Sunday Sweets For My Mom

I'm not sure when it happened, exactly - maybe sometime in middle school? - but I'll always remember the day Mom told me I was skipping school, and we were going shopping instead.

(By Bake Me A Cake)

AW YEAH.

We spent the morning driving around to Goodwill and various thrift shops, trying on clothes, singing along to the car radio, and later stopping at Subway for lunch - which I remember being a treat, because we got the cookies for dessert.

(By Mor Di Da Mor Di Da)

(This is me around chocolate chip cookies. ALWAYS.)

We didn't talk about school. We didn't talk about my friends or grades or any of those awkward teenage "body-changing" topics. We just told each other which tops looked best, chatted about nothing, laughed, and had fun.

It was the first time I realized Mom wasn't just my mom, she was also my friend.

(By Silvia Mancini)

Mom was an RN while I was growing up, which meant my brother and I got zero sympathy for our scraped knees and boo-boos. Don't get me wrong; Mom was an expert at patching us up - but if we wanted a hearty "You poor thing!", then Dad was the place to go.

(By Karolyn's Kakes)

I later learned Mom was working nights in the ICU then, and routinely saw the kind of pain and grief I can't even fathom, because she came home and smiled and hugged us just the same.

(By Hazel Wong Cake Design)

Once, on another hooky day with Mom, she and I went to the matinee of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - you know, the live-action one?

(By Suganana)

It was terrible. But Mom loves terrible kid movies, and to this day she'll request we see whatever the latest animated or G-rated flick is, no matter how ominous the reviews, and then she'll laugh and gasp and have so much fun that you'll wind up loving it, too.

In my teens Mom was in a car accident that prevented her from ever working as a nurse again. She had to wear a neck brace for ages, and later had a surgery to wire her jaw shut for a while. Then she got braces... at the same time *I* had braces.

(By Sweet Sugarbelle)

People kept mistaking us for sisters, which Mom REALLY liked, but I just found embarrassing - especially that time an older friend of mine hit on her... with me standing right there.

(By Imaginup)

Today my folks live in a different state, but I'm happy to say they are still my friends. We visit often, and even go to Dragon Con together, where Mom loves dressing up steampunk - with outfits she still puts together from the thrift store.

(By Sweetlake Cakes)

Lately Mom likes to video chat and show me all the crafts she's teaching during her volunteer work at the local retirement home. And now she and Dad have joined a Harley Davidson group/club/gang(?), so they spend weekends taking long rides together decked out in the most, um, fascinating fashions.

(By House of the Rising Cake)

(I could have gone my whole life without seeing my mother in leather chaps, you guys. MY WHOLE LIFE.)

Mom's the most servant-hearted person I know, and has seen and endured a lot of pain, though you'd never know it. Somehow she's managed to keep a sense of wonder and whimsy through life - something I try hard to emulate. She raised me to love reading and Star Trek and fantasy and fun, and taught me that when the going gets rough, you turn up the music and sing along extra loud - and off-key. ;)

For my folks' 40th anniversary a few years back, we sent them to Disney World - mostly for Mom - and I'll never forget her delight.

(By Mutlu Dükkan)

She's the big kid who makes you remember how great life really is sometimes - even when life really isn't so great. The best moms are like that. And days like today help us remember to thank our moms, and be grateful for the things we just didn't know how to appreciate when we were younger.

So happy Mother's Day, Mom. Thanks for showing me that when I thought you were being the most embarrassing, you were really showing me how to be the best adult. I love you, I'm proud of you, and I hope we can go shopping again someday soon.

*****

Thank you for using our Amazon links to shop! USA, UK, Canada.

PS - This is a first-time-ever cross-post from my other blog, Epbot. Same text, different pictures. So if you'd like to see the version with pics of my mom in steampunk costumes & on motorcycles & hugging awkward young Jen, click here.

And from my other blog, Epbot:

Sunday Sweets Kicks It Old School

Let's talk piping, peeps.

Because nothing shows off a baker's talent - or makes our jaws drop - quite like this business right here:

(By Finespun Cakes)

That's a style known as Lambeth, named for Joseph Lambeth, who popularized it back in the 1930s.

You'll know a Lambeth cake by its over-the-top frills and use of overpiping, which creates all that fabulous detail and depth:

(By Rosebud Cakes)

Of course Lambeth cakes are a bit old-fashioned now, but never fear, piping purists! Some bakers are doing their darndest to bring Lambeth to the next generation, with STUNNING results:

(By Aniko Vargane Orban)

No words. Only grabby hands.

Or how about this one?

(By Cakeium)

Check out those crisp clean lines! And still all hand-piped. AH-mazing.

While we're throwing back to classic cake skills, let's talk Oriental Stringwork.

(By David Cakes)

This gravity-defying sorcery is achieved with Royal icing, which hardens to a porcelain-like consistency. Believe it or not, that net is handpiped icing, y'all. HAND-PIPED ICING.

Bakers are using string work in modern designs now, too, which makes me so, so happy:

(By Pauline Bakes The Cake)

See how the filigree section stands out from the cake?

And note the hanging borders on this black and white number:

(By KupKake Tree)

I'm all about that middle tier with the flower, though. Soooo pretty.

Oh! And these colors!

(By Cake Decor India)

I never knew how much I needed this color combo in my life, you guys. SO GOOD.

(Btw, to achieve those upward loops? The baker has to turn the cake upside down. Mad skillz, my friends.)

Here's one so perfect you'll swear it can't be cake:

(By SifBeth)

See those tiny, TINY lines all around the border? HAND-PIPED.

Jumping back to a Lambeth style for this oh-so-sweet number:

(By Craftsy member FlourSugarButtr)

Another fantastic color palette, and don't be fooled by how smooth those ropes are; the base may be fondant, but all the piping is, well, PIPING.

And one final Sweet for now:

(By Beyond Buttercream)

Bakers, you are KILLING it with the color choices today. Rock on with your bad selves.

And the rest of you, look closely at those chained string borders. HAND. PIPED.

Hope you guys enjoyed our little glimpse into modern cake mastery! If you're interested, I highly recommend Googling both "Lambeth" and "Oriental Stringwork", because there's so, SO much more than I could show you here today.

Happy Sunday, and happy browsing!

*****

Thank you for using our Amazon links to shop! USA, UK, Canada.

And from my other blog, Epbot: