Ah…birthday cakes. I’ve made many over the years, but no matter what I do, some part of the cake always sticks to the pan. The holes and crumbling edges are ghastly to look at until I apply an ample amount of frosting. Frosting does for cakes what mud and tape do for sheet rock walls–it hides the mistakes so well. Maybe my frosting ends up being a little thick in some areas, but from the outside it looks…okay still not perfect, but much better. I’m not awesome at the visual aesthetics of baking but surprisingly they always taste good, especially considering I don’t often follow recipes. What can I say, all it takes is one little “what if” in my brain and I go off the rails, throwing weird flavors together.

My youngest son turns thirteen over the weekend, so here’s hoping that whatever ugly cake I end up making will taste far better than it looks.