By Melissa Grant
As I squeezed the last bit of bright pink buttercream icing out of the piping bag, the clock ticked past midnight.
Dotting the icing onto the doll’s vanilla butter cake skirt had taken much longer than anticipated and I began to worry I’d be yawning through my daughter’s first birthday celebrations.
Although the cake looked a treat, the bar was probably set a bit high when I decided to recreate the Dolly Varden cake at my own first birthday party.
Turns out many parents suffer from ‘great cake expectations’ when it comes to children’s birthday celebrations.
As my daughter Emmy tucked into the cake that took six hours to create, many mum friends recalled how they too had stayed up late to make a special cake for their child’s birthday.
“I was up all night making a caterpillar cake. I was so tired for the party the next day,” one friend said.
Staying up into the wee hours of the morning making birthday cakes is something mum of three Lou Duggan knows all too well, with two of her daughters having birthdays just days apart.
“I’d end up trying to make two cakes in one night and my husband would leave at 3am because I’d be in tears,” she said.
It was this annual event that put Lou on the path to creating her unique business Cake 2 the Rescue seven years ago. Her company sells do-it-yourself cake kits that contain everything a parent needs to whip up a birthday cake except for the eggs, milk and butter.
“We don’t offer anything that makes you cry and nothing that’s not achievable after a couple of glasses of wine,” the former engineer and interior designer said with a laugh.
The rainbow unicorn kit, by far, is the company’s best-seller, while shark, dinosaur, dirt cake, monster trucks, superhero, diggers and dolphins are also popular among the 200-plus designs.
However, Lou said she received many crazy birthday cake requests from parents who had ridiculously high expectations.
“People will say ‘I’ve never baked before can you help me’ and it’s a three-tiered masterpiece,” she said.
“I have to talk them back down to a sensible cake that won’t make them cry.”
Gold Coast based Lou said too many mums and dads wrongly believed their birthday cake making skills reflected whether they were doing a good job as a parent.
“I think we have to take the pressure of ourselves. All your child sees is their mum or dad went out of the way to create something beautiful for them,” she said.
