Grandchildren and Birthday Cakes

One of the joys of life is seeing the looks on the faces of your grandchildren when you present them with a birthday cake designed especially for them. Every cake is made with an extra cup of love, and seeing their eyes light up when they see the cakes is worth every bit of all of the work that goes into these special creations. Since most of my grandchildren are far away, I don't always get to design cakes for them, but for right now, I do have 4 of the 14 nearby. And when I am fortunate to visit on one of their birthdays, Grandma sometimes gets to bake a cake at their home, even though those are not as deatiled as the ones I make at home.

Here is a sampling of some "Grandma Cakes". . .

The joy on their faces is worth everything...

2 Princess Ariel cakes for 2 special granddaughters...

I have two sweet little granddaughters, both celebrating birthdays on June 24th. Lucy turned 5 this year and Lexi turned 6. Both wanted Princess Ariel cakes for their birthday. So, since I was visiting Lucy in California a couple of weeks ago, I made her a Princess Ariel cake with lemon cake and raspberry filling (Lucy's request) a little early. Lexi, on the other hand, is like her mom and prefers RK treats over cake, so I made her a Princess Ariel "cake" from RK treats, and we set it on top of a 10" round layer of strawberry ice cream (Lexi's favorite). I lined a round cake pan with plastic wrap, softened the ice cream and spread it in the pan and froze it overnight until nice and hard. Just before eating it, I iced the ice cream layer with whipped cream, and then put Ariel on top. The girls each got to play with their "Ballerina Ariel" dolls after being cleaned up. These dolls were perfect for the cakes... inexpensive (just 6.50 @ Walmart), and came with an attached outfit that resembled a camisole which worked nicely under her gown of pink and white fondant/modeling chocolate. She also came with a crown already that I just covered with white buttercream dots. 2 Princess Ariel cakes = 2 happy granddaughters. 

 Lucy, 5 years old

 

Lexi, 6 years old