Igloo

It is quite fascinating to see what captures a child's fancy.  Sometimes it is the most obvious thing and then there are those wild weird objects.  I am told that I had a fascination with red buttons when I was a kid.  Duh?  I do realize how strange this sounds but I am sure back then, I had a perfectly logical reason for hanging onto one all day and all night long.  My father used to buy them in a dozen so that when the inevitable happened it could be replaced without me ever knowing the loss.  I am glad that he humored me in what appeared to be a trivial thing.  Today when my children have imaginary friends or obsesses over something mundane, I know in my heart that it's just a phase.  So, when your child holds on to a weird object like his or her life depended on it, instead of trying to fight the battle just go with the flow.  Unbeknownst to you, you will have won the war and formed a loving bond.

Just recently I came upon a similar request.  I was asked to make an igloo cake.  That's right, an igloo.  The easy part?  It's all white, so I didn't have to task my gray cells on color combination.  The hard part?  Trying to figure out how to make an all white (non-wedding) cake look attractive and cute for a 5 year old boy.  I made a lemon cake, layered it with banana pudding inside, covered it with white butter cream fondant and then proceeded to add the following features: some royal icing snow flakes and a baby seal perched on top.  Judging by the look on the child's face, I think it was a pretty 'cool' idea after all.