I become frustrated often when I am not able to create my ideas. I blame this excuse on my lack of attempts to pursue art. I am a perfectionist, and sometimes I will admit that I don't attempt something because I am afraid of the results.
One of my projects was to learn to decorate a cake. Now I can bake, and have been doing so for many years. Ever since I was a young child, I remember helping my mother bake cookies for Christmas, and decorate cakes. Decorating a cake really meant smearing icing on the top of a cake in a pan, and decorating it with letters and candies. My mother decorated cakes for a hobby, but she knew better than to pursue such a project with tiny hands around.
As I grew older, I knew that making cakes would be interesting. I also knew it was hard work, and I gave applause to any person that was patient and steady enough to handle such a tedious task. My hands shake terribly, so I pretty much assumed I would never write beautiful script on a cake.
I had a dream for many years that I would make my children's birthday cakes. I knew they wouldn't be perfect, but they would be homemade, and from the heart. The biggest thing that kept me from making their annual cakes was that I was afraid they wouldn't be cute enough. I actually had nightmares of a cake that looked less like a monkey and more like an evil gremlin. I really didn't want to be the cause of any toddler fears...
Tom decided he wanted a frog cake for his birthday. I appreciate that he had no other real requirements than that it was a frog. Or that it had a frog on it. Or it had some sort of frog theme. Really, it would be pretty easy to make something that fell within those guidelines.
So, I started out with a design in my head. Then I realized I didn't have THAT much talent, and went for something more realistic. I scoured websites and watched YouTube videos my friend Becca posted for me. I really thought about the process, and what it would take to produce a realistic frog. I accepted the fact that the cake was not going to look like my mental image.
And Carly wanted to help... I know that any time a 3-year old gets involved in a baking project, it's more about the experience and less about the result. She was wielding a spoon of green icing through the decorating process, so as I looked at the final project, I was pretty darn impressed.
It's definitely a more cartoon cutesy version of a frog, but I think it turned out pretty darn cute! And we had a leftover cupcake from the batch, and the cake was delicious! Looks like another project down!!! Hope he enjoys the results (even if it's a month late!!!)...
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| Tom's Frog Birthday Cake |
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