Just buy a cake. Go to a shop & buy a cake. A perfect looking, perfectly formed, perfectly baked pre-made cake. Or better still, order one from a skilled professional!

When will I learn?

Small Bro turned 3 today, so this is the 7th birthday party I have had the pleasure of planning & throwing for my small men. And it’s the 6th time I have challenged myself to make the cake.

My husband mocks me & my emphasis on the cake, he thinks my family & I are obsessed with cake… we are not… we just like to give a birthday/occasion a sense of special-ness & cake is the perfect way to do that…

I presume most people are the same when it comes to birthday cake; the cake is the focal point, the centrepiece of the party, the thing people always photograph & look forward to eating the most.

Pretty important to have a decent one!

But I insist on making my own anyways…!

I could spend literally months thinking & deciding on what the theme is, what the cake will be, finding & buying the perfect cake decorations & accessories…

And despite all of this; on the day it still looks like it was thrown together at the last minute while driving through a dark tunnel!

This year was a particularly spectacular fail… aesthetically at least. I stand by the fact that it tasted feckin unreal…

Small bro loves gingerbread men, always gets excited when he sees them on tv/in books, even if its just a human outline like in playdoh cutters he’s like “Look Mammy, Ginger-Man!”

So I figured, how cute would a gingerbread man cake be??

Amazon here I come! Found a silicone cake mould, ordered it, boom, this will be the best yet.

Ahem.

Not quite.

Silicone cake moulds are the work of the devil.

I diligently followed all relevant tips & instructions, and still ended up with a cake that looked like a scene from CSI. Body parts all over the shop.

Disaster.

Icing to the rescue. And mini-smarties.

Minus fucks given at the hack of the finished product. I had conceded defeat on this one.

I don’t think the birthday boy (or any of the 3 kids present) even noticed that it was in the vague shape of a Ginger-Man, they shoved it in their faces too quick to see!

The adults found my efforts entertaining, so I suppose that’s a positive…!

I am pretty sure this is the last year I will get away with these botched cakes. From now on it’s going to be parties involving school friends, and I cannot be the embarassing mother giving out shite cake!

So come October for Big Bro’s birthday… can someone please give me a swift kick in the rear if I say anything other than “I need to get a cake”…

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