Let Them Eat (Character) Cake!

Yesterday, my twin granddaughters got to experience one of life's greatest joys (in my opinion): they ate CAKE!  Their very first pieces of cake.  Well, I guess they mostly smeared it all over their faces, but some of the heavenly-tasting stuff did actually make it into their little mouths.

On the grand occasion of their first birthday, their daddy made them an amazing cake; I tell you, this cake looked like it was created by T.V.'s "Cake Boss" himself, Buddy Valastro.  The girls love the Elmo character on "Sesame Street," so their dad made that cute little monster's likeness out of yellow cake and tinted buttercream frosting--and it was a true masterpiece.

I give you...my son's Elmo cake!  Ta da!

My firstborn majored in engineering in college, so it is no wonder that he engineered such a perfect birthday cake for his baby girls.  He drew Elmo's features in icing with a mathematician's precision, making sure that everything was in perfect proportion vis a vis the image he was trying to duplicate.  His hard work paid off, because next to all of the character cakes I made for him and his brothers when they were little guys, this one really takes the cake.  (Did you see what I did there?)

Way back when, on the occasion of this same son's second birthday, I made him a cake in the image of his favorite "Sesame Street" character at the time: Cookie Monster.  (He was mine, too; I could totally relate to Cookie Monster's constant craving for chocolate chip cookies, the second best food there is after birthday cake.)  Here's that cake, from twenty-six years ago:

I believe I am correct when I say that the student (who spent all those years watching the cake baking process and eagerly licking the bowls) has become the master.  Because although my Cookie Monster cake, with its marshmallow eyes and Hershey bar mouth, was not bad, it doesn't hold a candle to my boy's Elmo cake!  (Again, did you see what I did there?  This Cookie Monster Cake is actually holding a candle shaped like a 2!)

I hate to end this happy post on a sad note, but did you know that Cookie Monster eats mostly health foods nowadays?  He still has the occasional cookie, but he eats a ton of veggies.  I worry that the day will come when this beloved, iconic character will be renamed  "Cauliflower Monster."  Or "Carrot Monster."  I mean, come on!  He's Cookie Monster...because he likes COOKIES!  But I guess it's not very PC these days to promote the idea of kids eating sweets.

I'm not saying little ones should gobble cookies all the time, or cake either; but on their birthdays, at least, you've definitely gotta let them eat cake!