Bruise and Bucket's Fifth Birthday Party EXTRAVAGANZA!!!! (Part Two -- The CAKES!)

(If you find yourself bored by all the talking, just jump down. There are pictures. I won't be offended. Promise!)

We try and let the kids choose each year what kind of cake they want.

Bucket and Bruise have known for a couple MONTHS how they wanted their cakes decorated: Hello Kitty and Captain America's shield, respectively.

I also ask for their input on what kind of CAKE they want. You know, chocolate, yellow, pink, white ...

I think that Bucket's opted for a Funfetti (white with rainbow sprinkles) nearly every year!

Friday morning, I realized that Bruise still hadn't decided on a cake flavor! And the party was tomorrow! And I needed to bake his cake today!! (So we could decorate it after getting home from another party!!)

I wasn't WORRIED, per se. I can (and do, on occasion) bake cakes from scratch. I actually prefer to. It's not like they're HARD or anything. If you have all the ingredients. And I try to ALWAYS have ingredients on hand for basic things.

"So, Bruise," I asked him. "What kind of cake do you want?"

"CAPTAIN AMERICA'S SHIELD!" He declared.

"... Yeah, I know that. ... But what KIND of cake do you want? To eat ... Chocolate? White? What?" I pressed.

And then ... then he said...

Those fateful words ...

"I want a BLUE cake."

"Oh. Okay ..."

And then I had to find a way to make my firstborn son a blue cake.

So, I did what any loving mother would do.

I turned to THE GOOGLE.
And I was inspired to Google "Blue Velvet Cake."
Since a RED Velvet cake is a real cake. I've even eaten it before.
Maybe a BLUE Velvet Cake really existed.

And *ding-ding-ding*, IT DID!
Paula Deen has made one! And so have some other bloggers!
So, I printed out a recipe (Not Paula Deen's. Hers was my second choice) and got to work.

I mixed up the boxes of Bucket's Funfetti cake and baked those in my GIANT glass dish.

Then I started mixing stuff for Bruise's Blue Velvet Cake ... and I used EVERY. LAST. DROP. of blue food coloring in the batter (so Michael and I had to run by the store on our way back home that night so we'd have coloring to make the frostings).

And it was a BLUE CAKE. (It could have been blue-er ... but it made my Bruise-boy a happy little man. Which is what I strive to do.)

Of course, Michael had requested that I bake Bruise's cake in the springform pan, to make its removal easier, so Michael could decorate it.

(NOTE TO SELF: Put the springform pan ON a cookie sheet. When the batter is first in there, it's not firm enough to stay in there on its own. So, yeah, I got to clean my stove later. But it was just a minor failing. It DID turn out fine in the end. ... I learn this by experience so YOU don't have to. You're welcome. :P)

SO, after Michael and I got home and put the kiddos to bed, we got to work decorating the cakes.

Bucket's was rather easy. I frosted it with storebought frosting (Vanilla, of course). I BAKE the cakes, Michael decorates. It's a system that works well for us. (He doesn't get as easily frustrated as I do. And he's tapped into all that artistic talent. Bucket does NOT get it from me. I can't take credit for it at all. *sigh*)

Michael put a crumb coat of homemade cream cheese frosting on the trimmed blue cake. Then I just had to add food coloring to storebought cream cheese frosting so Michael could pipe (and smooth) the stripes and the center circle.

And I also got the bright idea (I call it TOTAL INSPIRATION) to make marshmallow fondant (which, it so happens, is really easy. I should know. I never made it before. And it IS really super easy).

The fondant became a star, a bow, and a little yellow nose.

Of course, my hands were stained with blue and yellow spots. And then looked like I committed some foul murder from all the red coloring that I kneaded into the white fondant. (Hello Kitty's bow was more PINK than RED ... but Bucket was still VERY happy. Phew!!)

I used a cookie cutter for the star. I freehanded the nose. Michael had to do the bow.

When I start cussing a la Firefly ("GORRAMIT!! Stupid piece of GUSSAH!" (No, I cannot spell it.), that's Michael's cue to shoo me away and make it look pretty.

We're such an awesome team. :P

But, within a couple hours, we had the piping done and fondant placed. Then we put the finished cakes in the other fridge (where there was room. And so the icing would firm up a bit.)

In the morning, the kids came out and peered over the counters to see their cakes.

I had cleaned up only a little (saving it for the morning, obviously. Since, thankfully, spending the last week or so cleaning the house DID get it into some semblance of order. Phew!) , they found only a little bit of our handywork on the counter.

On a plate were the trimmings from the blue velvet cake and three balls of colored fondant (red, white, and yellow).

"Is this our cake??" Bucket finally ventured.

"Yes, THAT is your cake." Michael quipped. (They say not to use sarcasm with your kids. But it is, on occasion, HILARIOUS.)

"... ... Wow." They said and looked QUITE disappointed.

Later, as I cleaned, I put the fondant and trimmings into the garbage. Bruise walked in and, aghast, gasped, "Mom??!? Why did yoo put my cake in da GAH-BAGE???"

I laughed. (I COULDN'T HELP IT!) And I told him that THAT wasn't his cake. His cake was fine and was somewhere else.

And we brought the cakes out before guests started coming.

And the kiddos were pleased.

Here they are, in all their epicurious glory!!

*drumroll, please!*

...

...

...

Voila!

Bruise's Captain America's Shield

Bucket's Hello Kitty
(modeled after a REALLY CUTE laptop sleeve.)

Witness the blue interior!!

When you turn five years old, it's MANDATORY to have cake for breakfast, right?

Okay, okay, so it was WAFFLES for breakfast.
Cake was for lunch.

No, I'm not joking.
(Sorry, Michael! You still love me, right? It's what they WANTED for lunch! And it was their BIRTHDAY!)