This week in the bakery… Jump Zone!

Baking cake for a living is great. That being said, there are some instances that, if I'm being but brutally honest, are awkward about being a baker:

1. Going to a party where someone else has baked a cake and being asked what I think. I'll always say it's good, just so you know.

2. Going to a party where the host serves a cheap shop bought cake and expresses their embarrassment. I'll always say it's good, just so you know.

3. Going to a party where I have been asked to bake the cake. I feel kind of shy arriving with the cake, super shy when the cake is presented to the birthday boy/girl, under pressure to perform when I am asked to slice the cake, I want to be temporarily invisible when people eat the cake and make loud deliberate, "mmmmm!"/"oh, yum!" noises and I want to hide when people feel obliged to tell me that the cake was good.  

In a normal bakery situation the cake is presented to the lucky recipient, I anticipate a reaction followed by a reaction. Goodbyes are exchanged. The cake gallops into the sunset, never to be seen again. Simple.

The only exception is a kid's party. Kids eat the cake and say it like it is. Simple. This week I was invited to my friend Pema's 8th birthday party at Jump Zone and teamed with my friend Marion (Pema's mom) to create Pema's dream cake. 

Voila. A gluten-free chocolate brownie cake decorated with a sculpted Pema jumping on blue clouds in front of a rainbow, flanked by unicorns and finished with edible glitter. Great care was taken to ensure the clouds did not look like unicorn poo. 

I may have been the only adult on the dodgeball team but my skill level was that of my 8-year-old teammates

Strategizing with the team...

I can highly recommend squeezing into a bib and being a big kid at the child's party

After the jumping really earned us an appetite, we got pizza and cake! Those kids loved the cake, especially Pema. Marion earned the right to be proud of her work. 

Photos by Marion Agogue

 Website: www.carynascakes.com

Twitter: @carynascakes

Facebook: Caryna's Cakes

Phone: 086 0703425

Address: Terenure Enterprise Centre, 

17 Rathfarnham Road, Terenure, 

Dublin 6w, Ireland