Growing Up....

A year ago, I made Max his first birthday cake.  Max is the son of a resident here at the Vet school, and his mom wanted a monkey-themed birthday cake.  Now at age 1, he's probably never going to remember that cake...how it tasted, how it looked, or how it felt when he shoved his hands through the frosting to grab cake inside.  I will always remember that cute-as-a-button monkey cake, though, and how much fun it was to make it!

(cutest monkey ever)

Now, as time moves, little boys grow up into big boys!  And last week, I made his 2nd birthday cake...the big 2 years old!  Its so neat to be a part of someone's growing up....and as big boys go, this big boy didn't want a monkey cake.  He wanted a construction cake!  Very manly, you know. 

This cake was a super dense chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream.  I drew and painted the dump truck on the cake, and then added the road border.  You'd be amazed at how many different kinds of dump trucks there are, and of course I might have wanted to make it John Deere Green....but Max wanted a yellow truck, so Max got a yellow truck!

I'm on a crusade against black food coloring...so whenever I need to use black icing, I use black fondant instead!  I mean, do you know how much black food coloring it takes to make black icing??  You end up making gray icing, and to quote Steel Magnolias, "It's got gray icing, I can't even begin to think how you make gray icing!".  Using black fondant is MUCH easier, and better for everyone involved.  No black teeth or mouths, thank you very much. 

(I need to learn how to be a better photographer, so I won't leave shadows!)

I think it turned out so cute!  Excuse me, extremely mature and 'big-boy'. Regardless, Max loved it....and maybe he'll remember this one, who knows.  I hope that I can keep making cakes for him in the future! 

Love and Cake,
Beth