Sunday Sweets: Happy Mother's Day!
May 9, 2010 Hi guys, Number 1 here!
I have fond memories of baking with my mother when I was growing up. Mom would make the most delicious homemade red velvet cake with the BEST butter cream icing every year for my birthday. (I still ask for it now, and I'll be 30 this year.) My mother is a Cake Wrecks reader. She forwards my (and Jen's) posts to her friends, and she is so super proud. So in honor of my remarkable mom - and the rest of you moms out there - I've scoured the web for cakes that remind me of her.
For the piles of stinky clothes you sorted and washed...
By Debbie Brown in her book 50 Easy Party Cakes
By Pink Cake Box
By Zhanna Zubova
By cleanskies
For all the loads of dishes...
Found on Lucky Ball Charms
(This cake is from a page in Jane Asher's Calendar of Cooking from 1995. It wouldn't be my choice to remind mom of the constant mess in the kitchen, but it's too hilarious not to include. "Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Say, the kitchen's pretty messy - would you mind?")
For all this and so much more, I just have to say thanks, Mom. I love you!
And for the rest of you moms out there: Happy Mother's Day! Here's hoping it's the sweetest one yet.
From John: Today's cakes are about Jen Dorsman's mom. And yup, they're a bit "Traditional." But that's who her mom is. If I had written this post, the cakes I would choose to represent my own mom would involve baseball and learning to fix things and becoming a gentleman. Because my mom had to be my dad as well. Just for today, let's look at the pretty cakes and remember that it's all about Moms and the many and varied roles they have played in our lives.
Reader Comments (117)
This was an awesome post and I loved John's addendum as well. Thank you!!
Show me a mom and I'll show you a woman who washes the dishes, does the laundry and vacuums the carpet. Wait. Show me a woman and I'll show you a person who does all those things.
Speak for yourself. Some of us women find ourselves partners who don't insist on rigid gender roles. Sorry if you couldn't.
How DARE you "feminists" make the job of a mother sound as if it is something you wouldn't want to walk in??????
Yes, dear, the ebyl feminazis are the ones who denigrated housework. Not male-run society in general. Keep on telling yourself that.
And I wouldn't trade all the laundry, baking or knitting to have the mindset...or "values" of the "femisnists" who commented today.
What, you mean that we're just as intelligent as men and we deserve to have equal opportunities at work and equal participation from our menfolk (if we're heterosexual)? How awful.
Oh, geez. Lighten up!
No, how about you OPEN YOUR EYES, instead of dismiss cultural criticisms? Oh, wait that's too hard; it'd force you to work badly atrophied intellectual muscles, and your maaayyyyyunnnnn might not be happy. Oh, well.
Thank you, Amanda! The identifier "Number 1" didn't tell me anything: I think Jen and John and Jen could all be called "Number 1".
These are beautiful cakes and a beautiful loving tribute!
Too bad it had to be surrounded by drama. Some people are looking so hard for controversy and a fight, they can find it anywhere, including cake.
WV: Heart (seriously) - what mom uses in every selfless act she does for her child. Even chores can be an act of love. And when done in that attitude, it is most certainly not oppressive.
Seriously... calm down people. Its cake.
Its not a political statement nor is it a belief that all women must knit, do dishes and use cute little vacuums to be a mom.
Its cake.
If you want political happy fuzzies... go watch Katie Couric.
Okay Number 1.... you're holding out on us. What is this mysterious homemade red velvet cake of which you speak? And why haven't you posted the recipe? Please, please, please with ice cream, sprinkles and a cherry! (Or a cake that is level, w/o poo animals, in non-seizure inducing colors, spelled correctly and with proper grammer?)
BTW... loved the cakes you selected for YOUR mother's day tribute. I hope she had a wonderful day.
And Jen and John (the hubby of Jen)... thanks for your work moderating the comments (must have been fun yesterday). After reading some of the comments on news articles... I definately appreciate you keeping the trolliest of the trolls off of here.
May you all get your cake and eat it too!
Andrea from St. Louis
Great cakes! And you obviously love your mother! :<)
I love your blog!
Wishing you a happy week!
Barbara Diane
This is a lovely post and a tribute to the fact that it usually is mothers who do the little things around the house that need to be done (but that no one really wants to do) and who will usually teach us how to look after our own homes when we leave the nest. To me there's not much that's more pathetic than someone who doesn't know how to wash their own clothes, tidy up the house properly or even make simple meals from scratch for themselves.
When I can afford a really nice cake for my mom, I think I'm going to design it myself as a tribute to the fact that she taught me how to ride a horse (starting with holding me in the saddle on a pony before I could really walk).
