It Went Really Well!

Please for the love of God and everything that is holy, do NOT submit these pictures to Cake Wrecks! I am proud that I did this cake. However I am NOT going into cake decorating business ANYTIME soon. I'll leave that to the experts such as Sassy and KimboSue. And anyone else who can decorate a cake better then I...such as ANYONE!

It started on Saturday when I baked both layers, with a cake mix. I totally cheated because I knew I was going to be STRESSED out with the fondant and if I had made a cake from scratch, I would've gone CRAZY! I baked them, let them cool and put a layer of icing on them. The icing I made came out a bit thin, so I put it in the fridge for a bit and it was fine. It wasn't as thick as I would have liked it for in between the layers, but it was going to work. The cake came out totally lopsided, which actually worked out in my favor, as we were doing a construction cake and I needed a "hole" to put some mud in. I was planning on baking just a cupcake and putting that on the side, but I didn't have to do that, since part of the cake sunk. Totally not freaking out at this point...that's later.

Then I put the whole cake in the fridge while I rolled out the fondant and BEGGED my husband to go to the store and get frosting so I wouldn't have to make more and have it be "runny" again and stress out *some more*. Thankfully, he took pity on me and went to the store. I should've started drinking at this point, I might have been more calm.

Rolling out the fondant wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be. Although, cleaning up powder sugar off my counter is NOT as easy as cleaning off flour from a pie crust, but whatever. It rolled out pretty well and it didn't break when I put it on the cake. Which, I totally expected it to do. I probably could have rolled it out a bit thinner, but for my first time, not so bad. Since I chickened out and didn't have the courage to dye the fondant, we had a "snow scene construction site" cake...lol I did find the correct mixture of colors to make brown, which is NOT what was suggested by Master Baker Google when I Googled it. Equal parts of blue, red, and yellow do NOT make brown. I can't even remember what ended up being brown, it was those three colors, but it was not equal parts.

Once it was covered in fondant and it was time to put the trucks on it and the chocolate frosting, is when I started to stress the FUCK out! I had a picture of what this cake was going to look like in my head and it was NOT turning out the way I had pictured. Finally, I let it go. Husband, thankfully, talked me off the ledge and gave me "permission" to screw up this cake. Worst case scenario, we'd go to the grocery store before Zilla's birthday party and get another cake. Once again, wine would have helped me here ;o)

I opened up the frosting and Zilla and I went to town on the cake! He told me where he wanted his trucks and how he wanted one to "look like it crashed, with mud ALL over it". The "tracks" in the "snow" were Husband's idea. We drove the trucks through and cut out the fondant with a knife. It worked really well and when we pulled off the fondant, it REALLY did look like the truck had drove through it! I was really pleased at how it was coming together.

Zilla HAD to have his name on his cake and his age. So I did that...and THAT'S where it went downhill! I bought the correct icing but didn't even THINK to buy tips *slaps head*. So, his name came out like he wrote it. Sadly, he probably could have done a better job, but oh well, I tried. the best part was that Husband came in as I was feeling all disappointed about how it turned out and suggested I use the yellow icing to outline his name. I told him he was MORE then welcome to try that. So he did and it didn't work! So, I felt a little victorious that the one who has NO artistic talent at all *me* didn't do any better then the one who does *him*. Childish, I know, but STILL, made me feel better. Which is why there is a little random "happy birthday" decoration that doesn't even match on the cake. That's where Husband tried to use the yellow icing. Couldn't really erase it, so we just covered that little mistake up...lol Nobody knows about that..shhhhhh


The best part of the whole thing is when all of Zilla's friends came over, he took them directly to the fridge and showed them his cake. He was very proud of it and was very proud that his mom made it.

Everyone was very impressed with it and thought it looked really great. Even if they were being nice, it was good to hear. Dinner was a success, even though MAYBE two of the six kids that were here, ate it. All of the adults really liked my lasagna and I got LOTS of compliments on it. I'm always a bit too critical of my cooking, so I thought it wasn't as good as the last time.

The in-laws didn't go insane with all the extra WILD boys running around. They got Zilla cool toys and my FIL was very pleasant to be around. Probably because they had just bought a new car and he was either in shock, or on a "new car smell" high.

I still have a whole box of fondant left over and I might try to dye some of it. Maybe I'll even bust out another cake and it'll look super cool! I might even go as far as to buy tips for my icing next time. It was a learning experience that could have turned out A LOT worse. I'm happy with how the cake turned out and the events of the day. I am MORE happy that it's over and I can go to bed soon...ahhh my bed is calling me name!