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Lily’s cake!

Lily helps bake her cake
Doesn’t Lily look pleased with herself?

I’m happy with Lily’s cake because of the process, not the product (there’s a reason this post doesn’t start with a cake photo!) All three kids helped every step of the way, and they were thrilled with their result. We all had fun, and Emma proved herself an expert sugar and butter creamer – I’ve never seen smoother batter!

butterfly-shaped cookie cake ready for baking

My central goal was to create a relatively low-sugar cake. Mike was out of town on business, and I didn’t want a repeat of my three-hour ordeal of putting Emma and Johnny to bed on a sugar high after eating left-over cake from a friend’s birthday party Sunday night.

We made a batch of sugar cookie dough, shaped it into a butterfly on a sheet of parchment paper (notice how we coordinated with Lily’s shirt?), and added drops of food coloring to the top.

Emma and Johnny distribute the food coloring
Then Emma and Johnny spread out the food coloring with a couple of baby spoons. We ran out of red food coloring a long time ago, so this was a yellow, green, and blue butterfly. My mom suggested using the colored sugar to decorate the butterfly. That would have been really pretty, but we didn’t have any. M&Ms would also have been pretty, but we didn’t have those either. So we baked it, and added some chocolate chips for extra decoration – if you look closely there’s Lily’s name, two hearts, and a butterfly face in there:

Lily's butterfly cake (attempt)

Sadly, I skipped the step of refrigerating the dough so it wouldn’t spread out during the baking process, so we wound up with a squashed butterfly. I could have cut it back into shape, but the kids thought it was awesome so I figured we might as well just enjoy it.

Lily's not so sure about her silly siblings
Here they are celebrating their mild sugar high – Lily’s not sure quite what to think of her silly brother and sister! How do you like Emma’s improvised wedding veil – complete with the Daisy Ribbons clip Lily was wearing at the start of this post!

I’m linking this up as a somewhat unconventional entry to The Art Box at Tired, Need Sleep.

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

15 thoughts on “Lily’s cake!”

  1. I love the look on Lily’s face in the first picture! I think the butterfly looks great and the kids all obviously had a great time making (and eating!) it! This was just one more of your fabulous ideas, Maryanne!
    .-= Nicole´s last blog ..The Art Box – August 9- 2010 =-.

  2. I LOVE how you let the kids do this cake! I bet they were so proud and had so much fun decorating it. It turned out so sweet and adorable.

    The pictures in this post are so precious. I like the look of concentration on Johnny’s face while he’s spreading. Emma’s veil is priceless and those clips are so cute and girly!!
    .-= Susana´s last blog ..Butterfly Mobile and Recycled Craft Round-Up =-.

  3. @Linda – LOVE your brownie jack-o-lantern idea! We’ll definitely try it this Halloween, thanks! =)

  4. Elisa | blissfulE

    Fantastic! That first picture is awesome. You are so great to involve all the kids, and so smart to avoid a steep sugar rush, especially with Mike away.

    Yum!!!
    .-= Elisa | blissfulE´s last blog ..free range Vi =-.

  5. Happy Birthday Lily! Big kisses from California. 8-) The cake is lovely, and you all did such a good job. Did you let mom help at all?

    I made a brownie jack-o-lantern for halloween parties when my kids were in elementary school. Brownie mix, disposable pizza pan, orange frosting, a little candy, and, Viola, Jack! They were a big hit.

  6. Love the cake and the last picture – everyone looks so happy. You had wonderful helpers for the cake.
    .-= Natalie´s last blog ..Geography Track – German Castles =-.

  7. The recipe is from this cookbook, which I think is the most awesome cookbook ever. It was a gift from one of my sisters, and it’s my go-to book for fool-proof recipes.

  8. @Mike – I’m sure the kids would approve of that! =)

    @Kara – thanks! I was a little worried about it baking, but it worked really well – the texture is nice and chewy (crispier around the edges, obviously, although that would have been less the case had I refrigerated the dough…) and the cookie tastes great! It made a great first birthday cake, because Lily could just pick it up and munch on it.

  9. I tasted some of the “cake” last night after returning from my trip, and it tasted really good! I think you should do more of these activities.

  10. So cute! I love the idea of making sugar cookie dough into one big shape (cutting and re-rolling scraps is such a chore!). Lily has a wonderful big brother and sister, they did a great job making and decorating her “cake”!

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