Thursday, March 11, 2010

Animal Cake

I like to bake things. Pretty thing. And, if you want to get really specific, I like to bake cakes in funny shapes. Like elephant cakes. And bunny cakes. And cakes that are supposed to look like my brother's face. Cake baking makes me happy. It's soothing. It gives me an excuse to melt several thousand calories worth of chocolate with several hundred calories of butter. It's a sensual experience.

Speaking of Josh (a.k.a. my brother), he was the first person that I ever baked an animal cake for. (He was the origin! WTG, Josh! You are neat.) It happened like this: he had moved out of the parent's basement, and I missed him. So, I decided to bake him a cake and leave it on his front porch (because it's way more fun to do it secretively.)

I baked a cake. I looked at it. It wasn't very interesting to look at. But then, I had an amazing realization, "Hey," I thought, "I'm going to make this cake in the shape of a bunny head! A bunny cake is approximately 1000 times funnier than a non-bunny cake."

You see, my mom has these little cards that show you how to cut layer cakes in special ways, so that when you put them together, they make animal shapes.

I found the bunny card. I cut the cake. I iced it in luscious, hand-made chocolate icing. And then I got really creative, and by the time I was done, it looked like a bunny. Like a real, live, living, breathing, hopping, reproducing bunny. It was a miracle.

After that, I've never gone back to normal cakes. Why would I? It was a life-changing experience.

Since that first bunny cake, I've made all sorts of shapes. Really, if anyone gives me any reason, however obscure (or if they don't give me a reason), I will make them a cake in the shape of their choice (but preferably an animal. For some reason, animal cakes are the funniest.)


Hmmm... I'm quite proud of this one.

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