Cakes

Remembering Tom - 3rd in a 30 piece series

My dad expressed his creativity through his cake making as well as his drawing. He wasn't necessarily into making cakes - in fact, I am sure my mom did the baking. But in our early years, he transformed the birthday cake into an object or character we loved. One of the most amazing was a truck he made for my brother that said "Todd's Trucking". I think it was made of at least four sheet cakes.

I don't have a great photo of it, but I remember my Big Bird cake well. And Mr. Snuffleupagus was my favorite for years, so he drew him on one of my cakes. Sometimes he would add things to our favorite flavor and frosting color - an all pink frosted strawberry cake with a pink bunny on it for my 6th birthday.

He kept up the tradition with my kids. Liam’s first word was ball so my dad made a gigantic baseball for his first birthday. When Liam was two, he loved ocean animals; Dad made him a whale cake. He cut pieces into shapes - the fin, the tail- constructed it and transformed it with frosting paint.

Lauren loves to make birthday cakes now - especially her own and decorate them with her favorite colors, or berries. She would have loved to show them off to Grampy, and he would have loved to see her taking after his creative spirit.