While we were less than successful at putting together a “formal” first birthday party for Little Ted, he still had lots of fun the day of. And we were happy with the outcome as well; we never really wanted it to be “formal.” We just wanted those present (mommy, daddy, grandma, and grandpa) to be able to relax and commemorate his birth, and on this front, it was a smashing success.
The “present” Little Ted appreciated most was having his grandparents over to visit. We had not seen them since December, and Little Ted has changed a lot since then. Here he is enjoying their company.
He also liked mommy and daddy’s present, a bouquet of balloons. As soon as we brought it into the house, he began to squeal and point. In fact, he is still having fun playing with the balloons today, even though they don’t look this nice anymore.
When we pulled out all the birthday decorations and presents, Little Ted was excited. He definitely knew that all the fuss was for him and that he was the V.I.P. on that day.
He opened all his presents but was particularly interested in his singing card. He opened and closed it several times to hear the Winnie the Pooh song play.
But all too soon, all the presents were opened, and it was time to clean up. This was not his favorite part.
Luckily, there was still the cake.
Let me insert some explanation here. It is supposed to be Legos, and it is supposed to look like this. As you can see, something isn’t quite right here. I substituted two different cakes from a mix for the pound cake. They baked fine, but by the time I was ready to decorate, the kitchen was really warm, and the icing was almost liquid. The orange colored blocks (lemon cake) were much easier to ice than the red colored blocks (butter fudge cake), which ended up making lots of crumbs. Also, I had lots of trouble locating the right candies for the tops of the blocks. My suspicion is that the candies may have changed since this recipe was posted, but I can’t verify that. My situation was not helped by the fact that I live in middle-of-the-state, TX, where we are very limited in the places to purchase food items, and I waited too long to shop around.
At least I learned some very important lessons that day for future reference. A trial run for a cake you have never done before is a good idea. At the very least, make the cake a day in advance so that you aren’t rushed and so that you have a little more time to doctor it so that it looks like it should.
If I ever make this cake again, I will most definitely spend more time looking for the right candies for the tops of the blocks. I will also purchase icing in the colors I need (i.e. the primary colors). And I will take one of two approaches when it comes to icing. I will start with a “dirty ice” layer, and then follow that up either with another layer of regular frosting or fondant (which I’ve never used, but which would make a much more attractive cake than what you see above).
For those of you who are wondering, it tasted much better than it looked. Little Ted enjoyed the frosting most of all.
For more pictures, check out the slideshow below. I’ve also got some videos that I need to post, but that will take more time. Look for them the next time you visit the blog.
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