Let them eat cake. . . .

Background:

I am trying to feed my son healthy foods with the hopes that good nutritional habits will stick with him when he's older.

My son's first birthday was on the 18th. I decided that a store-bought cake or a boxed mix would somehow damage my efforts to teach him healthy eating habits. With that in mind, I bought an organic cake mix and organic frosting, thinking that the natural ingredients would - well, who knows what I was thinking. Cake is cake. Sugar is sugar. Junk is junk no matter how you "fancy" it up.

Anyway, my husband baked the mix. Outcome - a total disaster. Only half the cake rose, some under cooked, some over cooked, etc. The taste was awful. However, I was determined to complete the cake as I HATE wasting food. It became a matter of principal.

I made the frosting. Again, the taste was awful. I proceeded to butcher the cake and stack it into these lopsided layers to make it uniform. The frosting, even after cooling in the fridge, ran down the sides like a lava flow. The weight of the frosting made the layers lean even more. In a last ditch effort to make it look decent, I tossed the stale sprinkles on it. Alas, there was no hope.

We were planning on getting together with friends and have a BBQ. However, the weather was not cooperative, so we rescheduled for the following day. I kept the cake in the fridge overnight. When the time came to set it in front of my little lad, a 30lb. brick was then presented to him.

The frosting was an effective barrier against his little hands. Rock solid. I even tried squishing his hand into the side. It wouldn't budge. My dream of having the traditional baby-coated-in-frosting was dashed. He daintily picked at the sprinkles and frosting for a bit, and then was done with it.

Gus was probably so grossed out by the cake that he may think all cakes are as bad. So, in the end, he may end up be a healthy eater after all.