And for the record, I'm a feminist. I don't see domestic chores as oppressive; I see them as things that need to be done in every home. It is frustrating when you realize that there are still many men out there who believe that they're women's work and thus won't help out even if the lady of the house has a full-time job. Help us out, guys! Many hands make light work, after all, and we're much more pleasant to around when we're not tired out from work and chores.
woowww...
nyummy...
those cake is beautiful, so creativ
That last cake is LOVELY. I wanted a similar design on my wedding cake. When we first announced the impending date, we were informed by my Mother in Law to be that we were not to be part of her group's "pact". In this sacred agreement, made back when she and her friends were first popping out babes, they would all get together and make wedding cakes for each other's kids. They didn't designate gender.
Now that her SON was marrying me, and he was the first boy, a little wrench got thrown in the works. Had they meant "daughters" and not "kids"? Really, after so many kids, I think they were damn tired of making cakes, doing tasting parties and such.
So I started to look for a baker, and the cherry branch/blossom design was one I liked. Only maybe with dogwoods. Or magnolias. I was born in the south. I eagerly anticipated a cake tasting at some great bakery in Santa Barbara.
Lo and behold, My MIL called to tell us that they had decided to do our cake after all. But they weren't going to do a party to taste. I missed the cake tasting part, but I got a three tier home made wedding cake- chocolate on one, lemon on the other, and spice on the third. It was divine. They were not pro bakers, and fondant is not something I would dream of asking them to mess with. Instead, it was lovingly frosted and decorated with yummy frosting (tastes better) and fresh flowers.
It was so special.
So, see, this is a Mom is cool story after all, because my MIL used every favor she had to get her friends to do that for us, and it was more special than an expensive fancy cake. It tasted great, which few wedding cakes do, and t didn't cost a thing for us, as it was a gift. GO FRAN, BEST MIL in the WORLD!
Good LORD people. It's CAKE.
CAKE. C-A-K-E.
Got it?
I am a working woman and a wife and hopefully someday a mother. I knit, I clean, I'd like to learn how to sew, I do the frikin' laundry every week, and I DO NOT in any way shape or form feel threatened, beaten down, downtrodden, insulted, locked in a 50's stereotype, etc, etc EPCOT EPCOT EPCOT EPCOT
That said: I LOVE the knitting cake. As a tribute to what is NOW mostly a hobby (and yet once was a necessity) it's fabulous.
Gah. I'm going to stop reading comments for a while.
@ No.1
Thanks for so many memories of mom and childhood. The styles may change and the appearances of mom memorabilia, but the day itself traditions and trimmings are only the gift wrap of life...your blog today was a precious gift to a mom and granny to be Catherine, (former owner of Classic Confections) These fondant cakes are true labours of love.
I will begin by saying that all these cakes look amazing. I'm a burgeoning cake decorator myself, and I look forward to the day that I will be able to do all this and more. HOWEVER--I do feel like kind of being a jerk right now, and I'm surprised that no one's pointed this out yet--how much cooler would the knitting cake be if the knitted swatch actually looked like it was made of knitted stiches? I also knit, and I just wish that if making a knitted swatch from fondant was too difficult, that they should have left it out entirely. I'm sorry, but it just reminds me of other well-intentioned knitting art that shows incorrect placement of needles or someone knitting a full sweater (complete with sleeves)with two straight needles--it can't be done. Alright, I'm done--let the bashing begin!
WHO IS NUMBER 1?!
I am pretty sure most people who had a problem with these cakes do not have a problem with them because they think that moms do not do house work or that you should not show your gratitude for said house work. I believe it was because on a day honoring your mother (with the exception of the knitting and sewing cakes) you have reduced her to the traditional "mother role" instead of celebrating her interests and hobbies.
I mean my mother would be way more pleased with a cake that had something she loved to do rather then some chore she does.
I mean, for father's day, cakes are probably about his interests, not about the hateful house chores he has to do!
Holy freaking cow. I can't believe people are so bothered that Jen would post cakes thanking her mom for all she did for her.
And guess what, by including the sewing and knitting cakes, it DOES show her hobbies. I love to sew and that Singer cake is amazing.
love the laundry cake! (... but is is that poor woman(?) stuck in the washing machine, cause that happened to me once, cuz I was playin hide and go seek with my brother and I hidden in the waashing machine and my mom started the thing and I was like, "holy shiiit!" and I thought I ws gonna die but I opens the door befofe it started spinning. true story) the knitting cake reminds me of my mom. She's constantly knitting these tiny little sweaters for her shadow boxes XD.