Ok, so it’s not my birthday anymore. My birthday was a week and a half ago, but because I was so enthralled with the Fairy Cake that one of my clients ordered, I never got around to creating my own birthday deliciousness. On Friday, it was one of my favorite coworker’s (aka work husband) birthday but I selfishly woke up chomping at the bit to make my own birthday cake (don’t worry, I’ll make his next week!) #cakebacklog
Every year I make myself a birthday cake, typically using whatever spell binding techniques are trending at the time or that I haven’t gotten to try out yet. Whenever I bring up that fact, I come across someone who wrinkles their nose and tells me that they don’t like the fact that I make my own birthday cakes. I always counter it with the question of, “well do YOU want to make me a birthday cake?” and usually their eyes widen in fear and they vigorously shake their heads no because it’s very intimidating to even consider making me a cake.
Apparently.
But I really don’t mind making my own because I get to do whatever decorating techniques I choose, which is exactly what I want for my birthday anyway, so WIN-WIN!! And this falls directly in line with something that I’ve been pondering recently. I’m disappointed because I can’t remember where I read the exact quote but it’s been rolling around in my head lately: “Do not be afraid to be bad at something new.”
Now usually I am almost paralyzed with fear when it comes to trying something new, because… well, I know I’ll be bad at it. Confession: as a kid most of the new things that I tried out were somehow sports related – and let’s get this out of the way right now, I have never been nor will I ever be good at anything that can even be questionably classified as a sport – and needless to say, I was mocked and ridiculed beyond belief by the same kids who often asked to copy my homework (am I painting a clear enough picture of myself as a child here?) because that’s what kids do. (Also, say hello to the birth of decades of multiple anxieties [sports, trying new things, kids, etc.] rearing their ugly heads together as one large mythical beast. Typhon, anyone?) And I don’t know if it’s ego or a fear of looking stupid or what, but it’s usually such an enormous emotion that I usually can’t overcome it to try whatever that something new is, ESPECIALLY if there are people around who will watch me try it (fail) for the first time. (Or if there’s even a chance of me getting hurt, you can forget it. Another confession: I am such a wuss when it comes to pain that my {over}reaction is often more embarrassing than whatever I did to hurt myself ::facepalm:: ) All of this to explain why I’ve been pondering the quote above.
However, I almost never feel this sense of fear/dread/paralyzation when I try new cake decorating techniques. I mean I still hardcore cringe whenever someone says that they want to watch me while I bake, but if I’m just doing it by myself, it's NBD to try something new. And as I mentioned before, my birthday is when I have carte blanche to decorate my cake however I want and try out whatever new technique(s) I’ve been itching to try.
Geode cakes have been on my radar for quite some time and I’ve wanted to make one since the very first time I noticed them, but other trends like Fault Line Cakes came up and I jumped on that without hesitation. So even though this geode fad has come and gone, I still made one for my birthday because it's exactly what I wanted😊
Also, I want to share a few of the birthday cakes that I’ve made for myself in the last few years. I had never made cakes like these before so each of these is an example of me stepping out to try something new! (Please forgive my terrible photography skills from back in the day. Seriously I'm getting vertigo just looking at them!)
Happy eating, y’all! (Maybe even try something new!)