Let Them Eat Cake

Each year my imagination and creativity is given the opportunity to dance in the world of whimsical beauty creating intentionally "home-made" looking cakes for the people I love. I'm not a professional cake decorator by any means, though I do love creating new works of art and I've been doing this since my eldest daughter turned 1, 13years ago.

What once began as a caterpillar made of cupcakes, evolved year by year and now the process has turned into a more elaborate tradition that my children anticipate on their birthdays. My heart swells knowing that this will be part of my legacy and a special imprint on their childhood.

It was 2011 when things turned up a notch and I found myself creating a "Mermaid Princess Castle Cake". I stayed up until 1am shaping and decorating the cake in the most epic way. I still remember the look on my daughter's face when I brought the cake out, with towers and turrets, a moat, draw bridge and sparklers. It reminded me of the intro to Disney movies. Equally memorable were the parents faces at my daughters birthday party... they were both amazed at the incredible cake and also bewhildered at the thought that the bar had been set for them to create something of the like. We all laughed, knowing that I was just that weird mum who goes above and beyond for birthday cakes. It's my thing. A badge I wear proudly now.

The latest creation was for a friends birthday. I wanted to create something that spoke to her passions, connection to permaculture and "Earth Mumma" business. This was more of a crafted work of art than it was a simple cake. They're never simple. That's the point.

I made the gluten free box cake and once cooled, "landscaped" the working space. I went to a local flower farm and with my little bucket of water and secatares in hand, went to cut the blooms to decorate the space. Initially I wanted to have everything edible, but due to the season we are in and limited supply, I settled for the intention of not poisoning anyone. HA!

Using air-dry clay my eldest daughter Auraura and I created little ornamental pots, gumboots, wheelbarrow, garden bench, carrots, a rake and shovel. The most challenging part of making the cake was finding a pair of scissors so that I could cut the skewers for the little tools and wheelbarrow and then cut the fake moss and flowers to make everything pop with colour and enchantment. Do you think I could find any? Nope! With 4 children at home and a 5yo that loves to cut all the things all the time- including her hair, which seems to be some sort of rite of passage... this proved to be quite the task!

Eventually everything fell into place, The cake was decorated with gluten free ginger biscuits, chocolate coated blueberries, fresh mint, mint chocolate squares for stepping stones and the final touch... a cocktail umbrella.

The "Enchanted Garden" cake is perhaps my favourite so far as it creates space for the imagination to play, and the little gardent ornaments have been recycled into nature play by her daughter. win-win. The BEST part was seeing my friends face light up when I presented it to her, and the cake ended up being a real conversation piece and something that I was very proud to be able to gift. So much colour, majick, love, time and energy invested into brightening her day.

I think it is important to make an effort for people you love... small acts of kindness and love go along way... these memories become portals into the future and back again. I don't think anyone I've made cakes for will remember what they tasted like but they will remember that I was thinking of them enough to create a work of heART.

Wild and messy, perfectly imperfect, just like life.

...and that, is a gift I'll continue to give.