I am such a sucker for children’s art, that when Maia asked if we could bake a chocolate cake so that she could decorate it “like outer space”, I had to say yes! Of course!
So this afternoon found us baking this chocolate cake, icing it, and walking to the store for a tube of sparkly decorator icing. Maia drew the planets from our solar system orbiting around a happy sun. She added an extra planet for good measure. And I haven’t told her that Pluto’s not considered a planet anymore — it seems to be her favorite.
Maia used sprinkles to color in and decorate the planets and the sun.
And here is is, before we sliced it open to see what a chocolate version of the solar system tastes like.
After I posted about our plan to make this cake, Susan Marie Swanson sent me this link to a moon cake that Amy Karol at Angry Chicken made — an ice cream bombe showing the layers of the moon. How cool is that! She made it after reading Midnight on the Moon with her girls, a book that we’ve read recently too. Like many kids, Maia loves the Magic Tree House books!
16 Comments
butterfly wishes and wonderland dreams
August 10, 2010 at 10:34 pmthat cake is AWESOME!!! what a great mommy to make a cake for her to decorate.
that frosting looks lake ganche is it?
that is neat you can walk to the store :) wish we could we live to far away and its soo stinking hot.
Michele de Jesus
August 10, 2010 at 10:37 pmHa ha! What a lucky lucky girl! Art AND chocolate cake — yum! Although I like the taste of plain cake, no sprinkles. I can only imagine my child coming up with this idea and asking to do such art every day! He’s sensitive to sugar so would be bouncing off the walls — like an astronaut! Hmm, I’m really craving edible art right now!
Carly
August 10, 2010 at 10:39 pmThat turned out great! What a creative little girl you have (and a wonderful, supportive mom she has)!
jojoebi
August 10, 2010 at 11:43 pmthe cake looks great! We have been doing planets too, we painted the solar system the other day
http://jojoebi.blogspot.com/2010/08/planets-part-2-making-of-planets.html
and I review the books we are using, I am sure Maia would love The Planet Gods
http://jojoebi.blogspot.com/2010/08/planets-part-1.html
Maria
August 10, 2010 at 11:53 pmA moon book we love is Walk When the Moon is Full. It’s old, but you can find it on amazon. Each chapter is only a couple of pages of the true story a full moon walk taken by the mom and two kids – one chapter for each full moon of the year.
It’s perfect for bedtime reading because it’s soothing and SHORT!
shar
August 11, 2010 at 2:06 amDelightful! My children love Pluto too. I think it might be because they are reminded of Disney’s Pluto. They were quite excited to learn it was a Dwarf Planet.
Rashmie
August 11, 2010 at 3:00 amFabulous work by Maia. And you are the most encouraging mama :)
The Orchard
August 11, 2010 at 7:48 amAwesome! When you first showed Maia decorating with just the icing, I thought, wow -cute. But then you showed all the sprinkles after and then I thought, WOW! Really cute.
Great job!
Tricia
butterflywishes and wonderland dreams
August 11, 2010 at 1:47 pmI’m so making this recipe for my oldest girls bday party! :)
Jean Van't Hul
August 11, 2010 at 10:45 amThe frosting is just from the recipe I linked to. It’s not ganache. Yummy though.
Jean Van't Hul
August 11, 2010 at 10:46 amYes, edible art is excellent! :)
Jean Van't Hul
August 11, 2010 at 10:51 amI’ll get that from the library. Thanks for the recommendation!
Jean Van't Hul
August 11, 2010 at 10:52 amThose planets are great! We’ll have to try that soon. I know Maia would love painting the solar system.
Cheryl
August 12, 2010 at 7:55 pmThank you for the link to the angry chicken, and her moon project. We love Jack and Annie in our house too! Have you and Maia visited this site yet?
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/index.html
It is so neat and built for K-4. This site is also neat, a little deep for them at times, but awesome just the same. Formerly called the:
http://nineplanets.org/
Happy creating!
Earthly Joyride
August 14, 2010 at 1:30 amThat is a fabulous combination of chocolate and art! I will definitely try that idea with my kids. My 6yo son is very interested in the solar system at the moment – I wrote a post about two of our favourite moon books on my blog. He even chose some rocket material for me to sew him some pyjamas!
char
August 15, 2010 at 9:19 amIn that heat, with no AC, and baking a cake just because your daughter asked you to…. you are so kind and generous! Hope it’s extra yummy for the extra energy you put forth. Enjoy! (Isn’t it a thrill to see their wishes be fulfilled?)