Have you ever done something for someone, which seemed so insignificant at the time- but ended up meaning so much to them, that it made you absolutely grin with pleasure? An experience like this recently happened to me, as I was asked to bake a cake. "Bake a cake"- that sounds so meaningless when no further details are given. But, this cake was special. This was a cake created to recognize my Grandpa for his years of service as the treasurer of the Finn Hill Cemetery Association. He had served 44 whole years, and had hardly been recognized at all for his dedication, and my mom came up with this great idea to show appreciation! Though I thoroughly enjoyed planning, preparing, and designing this cake, the thought never occurred to me that this simple thing would mean so much to my Grandpa. But, as soon as I pulled that cake out of the back of our car, his eyes lit up with excitement, and I could practically see his smile from miles away. "Ooooh!", he exclaimed, as he watched me carefully balancing the cake in my hands and trying to hide it from his curious eyes. It was supposed to be a surprise, and I wished that he wouldn't spot the heavily decorated cake as I walked into their house. I smiled at his remark and quickly dashed into the kitchen and pushed the cake into the far corner, hoping that no one else would see it before it was finished, and that no young children would decide that the decorations would be quite tasty to pick off and consume. Luckily, all of it stayed intact while I was out on my Grandpa and Grandma's famous swing, and my mom beautifully finished it off when I went back inside. She wrote "44 years of service" on the front in green royal icing, as I preferred that she do the writing on my cake (My own cake writing is more like what you'd call "interesting";). She also helped me by piping the trees of the cake. I really wasn't up to making them this time, so I was thankful for her help, especially considering how late at night it was!
Unfortunately, the writing on the tombstones started to bleed as we had to run through the rain to present the cake, but I'm happy that nothing else was ruined! I decided that it would be appropriate to add some cheerful flowers around the tombstones and the base of the cake, as it would have been quite dreary without them. Both types of flowers and the tombstones are made out of homemade fondant, as well as the yellow ribbon around the cake. The trees, the grass, the writing, and the piped swirls are all made out of some tasty, green royal icing.
I presented the cake to him during our Mother's Day celebration, and am delighted to say that everyone loved the cake and the overall thought of it. Even chocolate cake crumbs became scarce, as people scarfed it down.This experience has definitely boosted my desire to bake cakes for people and events even more!
