Happy Birthday, Reader R!

This past week, we have celebrated the 8th birthday of a super-sweet little girl! I say, "this past week" because we, in fact, celebrated all week long!  

The "opening ceremonies" of birthday week were a special dinner with  my Mom and Dad.  My mom has an annual beach trip with her friends that usually overlaps with Reader R's birthday.  It just gives us an extra reason to celebrate!  So this year, R. wanted a chocolate chip cookie cake for her "Hammie" party.

Poor "cobbler's kid."  I was in such a rush, I just slapped on some store-bought frosting and even forgot that she hasn't gone by "Becca" since she turned 4.  Opps.

The fun birthday hat is a Schalekamp Family tradition!

Then, we had a BIG SURPRISE friends-party for her, but that is another story...


The next day, we had our big family party.  For that party, she wanted "A rectangle fun-fetti cake with flowers on it."  It honestly threw me off a little.  At my house growing up, rectangle cakes were what you took to a pot-luck at church.  Birthday cakes were CIRCLES or maybe HEARTS.  On cake stands.

Terrified of the "Wilton Rose,"  I made several suggestions of other cake designs.   I really wanted to make her this cake made my friends Tammy and Clarissa, which I had had my eye on for some time...  However, she was really adamant that she wanted "a rectangle cake with roses."  So, I did my best to fulfill her wish.

(Deep down, I think she was REALLY trying to make it "easy" for me.  Since 99% of bakery cakes are rectangles with roses, she probably thought that would be simple to do.  Either that or she REALLY just wanted me to break down and buy a cake from the COSTCO!)

Procrastinating until the last possible moment and not having quite the right supplies... after watching several You-Tube videos, I improvised (using a upside-down bathroom-sized dixie cup instead of a rose nail and a 103 tip instead of a 104 for those who care...), and was pretty pleased with the results.  The only thing couldn't figure out was how to actually transfer the roses to the cake without smooshing them.  I reached out to some of my cookie friends and they saved the day!

Finally, for her party at school she wanted "Gooey butter cake."  That one was a little hard for me to swallow too.  For someone that makes a living baking cookies... I was a little sad that she didn't want cookies for any of her MULTIPLE parties.  In the end it was a pride issue.  How can the "cookie lady" show up to school with Gooey Butter Cake for her OWN daughter's birthday.  However, once I got over that, I was pretty thrilled, because Gooey Butter Cake is like the easiest treat ever!  But that is another story...  I did, however, forget to take a photo, so that will have to wait too.

Happy Birthday Reader R!
Cheers!
Sarah

BTW, Reader R. LOVED the cake, and now, sister K wants "a rectangle cake with roses" for her birthday, too.