The Princess Cake
Leah became interested in princesses and all things girly at 2 1/2 years. When we were planning for her 3rd birthday party I was trying to find a great way to make her feel like a princess. We knew we wanted to have the party with my family in Ohio. My aunt Lisa and uncle JD put together a fabulous party. There was plenty of delicious food and wonderful company. JD is the king of BBQ. That man can cater. I can't forget aunt Lisa. She's a fantastic host picking out the best compliments for the BBQ meat. They make a dynamite duo of party planning.
My job was to plan some activities for the kids and make the cake. I spent hours looking for a cake design. Finally I found something close to what I wanted. I visited many candy shops to select the right decorations for the castle. Leah was more than willing to assist. I spent about 3 hours putting the cake together. Adding the candy was the fun part.
I didn't expect to be as busy as I was for the party. I had not planned enough time and needed to cut some corners. My plan was to use a cake mix and make buttercream icing. However I didn't have enough buttercream to cover the whole cake.
BIG mistake.
I had to use the canned icing and boy did I pay for that. The cake was too moist and fell apart too easily. I had to do extensive patch work on the cracks. And with not enough buttercream the mess became frustrating. Canned icing is a mistake. What was I thinking? It's too sloppy and runny for holding together a theme cake. By completion I was covered in icing and the cake was melting faster than I expected. OY!
Lessons learned with this cake:
don't use a cakemix
don't use canned icing
chill cake for a day
don't have a b-day party on a hot day
have lots of time not to be stressed
be sure to have a way to store such cake if not making it the day of party
drink heavily
I tried too hard to be the perfectionist Martha Stewart mom I tend to be. In my eyes the cake was a failure and I was not able to meet my standards. In the eyes of a 3 year old girl the cake was perfect. It was a pink and purple candy loaded castle cake. And that's all she wanted. I had to get over my feeling of failure which did not come until much later. Leah still talks about that cake.
My job was to plan some activities for the kids and make the cake. I spent hours looking for a cake design. Finally I found something close to what I wanted. I visited many candy shops to select the right decorations for the castle. Leah was more than willing to assist. I spent about 3 hours putting the cake together. Adding the candy was the fun part.
I didn't expect to be as busy as I was for the party. I had not planned enough time and needed to cut some corners. My plan was to use a cake mix and make buttercream icing. However I didn't have enough buttercream to cover the whole cake.
BIG mistake.
I had to use the canned icing and boy did I pay for that. The cake was too moist and fell apart too easily. I had to do extensive patch work on the cracks. And with not enough buttercream the mess became frustrating. Canned icing is a mistake. What was I thinking? It's too sloppy and runny for holding together a theme cake. By completion I was covered in icing and the cake was melting faster than I expected. OY!
Lessons learned with this cake:
don't use a cakemix
don't use canned icing
chill cake for a day
don't have a b-day party on a hot day
have lots of time not to be stressed
be sure to have a way to store such cake if not making it the day of party
drink heavily
I tried too hard to be the perfectionist Martha Stewart mom I tend to be. In my eyes the cake was a failure and I was not able to meet my standards. In the eyes of a 3 year old girl the cake was perfect. It was a pink and purple candy loaded castle cake. And that's all she wanted. I had to get over my feeling of failure which did not come until much later. Leah still talks about that cake.
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