Early this year, Ava presented us with a design for her own birthday cake.  I can't say what persuaded her to do so, these kinds of quirky dynamic decisions are what make Ava so fun to be around.  That she designed her own birthday cake is not so remarkable though.  As I looked at the design, evaluating it from the bottom up, I could tell she had a very specific theme in mind.  Two round layers, the top narrower than the bottom.  The sides were decorated with small colorful butterflies, but the cake was intentionally left uncomplicated.  As my eye continued toward the top of the cake, I could see why she was trying not to create a distracting mess of colors and decorations.  Adorning the top of her cake?  A black skull.  Not a picture of a skull, but a three-dimentional cake-topper completing her apparent vision of the ultimate contradiction of birthday cake themes.

Hope and I are not ones to crush Ava's creative tendencies.  But I'd be damned if I went to the cake shop downtown to describe what the final product should look like.  So we thought we'd give it time, see if the urge passed.

Don't get me wrong.  This wasn't an idea she ran by us in passing.  There was a very elaborate thought process, and a presentation with a description of all the details.  It wasn't a surprise that after several weeks, she's still asking about her cake.  And with Ava's birthday approaching rapidly, it was time to take matters into my own hands.

I know how to whip a thing or two up in the kitchen, but I'd never call myself a cake baker.  So I'd need a plan.  And practice.  I knew I wanted to try a fondant covered cake, so I started there.

With the help of some online instructions, I made my first practice cake last week.  I made marshmallow fondant covering a buttercream-frosted yellow cake, all made from scratch.  Everything was delicious, except for the frosting.  I used too much salt somehow, and the result was obviously salty.  Borderline inedible.  But it looked good!  I'm preparing to make one more practice cake before game time the weekend of March 4th.  The first attempt yielded so few problems, and the end result was so tasty, salty frosting being the exception, that I'm quite confident.  I should know this weekend where we stand.