In Defense of Imperfect Birthday Cakes
I have wonderful memories of my mom hauling the Wilton Cake Decorating box down from the cabinet every birthday or holiday when a cake was in order during my childhood. The box was exciting and exotic and I was amazed at the wonderful things my mom could do with the metal tips, plastic sleeves, and tiny jars of color. She would meticulously squirt stars of decorator icing over an entire cake, creating an extremely precise, if somewhat pixelated Strawberry Shortcake, Barbie or R2D2. A perfectly designed and executed cake became the standard that my sister and I were silently tasked with. My sister has done fantastically well in this department. Her son’s Pingu birthday cake a couple of years ago was adorable and amazing and a perfect example of her talent.
These days, cake decorating has become high art. Many cakes no longer look like cakes. These designs go far above anything my mom's 1970's Wilton box could have even imagined. And while I am impressed with the skills, patience and imagination necessary to create such masterpieces, I have decided to follow another path. I have decided to embrace the (self-created) trend of cakes that look like exactly what they are: kind-of-crappy cakes. These are cakes that are put together without a lot of skill but with lots of love. This is probably in direct response to my disinterest (and inability) to create the perfect cake.
My kids have been the recipients of many of these cakes through the years. Here are a few examples.
This cake is about as low-effort as it gets. Boxed cake mix, tub of frosting, approximately 15 MnMs, and bam! You're done! Yet I still think it has a certain charm to it. (I know I would feel loved if someone made it for me.)
Occasionally, I try to execute something fantastic that I see on Pinterest. One year I even tried a Candy Land cake. My son thought this cake was really magical, but then again, he was only 8 at the time. Note how opposite-of-professional this cake looks. It's not quite a Pinterest fail, but close. But I have to say, it was fun to attempt.
Then there were the oddly lumpy Lego cakes that I made for my son's 9th birthday. But my son and all his friends loved them.
Maybe the worst was the unintentionally Shrek-like brownies I made for my husband's birthday one year. I'm not sure what I was thinking here. I do know that I only had green food coloring and leftover rainbow sprinkles to work with in the cupboard.
Maybe I'm just waging a personal battle against a lifetime of expectations of perfection through my cakes. Or maybe it really is that I am discovering that oftentimes magic and charm lie in the imperfect. I'm still trying to figure that out.......
I can't help but think of the cake that Hagrid made for Harry Potter. Never has a crappy cake been so loved and appreciated.
