I can assemble a dump truck cake.

Before the party...

I can assemble a dump truck cake. 

It has been a long while since my last entry, but I shan’t beat myself up about it.  Instead, I look ahead to cooking for not a family of only 3, but for a family of 4 this November when baby girl arrives!  You see…  I’ve been busy…    

My son just turned 2 years old.  We threw a birthday party for him, and the theme was dump trucks, bulldozers… all of the things he usually plays with in his sandbox.  In an energetic moment a few weeks ago, I found directions for making a dump truck cake on www.parenting.com.  Many of the ingredients for the dump truck cake were the same as that of the bulldozer cake.  Why not make both?  I read the instructions over and over.  I studied them carefully.  I waxed and waned…  Can I do this?  Yes?  No?  Surely something will go awry.  But I have a master’s degree.  Certainly I can do this.  But I’m not good at crafty things that involve measurements, and this involves cutting cakes at angles…  I’ve seen those cake decorating shows.  Things go horribly wrong.  Still, I wanted to try.  So, not only did I make the 2 truck cakes, but I made a third cake as a back up.  A double layer chocolate cake with cream cheese icing.  Yum.  It alone would have been enough.  I had never made a layer cake, either, so using that as my back up was probably not wise.  Experimenting when you are expecting guests is always a bad idea, right?  But I’m an artist.  I take risks. 

Well…  I have to say I actually impressed myself.  The cakes looked significantly better than I thought they would.  With the help of my sisters in the assembly process, we successfully made (I say, assembled, since the cakes themselves were technically Sara Lee frozen pound cakes) a dump truck cake and a bulldozer cake.

When my son woke up from his nap, I took him downstairs to see the party decorations that we put up and told him that his friends would be arriving soon.  I showed him the cakes, and…  YES!  He knew what they were.  With a smile and a loving sigh, he said, “Dump truck!  Bulldozer!” as if they were the best friends that didn’t RSVP but that he secretly hoped would come to the party after all. 

The double layer cake also turned out remarkably well.  The risks were well worth it.  Lesson learned:  Take the chance.  You might just surprise yourself.  If not, you and your guests probably won’t starve.  It’s only food.  This is not Hell’s Kitchen. Gordon Ramsey won't be coming to your party. 

These directions actually work when you follow them!   

Dump truck cake:  http://www.parenting.com/article/how-to-make-a-dump-truck-cake

Bulldozer cake:  http://www.parenting.com/article/how-to-make-a-bulldozer-cake

Note:  Each boy at the party got to demolish his own cake.  Watching 2 two-year olds play with the trucks and “dirt” (made of graham cracker crumbs), only then to realize several minutes into the process that they were all edible…  priceless. 

After the party...  (aka: the scrap yard)