Birthday Cake

I recently asked Joshua what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. Not what kind of cake should I purchase, but what kind of cake would he like me to make. This craziness was handed down from my mother who always let us pick out our birthday cakes for her to make. It was probably just a way to save money but I loved it. Watching her squeeze out all the little frosting stars was almost like magic as she brought each cake to life. She still has all of her cake pans and some have even been used again for the grandchildren. My most repeated cake was Scooby Doo. One year he had a green collar instead of blue - devastating! But I digress.

When the kids were younger the process was simple - pick a theme or character and find the appropriate cake pan or instructions to make it. We've had an airplane, teddy bear, Elmo, t-rex, Dora, drum, etc.

I had to think a little more to turn a regular fish cake pan into Nemo, but still not that difficult.

I'm not sure how we evolved into the "Mom can make any cake" way of thinking but lately, the kids have taken to describing their cake and then I try to create their vision. Last year Joshua wanted an omnitrix cake (Ben 10) with green bubbles (because there are ALWAYS bubbles when he goes alien) so I cut cakes and freehanded frosting to make this: 

The year before it was Star Wars villains on the fire planet. Once I found the action figures, this cake was simple. 

This year Joshua wanted all the characters from Mario party incorporated into a cake. He also wanted the cake to look like the piranha plant. 

I asked if he had seen  any Mario action figures and he thought Target or Toys R Us would have them - "places like that."

When no Mario figures could be found we settled on the piranha plant. He started looking at piranha plant pictures and thought there should be a couple of them and that they should shoot fire. I reminded him it was a cake not a video game and he decided on this:

Time to go mix up some fondant. It's a good thing the boys haven't seen Ace of Cakes or I would never be able to live up to their expectations and imaginations.