Cake!

I love to bake. That might be an understatement. When I am not spending time with family or working, I am in the kitchen baking something. It's genetic I think. My Grandma is a fabulous cook and baker, and passed her passion to her daughters, who passed it to me, my sister, and cousins. And now I am passing it to my son? We'll see..

Baking became more than a passion but a necessity when Griff got diagnosed with allergies. No longer could we pick up a loaf of bread or grab some doughnuts on the run. Everything he ate had to come from my kitchen or one that someone was conscious of what ingredients were in what. And it's still that way.

Growing up, my mom made all our birthday cakes. Before Griff I had never made one. The week before Griff turned one, I found out he was allergic to milk, eggs and nuts. And I was determined to give him a birthday cake. I found a recipe off the Internet, a football cake pan and went to town. It was as hard as a rock and tasted like sandpaper. Awesome. Round two went slightly better and I made a lion cake. Everyone politely had a small piece so that I didn't feel too bad; but let's just say there was room for improvement.


(Doesn't look like he liked it very much!)

Cody has eight siblings and Griff is one of twenty cousins so I had to be a fast learner in order for him to be included. I started volunteering to bring the cake for each family birthday which some months is a full-time job! As I researched more and found a vegan (no eggs, no milk) recipe that worked, I was in business!

Now I love it and someday would love to have a cake shop of my own. Here's some of my cakes I've made...





And here is Griff's first cake creation! Auntie Julie gave us the egg cake pan for Easter and I let him decorate it solo. He squirted half the icing directly into his mouth, and piled the other half onto the cake. And when he was done, we put candles in it and sang "Happy Birthday" to him, even though his birthday was in March :)