To complement the pooch-covered plates, napkins and balloons, I decided to make the Boys very first cake in the shape of a puppy.  I had never before done much cake decorating other than writing “Happy Birthday” — and I have to admit I was never really steady at that.

Well, here’s what I came up with:

The Boy's 1st Birthday Cake

I think it turned out pretty good. Both the cake and frosting (all homemade) were entirely eggless since the Boy is allergic. Unfortunately, he was not very into the cake at all.  He took a little taste of the chocolate frosting, but wasn’t interested in eating the cake.  Disappointing, yes.  But not entirely surprising when you consider it took him weeks to accept any bread.  And though his favorite foods are bananas and sweet potatos, he’s not exactly accustomed to *real* sweets.  Eh, I guess you can’t win ‘em all.

In case you’re interested, there’s more about the cake & my process after the jump….

The Boy’s aversion may also have had something to do with the cake being very dry. I used a great recipe for eggless cake, which I tested a few weeks ago. That time, it turned out wonderful — but then I made it as cupcakes, rather than cake.  And I think I may have overcooked it a little this time around.  I also cut the butter by 1/4 cup, based on some of the comments I read, but I think the next time I make it I’ll use the full amount called for in the recipe.  Lastly, I made the cakes Thursday, decorated Friday & served Saturday.  Although a lot of what I read about cake making suggested this would be okay, I think the wait didn’t help the already dry cake.

The frostings were really good — and really simple — recipes (with slight modifications) from Baking Illustrated, my absolute favorite baking book. I made a vanilla butter frosting, which is just butter, confectioners sugar, and vanilla.  It’s very fluffy and very yummy!  The chocolate was just as simple — melted chocolate, heavy cream, and about a tablespoon or so of confectioners sugar (which wasn’t called for in my recipe, but which I added to help cut the bitterness of the chocolate & sweeten it up every so slightly).

4 layers of eggless cakey goodness

To make the dog, I used two round pans (I think mine are 9 inches rather than 8 inches, which would have been better), and a heart shaped pan to get the ears.  For the ears, I put my layers on top of each other (not iced), then cut the heart in half, cut out a triangle in the middle, and rounded off the cuts to make it less angular, more floppy looking.  They kind of looked like big commas, but it worked.  To get the snout, I just cut a circle out of some of the excess cake material I had after leveling off the layers and iced it as I would have a third layer.

I made a double batch of vanilla and used that to frost between all the layers (ears & face) and to frost the entire face.  I made only one batch’s worth of chocolate and reserved that for the ears and the patch around the eye.  I used a 15 inch spreader spatula for most of the frosting and a 9 inch tapered, angled spreader for the ears and any detail work.  I’m sure you could also get by with a regular spatula and/or dinner knife and/or small, angled butter knife.

Ears... or commas or apostrophes... whatev

I decorated the face with decorator icing from Michael’s.  (Since this was my first time, I had no idea you couldn’t just get that stuff at the grocery store.  So, many thanks to Jess for the tip!)  I did a practice run on my cutting board before going near the cake.  I was happy with the face, especially since I was never very good at drawing much of anything.

The silver sheet the cake is sitting on is a disposable oven pan, intended for catching drippings, which I bought at the grocery store. Later on, someone suggested I use an extra large cutting board, which I will definitely do next time.  The pan was the only thing I could find with enough surface area for the whole cake.  But it was pretty flimsy, and there’s no way I would have been able to move the cake on just that pan — it would have totally bent under the weight. So I propped it on my broiler pan to move the cake around.  It worked out fine; but a sturdy, huge cutting board would be much easier.

All in all, the cake got rave reviews — everyone at the party seemed love it.  They thought it was cute and, despite the dryness, they ate it up.  I can’t wait to try it again.  And since the Boy isn’t allowed eggs till he’s at least 2, I think we’ll be having this cake at least a few more times over the next year.   And, well, if he still doesn’t like it… I guess that means more cake for me!

For more pictures of the cake in process, check out my Flickr page.

At least that’s how I remember it.  And I have tried since then to apply that general practice throughout my life.  Now, I was raised Catholic, so I’m way better at guilt than I am at being.  Unfortunately, I don’t practice meditation as often as I would like to. And I struggle to just be with my writing — and not get caught up in the conversations going on around me or chide myself for not writing more or constantly self-censor because everything I write is just crap.  But I’ve found the practice comes easiest, and seems to have the greatest impact on my mood, when I’m doing droll domestic tasks:  washing the dishes, vacuuming, making baby food, cleaning the poop out of cloth diapers.  There is something very peaceful about just doing what I have to do — getting lost in the soap suds and flowing water, taking satisfaction in the imperfection of a homemade puree.

There are those that would consider this some sort of concession — a betrayal of my feminist foremothers — a denial of my intellectual, professional, and personal capacities.  In the days of Betty Friedan & the Feminine Mystique (which I have not yet read, but have read alot of reference to lately), housework was considered the shackles that contained a woman in her domestic prison.   I even read an article in the Atlantic recently claiming that breastfeeding is the new vacuum:  the unreasonable demands of feeding your baby without bottle or formula are now chaining women to the home and denying them equality.  I’m not gonna go there now, except to say that if you don’t want to breastfeed or vacuum, don’t.  There are very satisfactory options that free women from those domestic tasks they find most onerous or entrapping.

I will say, however, that I see a connection between breastfeeding & housecleaning — I just see it differently.  When I breastfeed my son (usually) I am very content with the fact that’s where I am at the moment, that’s where I have to be, and there’s no rushing it.  The boy needs to eat.  If I don’t watch the clock, that time spent breastfeeding is often when I can just think, reflect, maybe plan or dream.  I also get to cuddle & snuggle my son, which is otherwise rare since he’s a super energetic boy.  Other than the cuddling part, I feel the same way about housework.  Often, doing dishes or vacuuming is one of the few times I have to just zone out and be with my own thoughts, without my son or husband, just on my own.  I can listen to a favorite CD or radio program, start dreaming up lines to a new poem, or not really think about anything at all.  That’s not to say there aren’t days when I begrudge my domestic duties, but in general that time is valuable in so many ways.  Maybe that makes me less of a feminist.  But getting into that mindset also makes me more peaceful and content, so I’m okay with it.

I started hearing about BPA while I was pregnant and did alot of looking to find BPA-free bottles, teethers, and other plastics.  This stuff is scary.  Lots of people like to say “We’ve been using it for years…” or “We were all raised on plastics, and we’re doing fine.”  But I think its far too early to actually know if we’re all “fine.”  And I mean, okay, maybe there aren’t Erin Brokovich-esque repercussions… or maybe there are… either way, I’m much more comfortable making sure that me and my wee one aren’t consuming extra hormones.

I’ve found two web pages that have been really helpful in sorting through the vast field of baby things in search of BPA-free products:

• This one has reviews for nearly all baby product manufacturers:  ZRecs
• And this one is a good reference for bpa-free teethers & pacifiers: NatureMoms.com

Thankfully, lots of manufacturers are now labelling their products with “BPA free” stickers.  So, even some of the manufacturers with negative reviews from ZRecs have good usable products that aren’t mentioned in the ZRecs profiles.  For instance, my lactation consultant recommended Playtex NaturalLatch nipples for their most boob-like quality — and although I couldn’t find anything about that particular product on ZRecs, most of the Playtex things were labelled (or not).  So there are LOTS of BPA-free options, and you shouldn’t have to go for something that’s potentially poisonous.