as you by now are surely aware, every year on my childrens’ birthdays, i attempt to compensate for the previous years parenting failures, and the medium is cake. this year was no different. on her actual birthday we had storebought cheesecake, but as her big party with friends came closer, my yearly atonement was imminent.
this year, for anna’s 16th birthday celebration, she requested an “all things anna” cake, similar to the one i made for hazel’s 10th birthday. her choice of flavor was strawberry cake, the from scratch kind, and american buttercream. i made the cakes the night before, and then got started on the cake nice and early, getting that thing stacked and crumbcoated before i went to the gym. then i came home, awakened anna to demand some guidance about the decor, received detailed instructions (a post-it note with fifteen item listed), and got to work.
i really like making cakes of this sort. figuring out how to represent all of the things with buttercream is a fun little challenge. now, the writing on the cake? that could use some work, but it’s legible enough.
so, if you can’t make out all of the items requested, they were: a lobster, sour patch kids, a tent, daisies, a paintbrush, a banana slug, a sun, bees, a cassette tape, and a sunset polaroid pic.
several of the items have been her cake themes for previous birthdays: a cactus, foofa (a character from her favorite childhood show), an outsiders book, and a chicken.
anyways. i am pretty happy with how this one turned out. i think anna was too. and perhaps one day when she thinks back to her childhood, she will remember the cakes and not the mistakes. if not, at least i got to be a cool mom for one day of the year.