It's Your Birthday

A couple of weeks ago we had a cookout/pool party/early birthday party for brother, since part of our family would be out of town for the actual day. If was a somewhat last minute get together, so Mr. and I were trying to decide if I should make a cake, of if we should just buy one. Well, that decision was made for us when 4 year old ears heard that conversation. She was aghast that would even consider buying a cake. "Mommy, we HAVE to make a cake for brother!" Since it was last minute I couldn't order a cake and would have had to pick out a pre-made cake and have a birthday message written on it. That would've been fine, but thought the proud big sis and I could could do a special project and since 1st birthdays are special.

I initially planned on this (fairly) simple fish cake. It would just be a sheet cake, with the corners rounded, repositioned to be fins and tails, icing, and decorating. That idea also got shot down by the 4 year old. She quickly let me know that brother does not like fish, but really likes crocodiles! I guess it's a good thing she let me know, because I had no idea :). So we proceeded with a crocodile cake, which was an undertaking for this self-professed uncrafty mom. First, we had to make a bundt cake, cut in into 3 sections (with one of them cut diagonally top to bottom), and arrange the sections.

Then we iced it. She would drop a big glob of icing (vanilla with green food coloring) and I would spread it. She frequently licked the spatula before the next application, but we kept that our little secret. Somehow 4 year olds don't see the big picture of licking it at the end as not to spread germs when there's yummy icing staring them in the face! Then we decorated with candy. There might have been a few pieces of candy eaten along with those used for decorating. Sis was so proud at the end she had to give our crocodile a kiss.

Then {because better is always the enemy of good :)}, we decided he couldn't just sit on the cutting board, but needed a scene, and thought a swamp would be appropriate. We were going to do chocolate dipped pretzels for logs, but somehow the chocolate turned into balled up bits. We improvised and used it as dirt instead and covered the pretzels with chocolate icing.

I was pleased with the results and honestly a little shocked that I didn't have to ditch our efforts and run to Publix for a cake! It wasn't too hard, just time consuming. I was glad I made the cake the day beforehand, because it took a good chunk of the morning to decorate it.

The company arrived that afternoon for some grillin' and chillin' by the pool

Papa is pretty sly and snagged the umbrella from the outdoor table while he cooked the burgers, hot dogs, and ribs.

After dinner we brought out the cake. Doesn't brother look so thrilled by our hard work?

He took one bite of it, ONE BITE, and was done. This is my son that has eaten anything we have ever given him-broccoli, green beans, asparagus, squash, olives, tomatoes, bell peppers, mango, blueberries, watermelon, avocado, etc, and yet wanted nothing to do with his cake! Maybe there's some type of survival instinct that tells you not to eat neon green food :)
My thoughtful nephew even tried to cut it up and feed it to him, but he still wasn't interested.
Then he said, thanks but no thanks. Here you can have mine! As least that's what I think he was saying. I'm not going to lie and say my heart didn't do a little backflip when he turned down sweets!
It was such a fun day. I got the cake instructions here. I did change a few things. I made the green icing a little lighter than the picture and used candy that I thought stood out more: green gum drops along the back, yellow sour gummy candy for claws, and junior mints for the eyes and nose. The whites of the eyes are marshmellows cut in half and the teeth are broken yogurt covered pretzels. I also think it should call for more icing. I got 2 cans of icing, 1.5 for the alligator and the remainder for the water. I'm not a pro at bundt cakes, but my MIL is, and recommended a thick layer of Baker's Joy (not Pam or butter) and then flour in the pan. I also waited 10 minutes for it to cool, then put the cutting board on top of the pan, flipped it, and tapped the pan. I was so afraid huge chunks would stick to the pan, but it came our perfectly! Good luck if you try it-if I can do it, trust me, anybody can do this one.

As for an update on my little guy, he continues to improve! It already looks much better than it did on Thursday when we went in for a checkup. We have to keep up the dressing changes and go back on Thursday.