the worst 10 year old birthday cake ever.
Trying to put some Pokémon toys around it to mask the disaster, I called him in to see the sad and sorry results.
"Baby, I tried. I'm sorry, but it's awful. Maybe we can go get a cake that's already made at the store."
Looking at the cake, Christian shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay Mom. It looks alright. Besides, it all tastes the same."
Have I ever mentioned that I love this child?
Christian's birthday turned out to be a ball (no pun intended) and nobody really seemed to care about the cake other than to get a good laugh or two out of it.
I'll know from now to never EVER try to make a birthday cake from scratch again and I have the utmost respect for the people who do.
Happy 10th Birthday Christian. We love you more than all the cake in the world...even the ones that don't look like this.
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