Welcome to Cake Wars. Two parents go head to head in the kitchen in daring combat for cake decorating supremacy. Will the cake crumble? Will the icing stick? And most importantly, who will prevail?
Our twins turned four on Monday. Of course, they were super dooper excited. Presents, balloons, lolly bags, and cakes; what more could a couple of four-year-olds desire? Did you notice how I wrote “cakes”? That’s cakes, plural. Two kids = two cakes. It’s a thing we do. Twins are individuals, and all that.
Now, I’m not a baker (read more on this below), but I have a pathological aversion to buying kids’ birthday cakes, so Phoebe and Blake’s birthday presents an annual challenge for my (almost non-existent) baking and cake decorating skills. Added to this, I enjoy the annual event. I skip excitedly across the road to my neighbour’s place and borrow her collection of Women’s Weekly kids’ birthday cake books. The kids and I flick enthusiastically through, me saying ‘no’ to all the ones that look beyond my (quite) limited capabilities. I have made two cakes each birthday for the past three years. I like to think that my skills have advanced with each passing year. Two number 1 cakes progressed to a couple of more fancy cakes: a circle and a square with jam and cream inside, and last year to a whale and a spider. Those required some serious sculpting and artistic icing skills. I was proud. And look at those smiling faces! (The kids are pretty cute, too.)
Birthday number three: purple spider and blue whale. Oh yeah, Blake’s was half eaten because Phoebe was still asleep and people were hungry. There were some amazing waves there, before we ate them, white caps and all.
This year, after scanning five cake books and choosing around fifteen contenders each, we got to the back of the last two books and Phoebe and Blake both decided that they wanted number 4 cakes. But instead of me making both cakes again, hubby and I decided to have a bake-off. Husband versus wife. Man versus woman. Twin versus twin. Two number fours meant that the playing field was levelled. It was on. What’s the point of having twins if you can’t turn it into a competition? (Did I mention that I enjoy competition?)
A little bit about me and baking
Baking. It’s the furthest thing from “my thing” that you can get. Actually, I lie. You would definitely be less likely to find me fishing. I really hate fishing. All the standing, and the waiting, and the bait coming off the hook, and when you catch one it stinks and someone has to scale and fillet it… Not to mention the poor little fishy with the hook through his lip, all flippy and wobbly. It’s not for me.
But I digress.
I’d probably put baking somewhere between gardening and cleaning the toilet as one of my least favourite pastimes. Baking ranks slightly higher than digging weeds, and slightly lower than scrubbing the bowl. At least giving the crapper a once over doesn’t take very long; a quick splash of toilet duck and a dash around with the brush, and Bob’s your uncle.
Again, I digress.
Let me begin with things I don’t like about baking:
1. Preparation:
Alright, so I don’t actually start from scratch. I don’t mix flour and sugar and whatever that other powdery stuff is that goes into cake mix. I buy it in a packet. Even so, preparation takes time. You have to add eggs and milk and butter. Sometimes I don’t have those things, so we have to go to the shop to get them. And the kids want musk sticks while we’re there, and Bubble-O Bills in winter. And even though it’s winter, they take so long to eat them that they drip icecream all over themselves, and half of it falls on the footpath, and the other half is all over their face. And I don’t have any tissues to wipe them, so we have to scooter home with Bubble-O Bill faces. And by the time we bake, it’s dinner time, and we have to have chocolate muffins for dinner… That was last week.
Hangin’ at the corner shop.
And if I do have butter, I always forget to get the butter out of the fridge in time, so it’s too hard. Then I microwave it, and it’s too runny. Then I have to mix everything together. I don’t know whether to use a wooden spoon, or the electric beater, and when I use the electric beater, batter flicks out everywhere, covering the toaster, the kettle, my Year 9 marking, and the fruit bowl, with runny, floury, eggy confetti. It’s a lot of effort.
2. Cooking:
This part takes too long. I’m impatient. And hungry.
3. Cleaning:
There are many implements and unwieldy bowls involved in baking that just don’t fit in the dishwasher. That means dishwashing by hand. It’s 2013, for goodness sake! Also, there is batter on the apples. And my laptop. And the phone. And my student’s essay.
There are also some things that I like about baking:
1. It’s fun making a mess.
2. It keeps the kids busy on rainy afternoons.
3. The finished product is generally scrumptious. (I say generally because, although oven temperatures and times are specified, I somehow manage to miss the mark and my muffins come out rather rock-like, at times.)
This is also what happens when I bake:
Baking a while back.
And this:
We like to be comfy whilst baking – pants are optional. Also, baking requires lifeguard supervision at our place.
Cake Wars: Battle of birthday number four
So this is how it went down:
High expectations.
Our new best friend Mix Master Mike. Reclusive in nature, he will make annual special guest appearances before returning to his secluded corner cupboard hideaway.
I hate this part!
This is how an engineer makes a cake.
The finished products.
Happy birthday, chickies!
