It required some carving and a little engineering. We doubled and already-big cake recipe to give us plenty of layers to work with. We built the thing upside down. First two layers were 9-inch cake pans. Atop that, we put a cake board. This would be necessary later, to help support the weight, after we flipped the cake.
After the 9-inch rounds and the cake board, we put another 9-inch layer, and then a couple of 7-or so inch layers, These bottom three layers got three wooden dowels inserted in them, so that they were touching the bottom of the cake board resting atop the two biggest layers. There was also one long dowel running top to bottom through all five layers.
We crumb coated the whole cake and then wrapped it in white marshmallow fondant. We dyed leftover white fondant red, and cut tapered stripes out for the cake's sides. Putting those on was tricky. Fondant likes to stretch as you lift it. From time to time we stuck it in the fridge or freezer to help it keep its shape.
Once the stripes were applied, it was time to flip. I put the silver cake board on top (well, really, the bottom) of the cake, which was resting on a metal cake lifter tool, held my breath and flipped it. Mercifully, nothing bad happened.
Once the cake was upright, Annabelle applied the circle on its front, and cut out letters for the teen's name (altered in the photo above). We then cut another cake board to match the size of the top of the cake, and made a kettle corn mount atop it (sticking that stuff together with melted marshmallow). It fit nicely atop the 'tub.'
We used an extra big cake board to give room to surround the cake with movie-theater-style boxes of classic candy.
Pretty darn cute, if we do say so ourselves. Hoped the birthday person enjoyed it!
BATTY: I follow lots of local branches of King County Library System on Facebook. A couple of days ago, one of them posted an even, "Bats of the Pacific Northwest." It was billed as a one hour Zoom session. I signed the kids up, of course. We know almost nothing about our local bat friends.
Can you spy CJ and Annabelle on the Zoom screen?
I didn't get to hear most of the program, but what I did hear was absolutely fascinating. I asked CeeJ and Bee to make me a list of seven things they learned about bats today.
Here's CJ's list. ...
Early this afternoon, I attended a virtual seminar about bat conservation in the Pacific Northwest, especially Washington state. Here are seven facts I learned about bats during the meeting:
Contrary to popular belief, the majority of bats tested do not have rabies. Approximately 1% of tested bats have rabies.
Megabats were formerly classified as primates. While bat species are currently classified as composing the order Chiroptera, bats do share Boreoeutheria, a clade or magnorder, with bats.
The smallest known mammal species (and, by extension, bat species) in the world is the bumblebee bat, which typically has a forearm length just over one inch long. Bumblebee bats, which are native to Thailand, are named such because of their size similarity to bumblebees.
Likewise, the largest known bat species is the giant golden-crowned flying fox, native to the Philippines. Giant golden-crowned flying foxes have an average forearm length of about eight and a half inches.
Bats are nocturnal creatures, often opting to travel at nighttime. This is part of the reason why they are seen less often by humans than common birds.
Bats have flight more flexible than that of birds, because they have membranes instead of feathers.
Bats are the only known mammal species capable of "true" flight, as opposed to the falling-with-style of "flying" squirrels.
And here's what Annabelle learned ...
1/5th of all mammals in the world are bats.
There are approximately 1411 different species of bat.
Bats are necessary for the pollination of over 300 species of fruit, including avocados, mangos, figs, and even some non-fruits like agave or nuts.
The Bumblebee Bat is the world's smallest mammal.
Not all bats use echolocation - some fruit bat species have larger and sharper eyes for better sight.
Pteropus bats - also known as Flying Foxes - are the largest species of bat, with wingspans of up to 6'.
Bats can live for more than 20 years, with the longest documented bat living 41 years!
One thing I learned - the saying 'blind as a bat' is a misnomer. Bats aren't blind. Not at all. They have eyesight as good as ours during the day, and much better than ours at night.
PRE-FEED: Today, when I wasn't helping a couple hundred or so people get ballots for this November's election, I toiled in the kitchen to get ready for tomorrow's Teen Feed. By 8 a.m., I'd cooked up 30 cups of macaroni.
I also peeled, sliced and cooked up 20+ pounds of caramelized onions today. Can you imagine how our house and I smell right about now?
Tomorrow, we just need to turn the cooked pasta into mac salad, and make cobbler to feed about 30 or so. No biggie. ...
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