Cakegate '09

If you're one of my Facebook friends then you've been privy to, what I've dubbed, Cakegate '09. JR's birthday party is coming up on Sunday, and he's been insistent on wanting a Monsters V Aliens party. A few weeks back, I checked at our WalMart and saw they had a MvA cake in their cake book and went ahead and ordered everything else online. On Tuesday I stoped by the Walmart bakery to order JR's cake, and according to the girl at the counter they "don't have that kit". Great. So the picture is in the book to show me things they may or may not be able to make? I asked where else in town I could get a cake and she told me that City Market had a bakery. I stoped in at City Market and they too "don't have the kit". And although City Market didn't have 'a kit', the girl behind the counter did have an attitude. I then called Baskin Robins and their excuse was they couldn't make the cake because "it's copyrighted". Oh, and all those Sponge Bob and Spiderman cakes aren't? So today after lamenting on Facebook about the nonexistence of a MvA cake in all of Durango, my friends were quick to point out all the ways to make my own MvA cake...all of which were labor intensive, required talent, and cake decorating ability.

Now at this point Jason would jump in and say, "So why did I pay for cake decorating lessons?" Yes, it's true, I have taken a cake decorating class. My friend, Katie, and I took one in Beijing and I spent more time eating the icing we were practicing with than I did decorating. And it was the memories of that cake decorating class that made me all the more fearful of having to do this cake. After those lessons I wanted to show off my new found "skills", and decided that I'd make JR's 3rd birthday cake. I thought it would be super easy. It wasn't. I don't know how many people I made come over and help me that night, but I do know that if it wasn't for Katie's husband, Andy, who worked as a pastry chef in college, I'd have never gotten JR's cake finished. So here's what we came up with. I never could get the engine to look right, so I just gave up and stuck one of JR's own trains on there.

And I'm actually so embarrassed to show this next picture I could almost die. Here's the other cake I did for that day. See, I told you I was too busy eating the icing to learn anything! And in my own defense, I think we only had 4 lessons.

So after all my Facebook advice and thinking back to the train cakes, I was all the more determined to not have to make a MvA cake. I picked up the phone and called the Walmart bakery. I explained my problem and how they could solve it for me. And thankfully, Cakegate '09 has a resolution. Walmart will decorate the cake for me just like they would if they actually had the kit. Then I will stick JR's MvA Happy Meal toys on the cake myself. Woo-Hoo Happy Meal Toys and Woo-Hoo minimal cake decorating!