I was asked by my neighbor to do a cake for her son who was turning 16. I asked what sort of things he was interested in and she said computers and x box. I immediately knew I wanted to do a laptop cake. I began searching on the internet for some ideas. Everything I found was pretty mediocre. So, I looked at the examples and thought, "I can do better than that." Well, guess what....I can't. I allowed myself to get a bit prideful and I sure had to swallow a difficult pill. I was so disappointed in this cake. Then I was reminded that I cannot allow pride to creep in because there is no place for it in my life. Don't get me wrong...I know I'm not an expert cake decorator, but I had this idea in my head and was sure it would turn out like I envisioned it. I was served a dose of humility. It's good for me though.
I started with a 9x13 chocolate cake and iced it smooth with a gray buttercream. I had a piece of paper printed with the Happy Birthday message and laminated. I taped it to another cake board and outlined it in the same foil wrap I use to cover the cake boards. This was now the monitor screen. I hot glued it to the back of the other cake board that held the cake. I used a fondant/gumpaste mix to make the keys on the computer. I cut them out in squares and rectangles. Then, I used an edible ink marker to write the letters on the keys. For some reason, though, it didn't want to write on it. Crazy. It would write on paper but not on the fondant (what it is designed to write on). So, I couldn't finish with the caps lock or shift keys. I then placed them on the cake in keyboard order. Once I stepped back and looked at it, again, I just shook my head. I could not believe how mediocre it looked! Certainly not what the picture in my head looked like. Fortunately, I have great neighbors who did not appear nearly as disappointed as I was.
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