It's no secret that Nana's are super-cool. Many of them can sew like professionals, bake dinners like nobody else, craft like legends, and are a wealth of wisdom on everything from thumb-sucking to detecting chickenpox.They're also very good at babysitting! Happy-husband and I went to a wedding yesterday (so beautiful!) and in order to have the day off to go watch the ceremony we needed Nana's help. The girls had a wonderful time... and truth be told are still there this morning as I type this blog post... I'll go get them soon... after one more kid-free cup of coffee... promise.
Nana's can also create truly incredible cakes! We went to a party recently for two siblings turning 5 and 1 who shared a lovely little joint house-party. It was a wonderful party in plenty of ways, but what I most want to write about is the cakes! The cakes were wow!! (Have I put in enough !!!s in to give you an idea of how in awe I was of these cakes?)
We don't cook deserts in our house. We do have cook-books, and I try hard to follow the recipe, as does my husband (who's much better than me at baking, although he did have some scones that required a call to the poison-hotline... truly!) Somehow however all the sweet things I bake are always 'ok' but nothing very special. I've been told that the trick is to practice, and to really get to know your oven so you can tweak the baking times, as minutes more or less can make all the difference... hmm... I'm ok with the idea of practice, but what do I with all the practice cakes? (Yes I know, I know; I could eat them, but that's a heck of a lot of Zumba I'd have to do to work off all the mistakes I might make.)
Anyway - what I did realize as I scrutinised the glorious (and delicious) cakes is that a lot of their glory was in the 'jazzing-up' of the cakes, and that I could do. So for Mimi's 5th birthday I'm going to build a castle. Yep. I've put it out there, I'm going to try it. I'll probably buy the big cake and I'll definitely purchase some of those jam rolls to put on the sides as turrets, and ice-cream cones as spires... I can do this. I can. Can't I?
Sure I can... and if it doesn't work out, Mimi's only 5, so she and her friends won't noticed if it's all wonky and lopsided would they? Maybe. But anyway, I'm gonna do it... what could possibly go wrong?
Besides... if I can't live up to the incredibly high qualities of all the Nana's of the world; there's always a nice little shop that I know down the road...
Keep baking people - it's all about practice (apparently!) - and don't forget to give your Nana a hug,
Linda.
PS - feel free to post links to the spectacular cakes you've made in the comments below or on facebook! Sharing is caring! : )
