As you may remember, the last time I posted I was in the midst of an epic battle.  Me versus the cake.  Caroline's birthday was yesterday, Sunday the 22nd of March and for the week leading up I have been struggling to make a bunny cake.  So, here now is the rest of the story...

I have to pause here and tell you all the important role that Facebook played in this battle.  In addition to posting here on the blog about the failed cake attempts, I had also been making regular status updates letting all my Facebook friends know how the process was going.  A funny thing happened.  Suddenly, there were lots of people that felt invested in getting this stupid bunny cake to work.  I had moral support from friends whom I have not actually seen in years.  People sent me very nice supportive messages with suggestions and tips.  And, I learned something new about a sorority sister of mine from college.  She apparently had taken a year long Wilton cake class.  Well, now, that could be helpful.

She told me that a big part of my problem was that I was using silicon cake pans. She suggested I try using metal pans.  No problem!  It's a few weeks before Easter so finding a metal bunny cake pan should be a snap!  Caroline and I set out on a safari, visiting a total of 5 stores yielding exactly zero bunny cake pans.  At one store, I asked an employee if they had a bunny pan to which she responded (and I am not kidding), "We have a duck pan!"

Mmkay.  But, do you see that no matter how many duck pans I have, I still don't have a bunny pan?  Sigh.

So, back on Facebook I let everyone know of the sad dearth of bunny pans in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.  By this time, I had several messages from people reiterating the cut-up bunny cake design that was my back-up plan.  I could use metal round pans for that.

And, most interesting of all, I had two separate messages from people suggesting that I try something called a "Soda Cake."  Now, I'm a good Southern girl and I've heard of Coke cakes before, but always the recipes used eggs, so it never occurred to me that this could be in any way helpful to my plight.

But, no!  This suggestion was an easy version of the coke cake.  It's a box of cake mix and a can of soda.  That's it.  I was intrigued.

So, I asked, it's cola and chocolate? Not necessarily.  It's any flavor combination you want to try.  Hmmm.

So, off I went to the store and I bought a wide variety of cake mixes (reading the labels to make sure there weren't any eggs or nuts - sadly, they do have wheat and soy so if these are your allergens it may be more difficult) and some sodas.

I decided to try the chocolate version first with a Diet Hansen's Black Cherry soda and use the metal round pans.

Just the two ingredients:

I have to say, that the combination of chocolate and the cherry soda was intoxicatingly delicious.  Added bonus of egg-free baking: licking the beaters with no fear of salmonella.  :)

The cakes came out BEAUTIFULLY!  I was able to make a quick pattern and cut the cake into a bunny lickity split:

Heady with my obvious success, I decided to give the cursed silicon pans one last try with the awesome soda cake recipe.  This time I wanted to try a vanilla cake, as the Black Cherry soda is clear not a cola color as I kind of thought it would be.

(Notice how I'm getting all fancy with my blog photography?  Be impressed.  It's all for you people.)

The batter looks completely normal, see?

Into the bunny pan and into the oven.  And.....

SUCCESS!!

That is a pretty bunny, no?  Only one problem.  Out of the pan, that bunny was small.  Really small.  So, I decided to use the vanilla eggs and the chocolate bunny so that people would have a choice. This bunny was just to prove I could do it.  I vanquished its cotton tail.

I am extremely blessed to have good friends and one of them came over the night before the party to help me decorate the cakes.  I have to admit, I have no artistic vision.  I always felt like I have an artist's soul, just no talent.  None.  So, Meredith and her sister Wendy came over and rescued me by decorating the cakes.  We also destroyed the practice vanilla bunny.  Hey, somebody had to make sure it tasted ok.

They turned out just beautifully:

I did the bowtie.  That's it.  We spelled out "Happy Birthday Caroline" in Sweet Tarts on the tie.

Everyone at the party was gratifyingly impressed with the cakes.  They tasted fantastic!  In fact, a couple people commented that they were a little leery of tasting the egg-free cake, but they all asked how I made it and I know several people are going to be trying the soda cake trick for themselves!

It truly took a village to bake this cake and I am sincerely and profoundly grateful to every single person who helped, suggested and loaned moral support during the process.  I don't think other parents can truly understand why this quest was so important to me. It is my dearest wish and grandest goal to have Caroline's food allergies not adversely impact her quality of life.  And a kid's birthday means birthday cake.  Period.  There's no reason that my kid shouldn't have a cake just like every other kid.

Also, it's my nature to feed.  That's just how I show people that I love them.  Even before we were married, Mr. Incredible and I would throw big parties for all our friends and I would make food.  Lots of food.  Enough food that the tables groaned under the weight of it all.  I love to cook and this is how I take care of people.  It is one of life's ironies that my child should have a medical condition that means food is restricted.  I often wonder if this is God's way of challenging me.  That's ok.

I'm up to the challenge.