Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Gotham City Cake! Pow!

The Cake!


Mom, I know what cake I want you to make.

Great. What is it?

A Batman cake.

Fantastic.

I'm not finished..... Arctic Batman and Robin are on the ocean going towards Gotham City. But the ocean is frozen over so now it's snow. The Penguin, The Riddler and The Joker have taken over. The Riddler is climbing up a building, trying to get to a satellite that turns things into swords........ Can you make that?

......Ummmmm yeah?



The scene was set. I just had to make it happen........with cake.

The first thing I did was sketch the idea I had in my head.
It was so much better in my head.

I started researching fondant. I could make fondant or use pre made fondant. I was not supposed to refrigerate fondant, but then again it might be okay and even preferable to refrigerate fondant.

Wow.

The trip to Jane's Cakes was very helpful. Tom started asking me questions about my cake and figured it would feed about 150 people.
Hmmm.
I only had about 40 people coming, so I reconfigured.

I went to sleep about 11:00PM completely relaxed and ready to go for the next day.

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3:00AM- Wake up. Start thinking about the cake.

3:30AM- Get up. Turn on computer. Start researching buttercream frosting.

4:00AM- Decide that buttercream frosting might be a little dicey. It calls for raw egg yolks and since I wont be refrigerating the cake (per the warning about the fondant) I decide to just buy some ready made frosting.

5:00AM- Still awake. Thinking about the cake......and not sleeping.

6:00AM- Still awake. Thinking about the cake....... wondering if my kid will actually remember this when he's older.

7:00AM- 4 and I go to the store for cake/party supplies.

8:45AM- Return home. Put everything away. Make second pot of coffee.

9:30AM- Get out recipe for cake. Turn on oven. Realize I forgot one ingredient. Turn off oven. Get back in car. Go to store.

10:00AM- Arrive home with missing ingredient. Realize I'm now 2 hours behind self imposed schedule. Nervous stomach.


10:30AM- Finally start baking.

2:30PM- Margaux comes over, finds me in a bit of a stupor. Decides to move this cake train along. She calls Jessie to come over. Jessie is VERY proficient at baking, yet has never worked with fondant.

3:30PM- Margaux comes over with base for cake. Jessie comes over and starts dirty icing everything. (Insert your own joke here. It's too easy.)


We break open the pre made white fondant. Start kneading it. Roll it out and slap that sucker on the sheet of Rice Krispies Treats I bought pre made.
Now we're having fun.


At some point Jessie had to leave.

Margaux is working like a maniac. I'm trying to enjoy the process. Margaux tells me we have no time for that.



I'm dirty icing, she's kneading. I'm kneading, we're slapping on fondant. It's all a blur.



Margaux used to flip houses for a living. She likes to measure things.


All the time. I'm pretty sure that's important but I haven't slept much.


5:30PM- We finally have our base. I order Thai Food. We devour Thai Food.

7:00PM- Continue to decorate cake.

9:30PM- Margaux goes home.

10:00PM- Stare mindlessly at cake. Decide it needs a clock, The Penguin needs an umbrella. Doesn't The Penguin carry an umbrella? There needs to be a Gotham City sign. Start to do the math on how long I've been awake.

11:00PM- Go to bed. Sleep.

5:45AM- 4 wakes, walks into living room, sees cake for the first time. I hear "AWESOME!"

I smile and realize it's all been worth it.


The Beach Pebbles are actually edible. Inside you find chocolate.


Hubby made the spotlight.

I want to thank Margaux for helping me make this cake structurally sound and keeping me focused.

Thanks to Jessie for her baking knowledge, kneading that fondant and a lot of dirty icing.

Thanks to Hubby for making the spotlight, not taking any credit (even though it was due) and his sweet words at the end of the day:)

Thanks to 4, who will now be referred to as 5, for his amazing imagination.

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Next day: "Mommy! I'm done pooping! Come in here!"

There is blue poop in the toilet. Slightly alarmed, I decide that I can either feel guilty for the amount of food coloring that went into the pre made fondant or come to the conclusion that one can not really be a super hero unless one poops bright blue.

Guess which one I chose?

Now I'm going to pass out for a few days.




7 comments:

  1. That's incredible. 5 is going to have so many awesome memories of his birthday cakes, and one day he will realize how much work went into them and know it was because he is so dearly loved. <3

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  2. Holy Frosting Batgirl!

    That's amazing!!

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  3. You super-hero-cake-making skills are awesome!

    Best mom EVER!!

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  4. It was glorious!
    (And Bob pooped aqua for some reason...)

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  5. I used to request cakes with black icing, trimmed in all-white, when I was a kid. Many an alarmed parent called my mom thinking that their kid had cancer until mom reminded them it was the black cake icing. Laugh.

    Your cake knocked me out. Well done you!

    Love,

    SB

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  6. Wow! Okay, that's impressive. It's amazing what lengths a mommy will go. Great job! I have a feeling 5 will remember this birthday! Nice job on the photos, always important for future reference. :-)

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  7. I'm not sure if you got my message but your cake is fantastical! You hit it outta the park!!! Linda

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