This takes the cake

I did it the first time 25 years ago. And based on how I did it last night, I haven't come very far.

From this:
to this...

...is not much progress.

It was a deceptively simple request.

I asked Andrew what type of cake he wanted for his birthday. Stripes of colors from all three Cleveland sports teams. Piece of cake. So to speak.

But then I started making the frosting. And realized that I had to make six different colors. Including burgundy. I actually found burgundy food coloring at the cake shop, which in reality is a nice purply magenta color. A color that would not do for a team with a perfect at-home record and only three losses on the road. But with a little brown here and some red there, I was able to mix a passable shade.

Soon the second blue color (because the blue for the Cavs is quite distinct from the blue for the Indians) went out the window. This was a cake for five 7 year old boys, for heaven's sake.

I borrowed a huge (and I mean huge) cake decorating tip from Melissa, perfect for making nice, wide, stripes of color. This should be done in no time, I foolishly thought. My bowls of colored frosting were in the fridge and I was ready to go. But here is the problem. I did not have enough of the different colors to make the tip an effective tool. It did not make a nice even stripe. It did, however, make a lumpy, streaky stripe that needed to be smoothed with my spatula.

I had all the colors on, but decided that the white stripe in the middle needed to be thicker. Notice how it is flanked by red and blue. Do ya think that white went on nicely? Nope. Not a chance. And in no time, this cake has decidedly taken its place as the worst cake I have ever decorated in my life.

I always make my kids' cakes. I know I am not great at it, but that's ok with me. It's fun. And I have definitely had my strokes of genius. Take this one, for example. This is my all-time favorite cake. It was quite impressive, even to the little girls at the party. That cake rocked.

So this time, I'm off my game. It's all right. And please, no half-hearted comments meant to reassure me that the cake is "nice" or "fine" or "cute." I'll know that you are flat-out lying. And besides, like I mentioned earlier, it's for a bunch of boys. They won't know the difference and it will taste fine.

But I have told Andrew that some adjustments will need to be made when I decorate the cake for the family party tomorrow. After all, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Har har.