To sum up, it was an epic battle in the kitchen. The kids were impressed, and our family (bunch of scaredy cat fence-sitters) called it a draw on the day. I think it’s safe to say that the real winner was baking. And the kids, of course. And the adults who had to eat red icing. I made the red one. There was almost an entire bottle of red food colouring in that. I think mine was the best, but then Stephen might disagree. In the end, it really was a team effort. We laughed, we cried, we shared the Women’s Weekly cake book butter icing recipe, wiped each others’ sweaty brows, and took turns licking the beaters. It was beautiful.
Stay tuned in 2014 for Cake Wars II: The Batter Strikes Back.
Linking up with The Lounge this week via Rachel at The Very Inappropriate Blog. And floggin’ my blog on Friday at With Some Grace.
Raising Explorers 
Very impressive!! I hate baking, so I leave public cakes for the professionals…(we make crap at home when it;’s a craft exercise – infact we make so much gingerbread I chuck it in the bin late at night)…
I love making crap that no one else is going to eat. Well, I wouldn’t really inflict my baking on anyone unless it is absolutely necessary. Oooh late night binning! I do that with all the kindy paintings… there are just soooooo MANY!
Your cakes look great! Were you up until mid-night getting them finished? I usually am.
It was a late one – but thanks to hubby and cake wars I didn’t have to do two myself. It was definitely a laugh! Then we had to wrap the presents…
I’m the Queen Of Cakies. But only in relation to eating them. My boys have never had a home made birthday cake unless it was made by my Mum. Those cakes are very impressive.
I like watching my family eat our dodgy cakes, what can I say? Sending our guests home with coloured teeth is all part of my cunning plan.
Have you see the business called Cake to the rescue? I am very tempted to use them this year. Everything is pre made..you just put it all together and get to take all the credit. It’s a win/win situation.
Ooooh that sounds too good to be true! Good idea!
I love baking but I’m not going to lie. I’ve had some disasters! And it all goes to crap when the kids get their paws into, lets not beat about the bush here. I prefer to bake alone!!! PS your cakes look deeeeelicious!!
Oh yes, kids’ paws are only for cakes of low significance! However, I hope that one day they will master the kitchen… Twin vs twin cake wars… They can make each others’ cakes? Ah, I can only dream…
I love this post so much!!! I love it especially coz you have to make two cakes and it sounds silly but I never thought of that! What a crazy time it must be. Your cakes rock! I make my own as well and they may be lopsided and lumpy but I made them!
I especially love the feet on the table! So cute! X
I love lopsided and lumpy! Plus, all of my friends make lopsided, lumpy kids cakes too, so there’s no pressure there. Yeah, those feet on the table choc muffins were delish!
First of all the picture of them hugging while you are making the cake? JUST. SO. CUTE! You may hate baking but these pictures show that your results more than come up to scrath on their big day. Love your hubby getting out the measuring tape too! Rachel – The Lounge x
Yeah, the measuring tape is his special touch. Thanks, Rachel, I was pretty impressed at my skills. Can’t wait til next year!
They both look great and you really cant beat a homemade birthday cake – love the photos.
Was glad hubby pitched in. Yep, we love lopsided cakes round here!
Well you both kicked butt in the birthday bake off! Love the measuring tape shot. Hope they tasted as good as they looked..
Have to say they were not too bad! Red teeth were a side-effect, but isn’t food colouring overdose what kids’ birthdays are all about? 😉
TWO CAKES! I bow down at your awesomeness. I, too, have a thing where I can’t bring myself to buy their birthday cakes and pull out the Women’s Weekly birthday cake book every year. Every year I’m up till midnight swearing at myself. And that’s over ONE cake. Well, twice. Six months apart. I love your little lifeguard!! Or perhaps he’s a tennis ref? They are just gorgeous.
It’s kind of good just having to do it once a year. Yep, I too have late night birthday prep nightmares, usually because after I finish the cakes, I still have to wrap the presents!
Oh, that Woman’s Weekly cake book! So many smiles, hiding so many late night baking disaster tears! I’m a terrible baker. The more anxious I am about getting a perfect result, the more likely it is to be a complete flop. You’ve done well!
Ah, the tears! Yes I’ve had those. Now I just don’t care how they turn out, and they seem to have improved. Plus, helpful hubby made it easier, and more fun!
Gorgeous, you are brave I gave up making homemade cakes on about their fourth birthdays after it was decided the bought ones are better mum!! Mine love a good icecream cake. Love watching children cook its cool to see them make such a mess and daddy has to clean up lol
Thanks Kath. Yeah, it’s cooking on the whole that’s just not my cup of tea… But kids making a mess is fun, isn’t it? 🙂
I love baking so always scratch my head when I read someone doesn’t like it 🙂 I find it very therapeutic. Cooking with kids is NOT therapeutic (in fact I NEED therapy after) but it is good for them. Your finished results are great.
Thanks! You love baking? Yeah I know some others like you 😉 but seriously, we’ve gotta have bakers, and butchers, and candlestick makers, right?
I’d go insane if I did this – what a super mumma you are 🙂
Not super. Dooper, maybe… 🙂
Thanks for aa great read