Unexpected Hidden Talents - Decorating Cakes

I have been involved in the Great Plains world now since 1994.  During that time I have become known for my work with development techniques and pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

While my passion for my work in the Asia Pacific Microsoft Dynamics GP Support Team as an Escalation Engineer as well as products I have developed and my recent "pet projects" (The Support Debugging Tool and Menus for Visual Studio Tools) are what most people see. This is only one aspect of my life.  I have a beautiful and intelligent wife, Jennifer, and two great sons, Aaron (12 now 13) and Rohan (11 now 12).

My family life is something very important to me and hiding in that part of my life is one of my (previously) secret talents.  My wife bakes the best tasting Birthday cakes for my kids, but she does not have the patience to decorate them more than coating them with a delicious butter icing. On the other hand, as a nerdy developer, I have lots of patience, an eye for detail and I am a perfectionist. So my wife and I have developed a tag team approach to Birthday cakes. She bakes the cake(s) and makes the icing and then I shape and decorate to create the final product.

In summary, Jennifer is responsible for how the cake tastes and I am responsible for how it looks.

I mentioned my cakes in passing to Mariano Gomez and he suggested that this hidden talent could be the subject of a fun post.  You never know, it might surprise a few people. Here are the cakes I have made over the years:

Rohan's 4^th Birthday Cake - Thunderbird 4 (Thunderbirds are go!)

Rohan's 6^th Birthday Cake - Pirate Ship

 

Aaron's 9^th Birthday Cake - Herbie

Rohan's 8^th Birthday Cake - Race Track

Aaron's 10^th Birthday Cake - Cars

Rohan's 9^th Birthday Cake - Chicken (based on a drawing by Rohan)

Rohan's 10^th Birthday Cake - Halo Scorpion Tank

Rohan's 11^th Birthday Cake - Piano

 

Aaron's 13^th Birthday Cake - Transformers

Rohan's 12^th Birthday Cake - Turntable

 

Aaron's 15^th Birthday Cake - Portal 2 Weighted Companion Cube

 

Maybe, if I ever decide I need a career change, this could be it!!!

For those of you who would like the recipe for the cake used it is attached to the bottom of this post. 

Let me know what you think.

David

19-Mar-2009: Added Rohan's 11^th Birthday Cake.

14-Jul-2009: Added Aaron's 13^th Birthday Cake.

09-Mar-2010: Added Rohan's 12^th Birthday Cake.

24-Jun-2010: Added Aaron's 15^th Birthday Cake.

Foundation Butter Cake.docx

Comments

• Anonymous
  October 13, 2008
  You, sir are incredible ! Prettiest cakes I have ever seen. What else do you have up your sleeve ?!

• Anonymous
  October 13, 2008
  Posting from The Dynamics GP Blogster http://dynamicsgpblogster.blogspot.com/2008/10/using-menus-for-visual-studio-tools.html Reference at the end of the post.

• Anonymous
  October 13, 2008
  Hi Jivtesh Thanks for the feedback.  There are some other hidden talents, but I will save them for another day. You can't give away too many secrets at one time, can you? David

• Anonymous
  October 13, 2008
  WOW! Those cakes are beautiful! I am like your wife: no patience for decorating. I am sure your sons were delighted with their special cakes.

• Anonymous
  October 14, 2008
  David, Had you foreseen a blog when you made these cakes, you would have saved some pieces to show us how it tasted as well. :P So do save some pieces from the next masterpiece. Vaidy

• Anonymous
  March 20, 2009
  The Scorpion Tank is still the best one. But I guess I will see my own Scorpion on the 16th of September!!!!

• Anonymous
  March 23, 2009
  If you have not already seen my previous post on my hidden talent, now is an opportunity have have a

• Anonymous
  March 24, 2009
  From blog articles to support administration to coding to application designing and finally to interesting cake recipes... Man - you are just wonderful... A king of all trades... :-) Hats off for the creativity of your entire family...

• Anonymous
  March 24, 2009
  The mini music book stands out :)as does the HALO Scorpion tank... Belated Birthday wishes ROHAN...

• Anonymous
  March 28, 2009
  I just want to know what stored procedure you called to complete these masterpieces!

• Anonymous
  March 30, 2009
  Hi David, Jay here (previously from MBS Support team in manila). I am delighted to see the cakes. I liked best the Scorpion tank. Awesome.. Regards, Jay Jemson Lukang

• Anonymous
  January 17, 2010
  Ive been searching for thunderbird 4 cakes to copy! this is very impressive.  How did you do it without bits falling off, I envisage a lot of swearing on my part.  I made a split screen camper for my son's 2nd birthday which was pretty cool but it wasn't really 3D.  Any tips?! Im okay with the flavour aspect but a bit scared of 3D..

• Anonymous
  January 17, 2010
  The comment has been removed