Ban-tan's Birthday Cake Project

Howdy-ho & Welcome to the wild & wolly world of cooking with Al'. Where the fun never ends & the noses just keep on running (for some unexplainable reason) Where we hang on to our sanity the way a skinny Japanese man in a suit hangs on to his umbrella in a typhoon. Where chaos is not an occurrence but a lifestyle. Where blissfully cooking while #6 pries knobs off your oven & #5 tries to eat uncooked rice because #1 who is supposed to watch them is taking forever washing her hair, and self sufficient #4 & 5 are only quiet because they don't want me to know they're trying to reboot my computer before I can see they hung it & and #2 is stuck doing homework -- is a "good" day. (Hey, that was one sentence! Try reading it out loud, I dare you!)

Ahhhh....yes, that's the life for me.

But I promised a few someones the pic's of Ban-tan's Birthday & cake & I shall deliver. (Not "actually" deliver anytime...soon.....eh-hum...bygones)

So here it is. The day before it was Ban-tan's birthday, after a long day at home w/ the kids, when DH finally came home we set out to do some shopping. (With all the kids of course) And it went a little something like this........

....Yeah, we ride in style. (And terrorize all the customers with our crazy driving skills) I'm hoping no one understood when they careened carelessly through the isles shouting, "We're the Jamaican bobsled team!!!!" (don't ask)

It was at this point I decided that I was not going to make or decorate a cake, but would act in a matter appropriate for a good Japanese housewife.......& BUY a cake (for 2ooY, no less, you can only imagine the quality & content) & let the girls ice it. BRILLIANT!

They finished their school in record time (we should ice a cake every day) & started to work......

As you can see this was no simple cake decorating experience. I've gotta hand it to them, it's like some kind of a sudden cram class on defensive maneuvering while icing a cake. They would take turns, one playing D the other working on the cake. Mind you, this was their first time icing a cake as well. Plus, I made them whip the cream themselves. (that sure took long enough)

It's survived so far.

But Hunter makes a quick lunge for it from the back. Not fast enough....Ashley saves the day!

And now for piping. I tried to keep instructions to a minimum, "hold, aim & squeeze"

Not bad for a first timer. Aww....isn't that just so cute?

And a little more around the bottom, & we're done! I couldn't afford to take pics of the girls with the cake as certain small people were throwing all caution to the wind & making last ditch attempts to throw themselves (with tongues extended) headlong into the whip cream bowl.

Yes, he was enthralled by the cake & the fact that it seemed to be all his.

And did a dandy job of munching it down.

"That's why they call me Muncher!"

.......and they all lived happily ever after!

(At least they did till Mommy got tired of their "sugar-high" psychotic behavior & sent them all to bed.) THE END!