INSPIRATION
Aside from my mom's fantastic cooking and my sister's incredible creativity, I trace the inspiration for my cakes and cookies back to a little Angel Flake Coconut book my mom had that showed a variety of cakes that could be made from standard shaped baking pans.
Sadly, I don't remember what the cover looked like; and in fact, I may never have actually seen it!
Apparently, I used to carry this around and read it quite often. It's pretty clear from the wear-and-tear that it got some serious use!
The pictures of the cakes were amazing and still bring a smile to my face today. Most of them Mom had made for someone's birthday. I remember she made me the snowman, the rocking horse, the elephant and the bunny. Dad got the giraffe since his name was Jerry.
Jerry Giraffe
The book was brilliant. It had clever names for the cakes (Tortie the Turtle, Swanee and Dandy the Lion to name a few), a goofy poem about each, clear instructions on how to cut the pieces out of a standard cake pan, instructions on icing and then a full page showing the final product with some fantastic details added in. So much information packed into 2 small (~5" x 7") pages!
My favorite cake and the one mom made for me most often!
I still have this book and sometimes think about going back and reviving some of those classic designs, just for fun. If I do, rest assured you'll see them on this site.