Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Icing on the Cake


One day about 25 years ago I made a 3-layer red velvet cake for my son Josh's 10th birthday. It was a beauty, and I tucked it away under the cake keeper until the grandparents and other guests arrived. While the crowd was tuning up to sing "Happy Birthday" I whisked off the cover and there was a bare naked cake. Josh had gotten to it first, and licked off all the frosting!

Grandkids are the icing on the cake. Kids were the eggs, flour, and crisco: necessary ingredients, measured, mixed, (and occasionally beaten.) Their teenage years were the oven. We all got burned a couple of times, and although there were moments they could have caved in, they rose to the occasion. Luckily, the frosting has covered up the little cracks and imperfections of each layer.

The cake and frosting are best together, but when I need a real boost of sweetness, I go for the frosting by itself. Josh taught me that.

11 comments:

Christie said...

At least I know who to blame for always licking the frosting off things. And I thought it was the children...

Jake said...

Is it Joshday? Stie posted about his grill...you posted this and I am going to post about his visit last night. I think I will make it sappy and kissy. He'll hate it!!!

Ashlee said...

I always wondered why my parents were WAY nicer to the grandkids than to me! :0)
And I fully agree with you...cake just isn't the same with a nice helping of frosting. I hope to have a nice helping of frosting like yours one day. :0)

Bridget said...

That's so cute. Josh was pretty well mannered when we had him over to our house in Boston. I think I only caught him once or twice licking frosting off our cakes.

Anonymous said...

Marty,

Your post today reminded me of the funniest "Cosby" show I ever saw.

Claire had baked a cake that looked surprisingly like the one in your picture.It was on the kitchen table waiting to be the main attraction of a celebration at dinner.

Cliff came in and cut a huge piece of the cake and ate it. In order to cover up what he had done, he stuffed paper towels in the empty section of the cake and then ICED over it so that the cake looked untouched.

It was the funniest thing you ever saw and I was reminded of it again when I saw that beautiful cake in your picture with the huge slice taken out.

Thanks for the memory......

Sheri said...

Great analogy. I love this!

Holly (2 Kids and Tired) said...

That is a beautiful post and an even better analogy!

care020 said...

Well said!

Jenibelle said...

That looks scrumptious. I've never tasted a Red Velvet cake but dang, that looks good.

kenju said...

Love that cake and the grandkids are precious!

When my son was 9-10, he asked for pineapple upside-down cake for his birthday. His baby sister pulled off all the pineapple and brown sugar bits when no one was looking, and he was SO upset!!

Anonymous said...

That's a great analogy. And that cake looks delicious. I've never tried Red Velvet, but now I'm craving it!