Birthdays and Autism

I will admit it, I was trying to rack my brain over what I wanted to talk about today. And chatting with my best friend I know know what this blog post will be about. Doodle's birthday is fast approaching. This afternoon I asked her what type birthday cake she wanted. Last year I had to start a week in advance because she wanted what I thought might be impossible. 2 cakes is what she had requested last year. A 3 tier Freddy Mercury cake and a smaller cake that was an Alvin and the Chipmunk cake. Both of those you could not get from the grocery store. But I'm one of those people that if I'm faced with a challenge I will give it all I've got to accomplish it. And yes I set out for it and yes I did it. The chipmunk used was Theodore, she's more partial to that character. Freddie Mercury was a bit trickier. I wanted to give this one my all and give some honor to Freddie. He deserved that. And it was my first year making her cakes from scratch. From the actual cakes, the frosting and the fondant. All I can say is I regret NOTHING!

This year she wants a chocolate ice cream cake with lots of strawberries. I've never made anything like this. Always wanted to try, though! And now that I have found a recipe I will be giving it another go. All I have to do is make sure there will be plenty of room in the freezer. Yes I make the ice cream myself and again I will be making the cakes myself. The strawberries I'm seriously thinking of stuffing with cheesecake. I think that will taste heavenly. I am up for this challenge and she wants the theme to be Angry Birds. Well, I can manage that and hey maybe Freddie Mercury will make another appearance!

Look, last year I wanted to draw Freddie on the cake but she wanted him as a topper not drawn on the cake. And there was no way that I was going to sculpt Freddie. I hadn't sculpted anything since middle school. Now that would have been a disaster. So I decided last minute, the night before her birthday, to make him as the Angry Bird. She had been watching the Angry Birds video homage to Freddie for his birthday and it seemed like something I would be able to do.

Hey I couldn't do as bad as her 6th birthday cake. It was beautiful! The most wonderful thing I had seen. Her godfather had a cake ordered from a woman who made cakes. And it was Alvin and the Chipmunks on a deserted island. Doodle's teacher made the chipettes to go on the cake. It was an awesome moment for Doodle having that beautiful cake in the house. Until after the birthday song. Her godfather asked me how the cake was. I said, "It was a beautiful looking cake." "Well, how did it taste?" he asked. I asked him if he had ever had any of the cakes that she had made. He told me no. I told him don't ever eat one of her cakes. They were fantastic looking but I have never in my entire marriage have a cake that no one wanted to eat after the first bite. Doodle eats some weird things including dirt and even she didn't want anymore of the cake after her first bite. I don't know what it was about it. You would think being cake it would be good but there was nothing good about the cake. Not the icing, not the cake and not the characters. Well I take that back the only edible characters on the cake were the ones that her teacher made for her. I promised myself and Doodle that day I would always make sure that she had a birthday cake she could eat.

Here's the pictures of the cakes I did last year. After this birthday I will post how the cupcakes looked when they are finished. Enjoy!

The Freddie Mercury Angry Birds cake.

Her puzzle Theodore Chipmunk cake