By quoth,
I waited two years before my only precious baby son was old enough to realize what a birthday, no even a cake is. I got all the ingredients, and decided to make him a beautiful Cat cake (that’s the only word he pretty much said clearly at the time). He was 2 at the time. I just wanted a simple cake, and I was going to decorate it, making a cute cat out of it, and embezzle it with all sorts of goodies.
Well, the cake part was ok, until it came to decorating. Silly me, thinking that all those long hours of watching the Food channel, and the Ace of Cakes would make me into an amazingly talented cake maker/decorator person.
Wrong. How wrong.
Instead of a cute cat, what came out was this:
Cat cake
The cake, upon completion looked just as startled and frightened as myself. It looked to be ashamed of it’s own existence, as I was of it. It only had 2 paws, and it’s eyes were immediately plucked out by my toddler. Note the “intricate” piping. I even tried making rosettes. or something.
Basically, simple butter cake (from the box), two standard sized rounds, piled on top of each other. I cut out the “cat” shape out of the top one, lined the middle with bananas, and decorated with M&Ms.
The good part, it actually tasted good, but never again will attempt to go for such a complicated idea. I think I’m going to stick to simple stuff for now.
Don’t feel bad. You’ve got three things going for you:
1: It still LOOKS like a cat.
2: You son probably isn’t (wasn’t?) old enough to really know any better and
3: It’s still a damn sight better then the “professional” cakes over at Cake Wrecks. :)
I’m personally not so sure about the bananas and M&M’s but I still think it’s cute in it’s own…odd way.
Lucky that kids aren’t harsh food critics. If it tastes good, they eat it, right? I tried making cakes for years until I finally wised up to the local bakery option :-)
I think it’s cute. I don’t think you should give up!!
I love it’s chubby little butt and “Oooh” face! >.< EEK! LOL I love it.
It’s cute :)
And the cat came back. They thought he was a goner, but the cat came back. He just wouldn’ t stay away awaaaaaaay…
Ahem. Excuse me. I got that song in my head for some reason.
The important part is that it tasted good! I put a “USA” cake on my blog a couple weeks ago and one of my commenters thought I was going for Chinese characters. So, see? It could be way worse! LOL.
Oh yeah, and whatever you do, don’t go to Flickr to get cake decorating ideas either …
I think the cake is adorable! It clearly has the most important ingredient needed in any two year olds birthday cake – lots of love.
I love how this site makes lemonade out of lemons. It is not the prettiest cat cake in the world but oh my, it’s awesome you put forth the effort. How lucky your kiddo is!
Just love there is something like CraftFail where we can all sit around and chuckle WITH you! :)
At least you tried! And remember, your 2 year old doesn’t know the difference between a store bought and yours, so you saved money. Of course the pictures you took – there will be some ‘splaining to do in later years.
It does’nt look that bad. I made a mini 3 tier cake 1 week before my little girls 3rd birthday. turned out not that bad. Night before the party i made the real one. It was a complete disatere, it all fell appart all 4 mini cakes. Which resulted in hunting round the local supermarket buying one at 11pm at night. Yours stayed together, which is always a pluss.
I think you are being way too hard on yourself. I think the cat came out super cute. I actually saw this posted on a friends page because they thought it was so cute. Be proud of your cake and give yourself a pat on the back. :o)
“Embezzle” does not mean what you think it means.
to Alana: You are right, actually. Im not sure what I was trying to say, I think there is a “bedazzle” in there somewhere. :) If anyone can help me with the actual word I might have thinking, I would appreciate it.
I think the word you were looking for is “embellish.”
How about ‘embellish’?
Embellish?
i also think it’s cute! and i bet your son knew right away it was a cat. don’t gie up!
that is simply too funny……but don’t be too hard on yourself. All us ‘crafty’ types have created at least ONE cake that didn’t quite turn out like we envisioned. The best part of your cake is that is still looked like a cat and it tasted good!
dear god, I can’t tell you how much this made me laugh. I love it!! Win!!
This cracked me up. It’s now in my top 3 funny cat things that always make me laugh on a bad day:
1-Spaghetti Cat, here’s a link to a picture: http://paxarcana.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/spaghetti_cat_full.jpg)
2-LOL cat, “I can haz cheezburger” gets me every time
3-Your cake, love it!
To me all that matters is that you made this special for your son. At least you tried and I’m sure your son loved it.
I think it’s cute! As a catering server, I see a LOT of pro cakes, and they’re lovely…. but missing something. Spirit, maybe, and affection.
Don’t stop trying. The nice thing about cake screw-ups is that you can eat the evidence!
Thanks all for the encouragement, and yes, the brain did want to say “embellish”. :D
ha, my birthday is coming up and i just may make myself this exact one. really, it is kind of charming. . .
reminds me of the “pizza dough muffins” i recently made. bet your cake tasted better than those!
No don’t give up, if you keep practicing you will be able to make awesome cakes for when he is older!
Do I ever understand about making a not so perfect cakes! The first one I made was to look like a teddy bear and came out looking more like a strange pig like bear. Here is the book that saved me~ The Austrialian Womans Weekly Childrens Birthday Cake Book. It is worth every penny. I made really amazing cakes with the help of this wonderful book! Better luck next time!
This had me crying i was laughing so hard. I desperately want to recreate it. I have so many friends that would be delighted to receive this.
that has got to be the best cat cake ever. It’s so brilliant in it’s awesomeness and I’m not being sarcastic! haha. It’s got personality & excessive amounts of that good ol razzle dazzle =)
I laughed till I cried..I haven’t done that in years, but only cause I relate soooo much. That food channel. Home & Garden does it too…smh. Long as it tasted good!
I’m actually crying right now! I can’t stop the laughing and the crying! This is is too funny, but cute at the same time! Poor, poor sad adorable kitty made with love. His expression! Oh! This is wonderful, adorable, sad, and funny at the same time. I love this cake. It’s too cute.
Thanks all for your comments. Im really happy that the cake brought tears and laughter. this year I will attempt a card/truck cake, as my son turns 3!
I made this picture my wallpaper. Makes me smile every time. I teach 2 year olds and I get a little misty when I think of how much love went into your making this. I want one!!
You and your cat are not alone:
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com
That picture made me laugh until I cried! Something about the look on the cat’s face is just excellent! I love it!
I literally laughed for a solid five minutes at this cake! Funniest and most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on. I love the fact that this cake looks like so much love was put into it. Thank you for bringing this into my life. Please continue to make cakes, you’re an angel.