Tuesday, March 23, 2010

When I grow up...

I just wanted to share Lucas's future plans.
The first time Lucas ever mentioned what he wanted to be when he grew up it was a policeman. Then it changed to a firefighter. Today driving home we saw an ambulance with the sirens on. That's when Lucas decided he wanted to be a paramedic, and he wants to be the one driving the ambulance.
It was cute, because he told me that he keep changing his mind. I told him that he's got plenty of time to decide what he wants to do. But I guess he's in a hurry, because he asked me when he will be big. I didn't want to ruin his moment by mentioning how MANY years he has to be in school for.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

THE cake!

Every year for Lucas's birthday, I've always made the cake myself. This year I actually contemplated not to make a cake for him, because well he don't like sweets. When I mentioned it to hubby he said right away that we HAD to make a cake. If Lucas ever would look back at pictures and see that for his five year birthday, he didn't have a cake, then what kind of parents would that make us look like. Alrighty then...so I started my research.

I found this adorable cake on youtube. I really wanted to make this cake. But I had never tried to use fondant before, which is the icing used to decorate the cake. You can buy fondant at the store already made, but I decided to make it myself. In case of disaster would happen, I would just make a quick run to the store and buy it.

Last Sunday I made the fondant. I ended up making another batch Wednesday and also one yesterday, since I was running out. It was really messy to make - Marchmallows and powdered sugar.

It was pretty easy to make...I guess it's paid off that I have made so much homemade bread, so I'm used to the kneading. But look at the mess it made.



After it's finished you supposedly can store it in the refrigeator for weeks. It just has to be sealed tight. First I put a coating of shortening around it, and then I wrapped it in plastic wrap and then in a ziploc bag.


Then it came time to figure out what cake to make. I really wanted for Lucas to eat his birthday cake. He has never eaten it before. I decided to make a carrot cake. At first Lucas was telling me he wasn't going to eat it, but when he smelled it after it came out of the oven, he could not get enough of it. I was so excited that he ate the cake (I don't think you hear many parents say that). Lucas said that the cake smelled like pancakes :-)
I made a two layered cake with cool whip in between.

Yesterday was his party. I started in the morning with making a batch of buttercream icing. I read that is a good idea to add before the fondant to get an even, smooth look.


Then it was time for rolling out the fondant that would cover the entire cake. It took a few tries and a tape measure and I got it figured out. I was surprised by how easy it was. I've read so many stories about how a pain it is to use fondant, so I've always been afraid to try it.



What took the longest was decorating the cake to make it look like spongebob. Mixing the different colors, cutting it out and etc. I had hubby help me the last hour. He molded the legs, feet and arms. Look at how white Dwayne's pants were. WARNING: It's an extremely messy job to use the fondant. You have to use so much powdered sugar and corn starch so the fondant don't stick to everything.


It took a total of 3,5 hours to decorate it. I would say it probably took a total of 5 hours to make the whole thing. But it was worth it. Lucas loved it, and in case you were wondering....no, he didn't eat any cake at the party.