Last Thursday, before the stomach bug took over the Webb household, my kitchen turned into a bakery. It does this 2 - 3 times a year. I really dislike cooking....as in, dinner every night. It is not exciting and I can never think new ways to prepare the same food. Boring!
Baking is different...I love to bake.
Most of the time, I do a great job. Not to toot my own horn....but, I do get lots of compliments! Last week, in the midst of the confusion as sickness slowly invaded our house, I even found that baking is relaxing to me....I can clear my mind and focus on nothing but my thoughts and the cake...there is something refreshing about that! Art does the same thing for me, but I have NO time for art!
My pound cakes tend to be pretty tasty...especially my red velvet pound cake that I whip up for the holidays.
Birthday cakes are fun. Payton has always known exactly what kind of cake he wants. Last year, he wanted a drum. Although we have lived here for nearly 6 years, I still can't find a baker who is creative enough to make what I want and make it taste good. I have taken over as the birthday cake baker.
This year, Payton requested a baseball cake. Easy enough, they sale a baseball pan at the local craft store. I quickly learned it was difficult to fill the pan to the right level to end up with a perfectly baked cake. I ended up baking two.
The other problem with the baseball cake is that the bottom was about 9.5 inches in diameter....slightly too big to stack on top of my 9 inch round cakes. I had to borrow Chad's mom's larger baking pan....and, again, difficult to know how much batter and how long to bake. I ended up with very 1st burnt cake. Not good! So, I ended up baking two.
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| A very burnt chocolate cake...first time for everything! |
Easy to see that by the end of the day, we had too many cakes!
When I'm baking, my kitchen gets dirty! Good thing my mom didn't arrive until Friday!
The second baseball cake seemed perfect and the decorating started!
The boys, waaay before the stomach bug took over, were super excited to "help" clean up. Payton and Owen loved licked the icing off the beaters! Don't worry, separate beaters and they did not go back in any food....not a source of spreading the bug...if you were questioning it!
These sweet boys love their sweets and they loved this icing!
Once the stomach bug hit, the cake was never completely finished. It would have turned out great...and, I guess I should just be thankful for the practice round, I'll have another chance to bake the baseball cake in April for his re-scheduled party.
The baseball....which is supposed to be sitting on top of the sheet cake
The sheet cake
The large white area is meant to be covered by the ball...the green is grass and there are stars around the side that would have been outline with color if it was completely finished. I used my marshmallow fondant recipe from last year to cover the baseball and make the star cut outs.
We brought the cake out briefly on Saturday before Chad's sister made a u-turn back to NC!
I am thankful that we got to eat some of the sheet cake...it was chocolate...and I had no way to attempt to keep it. The baseball is stored safely in the freezer. I have had frozen cake before and it was completely fine. The biggest problem, I think, will be the fondant on top. I doubt the baseball will be edible by the time the party rolls around, but it may work for the "topper" on the large sheet cake and will save me the time of baking another cake, making another round of fondant and decorating.
Ah...the cake and the party that never quite made it! I will admit I was a wee bit stressed, overwhelmed, upset over the effort (and time and money) I had put into baking the cakes and planning the party all for "nothing" but now that my boys have been through a week long bug and have returned to normal, I know that there are more important things than cakes and parties....I will be happy to bake another cake in exchange for my children's good health!
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