
My husband's family has a wonderful tradition of celebrating family birthdays together--all the September people at one party, all of the April folks together and so on down the line. Once it was discovered that I did desserts--I found myself often bringing dessert to each event. For this family birthday we had a fiesta themed party which my husband and I hosted. It was the perfect opportunity to practice a cake and make something delicious. One problem, I now had to cook and make cakes with a three year old in tow.
I saw the idea of the cake in my mind, bright vivid colors with the little tissue paper like tuffs found on pinatas. I made the cake--Mexican chocolate cake (a touch of cinnamon elevates the flavor of the cake-- much like coffee) with a chocolate buttercream.
It was time to decorate- make a tile mosaic as a boarder and randomly place the flowers. This seemed simple enough, but my daughter carefully directed the placement of every flower and tile after a lengthy discussion. More flowers, pink purple-- "more mommy." I think if I wouldn't have stopped her it would have looked like a pinata threw up all over the cake. But it came out great. I was beginning to see the joy and light in her eyes that my mother saw in me when I was little cooking with her in the kitchen. More importantly I was laughing--having fun. Kids take away the wave of perfection that is so often sought after in the kitchen...dive in, laugh, have fun.