Cake Controversy - Part 2

If you haven't read Part 1 of the Cake Controversy, you have to read that first or this won't make any sense...

Let me begin episode 2 by saying that I love my husband very much, and he is honestly one of the most artistically talented people I have ever met, but baking and decorating cakes are skills that have to be honed over the course of more than a week. Thus, I continued to resist his grand scheme to bake and decorate Hailey's birthday cake from scratch. Plus, as this plan was taking shape in his brain, I was watching my $40 cake savings turn into a $200-$250 deficit by the time you add up the new equipment we'll need, the multiple batches of cake supplies he'll burn through, etc.

My protests aside, Luke went to Kroger Saturday night and spent his $20 budget on supplies for a pound cake (you need dense cake like pound cake to withhold the weight of fondant). Sunday morning he starts the bake-a-thon. A few hours later my mother and I came home to what appear to be two beautiful cakes baking in the oven. I prepared to eat my words, but wait. When we removed the cakes from the oven, we found that what was a beautiful golden brown exterior was really just about a quarter of an inch of the dough which had hardened to a peanut brittle consistency about two inches above the subterranean level of half-caramelized cake batter that resembled molten lava. Immediately, I picked up the phone to call my savior - Publix. Now, why I didn’t take pictures of these botched cakes is beyond me. Probably because I was too busy looking up the number for Publix and praying I was not to late to order the cake that I had picked out in the beginning.

However, our caped, cake crusader is not finished yet. More cakes must be attempted, fondant must be rolled, decorations must be made!!!! How does the story end? I'm not quite sure. The cake for Saturday has been ordered from Publix. However, there is a battle of cakes brewing between my mother who stubbornly insists on making, carving, and frosting her own princess castle cake and my husband who wants to make a red velvet cake covered in fondant. A trip to Kroger Monday night resulted in us purchasing no less than 4 boxes of cake mix, 2 cans of frosting, 2 bags of confectionery sugar, and an oven thermometer (so that the oven can not be blamed for any resulting losses of future cakes). In a subsequent trip to Michaels, we came home with white fondant, glycerin to make our own fondant, and food coloring. I’m probably in this thing for about $100 at this point, not counting the actual cake from Publix.

Other than preparing to eat a lot of delicious cake in the future, I'm staying out of the Food Network Challenge that has broken out in my kitchen (3’ cake limit not applying). However, if this keeps up, I'm banning all cake related Food Network shows, donating all cake related ingredients to the homeless shelter, and permanently unplugging my oven. Let's hope it doesn't come to that!!!

In Episode 3, I will take pictures of the resulting cakes…whatever shape they take.