Nick's first cake

The other day my oldest came home from school and announced he was going to cook dinner and "a surprise" and could we please all evacuate the kitchen? Happily I obliged and went upstairs to read. He would pop his head into my room every once in awhile, "Mom, do we have any vegetable oil?" "Mom, what would you use if the recipe says to grease a pan?"

He had a lot of fun in the kitchen and we all enjoyed our dinner of baked potatoes and Stove Top Stuffing, and then he unveiled "the big surprise'- he baked and decorated the cake all by himself. (The smell in the kitchen gave it away though- in a good way)

I laughed when I saw it though, because a) that is so typical of Nick to decorate it like that, and b) I said "umm, you're supposed to wait until it cools to frost it." He said he did- "Two whole minutes."

He did a great job baking the cake- baked completely, but not overdone. I was impressed. The kids loved it and would have eaten the whole pan that night if we would have let them. Madison even declared that she liked the frosting better this way. Plus there was enough leftover frosting for them to make a gigantic mess on my kitchen counter the next day making frosting and saltine cracker sandwiches.