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Sometimes cakes just don’t want to be made. This is one such cake. From the very beginning,
Because I simply got too tired, I did not even start baking the cakes for this cake until Friday night around 7 PM. What should have been straightforward began with me rifling around my drawers looking for the cake recipe. When I determined I could not find the index card on which I scribbled my vanilla cake recipe 3 years ago, I went to the internet to see if I could find it again. After many google searches for every variation of “candy cane cake recipe vanilla dense” that I could come up with, somehow I miraculously stumbled upon the recipe.
Making the batter was no problem, but upon baking, for some reason my trusty cake tester failed me. It appeared the cakes were finished baking until I turned them out of their pans and batter began dripping through the cooling rack. So they went back in the oven. This was followed by an extra 20-25 minutes of baking/checking the cakes, eventually resulting in completely baked cakes (six in total) and one burned arm (mine).
By now it was nearing 10 PM and I hadn’t even started decorating. So I plowed forward hoping I could be done by 1 AM and get a reasonable amount of sleep. Naturally, that was a silly prediction. The first time I tried to cover the body, my fondant tore and wrinkled and generally looked pathetic. So after peeling i off the cake, I found semi-success with the second try. Stripes were painted, two sets of Piglet feet were made (the first ones were far too small), and a preliminary body was put together. The arms went on next and predictably were too heavy so they started ripping parts of the body out as they drooped further and further down the body. I propped them up temporarily and moved onto the head. Things were going downhill rapidly.
The head was made from rice crispy treats. Initially I was quite pleased with the shape of the head, but sometime between looking at my molded Piglet head and covering the head with fondant, things shifted and Piglet’s head lost a bit of definition. I figured maybe some details would help, so I added eyes and nose. It did not help.
By now it was 2 AM and between my aching knee (geez I’m old), my lack of sleep, and general frustration, I almost hit my breaking point. Luckily Andrew was still awake, so instead of throwing the cake in the garbage (I was seriously considering starting over), I wailed to him about how terrible my cake looked. He came downstairs and said, “It needs some ears!”, which was exactly comforting, but better than a laugh and a confirmation I guess.
So I pulled myself together and gave Piglet the first of his five sets of ears I made last night (seriously, they wouldn’t stay attached. They kept flopping off and tearing) and started damage control. Piglet got a bandanna, which now that I look at it, looks more like a shawl. The sign was always intended for the birthday greeting, but was strategically placed to cover some body damage, and grass was made to cover some rough edges.
By 3 AM I was getting delirious, so I went to bed, feeling better, but not great. This morning I woke up to make some cheery flowers to add some whimsy and cover up more imperfect areas. Then, a quick spray of glitter to clean off the corn starch and Piglet was about as good as he was going to get. This cake was a battle to get through. From baking the cake through to the final decorations, it was a big ole’ pain. But in the end, Aviva knew it was Piglet and seemed pleased with the cake, so I guess I am my own biggest critic.
Now, for reading my cake saga, here is a pretty picture of some daisies.
