Cake Review 2009

Here they are. . . . . (drum roll) the cakes from 2009. With every cake I do, two hours into it, I wonder why I do this. Then I go to bed and remember why the next morning when I hear excitement and see animated faces. Still, I'm a certifiable nut. Certified by me.

Here is James's cake for the year. He wanted a Bakugan cake like Spencer had, but I just couldn't bring myself to do another sphere like Spencer's, so I did one with an open Bakugan on a gate card. Bakugan are little balls with a magnet in them that when triggered open up into fighting creatures. James turned five if you couldn't tell. It is all cake except for the long head and crab-like pincers - they are rice krispie treats.

At around 11:30 pm, I had just finished the sheet cake decoration (grossly underestimating the time it would take, as usual) and I told Mark I was just going to put a store bought Bakugan on top. He told me he would help crank it out, so here he is, my lovely assistant in the cow pattern apron in the cake-tornado hit kitchen. I could not have done it without him. XOXOXO

Spencer requested a Bakugan cake. I will just tell you now that I watch too much "Ace of Cakes" on the Food Channel and truly had delusions of grandeur, thinking that I could make a spherical cake. It turned out well enough to please a nine-year-old, which is all I care about (after I get over my perfectionist tendency). The bottom of the sphere is styrofoam, the top is pound cake. It is a Bakugan in ball form, with three toy Bakugan opened.

Mark and I went to a Utah football game a week or so before his birthday. Until then I did not have the faintest idea of what cake I could make for him. While we were sitting in our seats, he elbowed me and pointed to a man across the aisle and said, "I want a gold earring like that." Ding! Mark got a glittery gold earring cake. He better watch what he says next year!

I'm wondering if this is the last Star Wars cake I will be making. This year: Star Wars -1, Bakugan -2. D.J. requested a Geonosan Star Wars Cake (see Episode II). I did the landscape complete with a Geonosan hive (thank you Pepperidge Farms Pirrouttes) topped with Lego action figures. He had a Lego party, so it fit.

This cake is my favorite for the year. My Grandma Wheeler turned 80 this year. She had a Springville Devil's party (her high school Alma mater) complete with Springville Devil's symbol cake with fire around the sides and a marching band.

Whew! I can take a break until next August! I think I'll be ready by then. If you are wondering, I request pie for my birthday cake :).