Pajama Cake

 

Holidays are upon us, in a week it will be a time for Thanksgiving. Holidays anywhere in the world call for big family reunions, get-together and some Hakuna Matata which means no worries. Adding to such festivities,  both my kids birthdays come in November and December so the party season is on in full swing in Ashland. Now that kids are growing up, sooner than later loosing the baby fat and baby talk, they have a set idea on what they want to do on their birthdays, what would be their guest list and he agenda for the day is decided by them. I still have a good 3-4 years to decide for my younger one, but the elder one is already spreading his wings out. He turned 8th this year, an I was stuck by some weird lightening called realization, that in about 5 more years he would be a teenager, I mean where did all this time go. I had made lists of what we were going to do together for each age , each milestone achieved by both of us, what happened with that..Already eight, and I am still making lists for the years ahead. Come on now, I will not stop you growing at this speed, but would wish you to be  a fine human being coz no amount of money and fame can give you the peace and solace which Being Human can give you. Here's wishing my first born a very Happy Birthday and may God be kind to bless u with his healing touch.

The design of the cake is significant and in time for the holiday season, as most late night parties for grownups end into being Pajama parties for younger ones...Some families have  a tradition of wearing similar or same Pj's and taking pictures in front of the Xmas tree, opening the presents. We have no such tradition as when we were growing up, Xmas was not the most popular and most celebrated holiday for us. We had a small class party in school,, but nothing at home was done. Now I believe everything is changing and I hear my friends and family back home going out of the way, decorating a tree getting presents for kids for Xmas. Being in US for so long and having US born kids, we try to bring the best of both worlds into our homes. So our festivities start from October when either Diwali or Halloween start the holiday season. We try to celebrate Thanksgiving in a true Desi style with vegetarian food making the cuts.Traditions are built and customs are tweaked to suit our needs and wishes, only thing that does not change is the spirit of uniting with loved ones and spending time with friends who eventually become our family. Value of relations is recognized when one has lost it or come a long way in life where the chances of gaining it back are weak.

Coming back to the cake, I had no set design for the cake, I only had a direction and final image in my head that I used  as a template for the design. to start with I baked  two rectangular cakes and cut one cake in half for the pants..I further cut it in to 3-4ths length wise to reduce the height and used the 1/4th for the sleeves. The second rectangular cake that I baked I cut it into half and used halves for the upper body of the shirt..

In short I made  a "T" initially and then shaped the cake to look like  a pajama set. Since this was a lot of work I used boxed cake mixes. The cream is regular heavy cream whipped with some confectioner sugar and I added one packet of instant pudding mix along with the sugar. The pudding stabilized the cream icing and it was a breeze to work with. It also gave the icing a very light vanilla flavor. 

Mr. Ash commented that it does look like a home sewn DIY project gone wrong, but the birthday boy thought that Ms.Ash did a FAb Job and it made my day!!! The smile on my baby's faces is worth 100 praises from Mr.Ash. (Just Kidding). I love Mr. Ash for his frankness, he is very straight in his talk and no wishy washy works for him, he calls a spade a spade, which hurts but works like magic for me. the strive to excel and get good comments from him keeps me creative and going.

** Whipped Cream icing can be made by using simply Heavy Cream and Conf Sugar,, The Rec is as

Follows..

One Cup heavy Cream

Half Cup Conf Sugar

IF desired One Packet Unflavored Gelatin dissolved in water. or use instant pudding mix

Take a bigger bowl and keep some ice cubes in that.. Over the cubes place anr bowl. Take one cup cream and add sugar and Gelatin( if needed )... and beat with electric mixer for about 5-7 mins on medium. The icing is ready.

Hope you make this cake for any pajama party, sleepover party or just for fun. 

I am sending this cake to A Girls Diary event, Bake with your Heart 

and Srav's Holiday Baking.

Happy Holidays!!

Love Ash..