Last year we sort of started this tradition where the kids picked what kind of cake they wanted for their birthday and it would be our project to create it. Mom had gotten me a book about making kids birthday cakes that was pretty comprehensive and made me think I could delve into the world of cake decorating.
PJ’s pick for his cake, last year, was M&M’s…so it turned into cakes (plural). We made a yellow M&M and a red M&M using pyrex bowels as the cake pans. The hardest part was making red icing that looked red…not pink.
This year he (and I) got a little more adventurous. He wanted to me use these silicone cake molds that Mom got me for Christmas.
Let me just note here that PJ did not (will not) get a birthday party this year. We don’t do one every year and with the adoption, this seemed like a good “off” year. He does, however, get a V.I.P. week at school. This is a week where he is the snack person, line leader, weatherman, etc. and gets to do some other cool Redeemer Kindergarten traditions which you will get to read more about in another post. He also gets to celebrate his birthday with a birthday snack of his choice. Because he wasn’t getting a party, we decided to do the cake thing for school.
We learned a couple things a long the way:
1. You probably shouldn’t grease AND flour silicone pans. I think just greasing would have sufficed.
2. Silicone expands with the cake batter.
3. Red icing is still just as hard to achieve.
4. The base layer should have more sugar or it will stay creamy forever. We got lucky that the weather was cold enough to act as a refrigerator because we did not have room to refrigerate the tool box.
5. Icing can hide/fix amazing flaws in cake.
Voila! The finished products.
Good job, Mel. I love it!