My great-niece Scarlett just turned one. Her mom, Jessie, asked if I would make some cupcakes and a small “smash” cake for her birthday party. The theme was “fairytale” — love that theme but …
Love and Hate Relationship with Cake Decorating
Since my mom’s arthritis got the best of her, I’ve become the family cake decorator. I have a “love and hate” relationship with cake decorating! Designing around the theme is fun, but bringing the design into reality is mentally and physically exhausting.
Pinterest Pressure
Yes, the planning phase is intoxicating. Pin – Pin – Pin. The possibilities seem endless as one idea after another makes it onto my Pinterest idea board. I pinned images of elaborate cakes and simple cakes. My brain danced with possibilities until reality set in.
Because I work full-time, plus my decorating skills have gotten rusty, I knew I needed to settle for something I could realistically execute during the single vacation day I took before the party.
Cake Creation Day
My frame of mind on the day I needed to pull everything together was “panicked.” Thankfully I made the polymer clay topper, a fairy dragon, in advance, so I felt good about that, but I had no strategy for creating the tree stump where he would perch. My Pinterest board overflowed with grandiose ideas, but I ran out of time and energy the day before the party. My inner critic went into overdrive.
The Podcast to the Rescue
It just so happened that the podcast episode I had popped on to distract me while I worked was "Sidestepping Perfection." In this episode, Sage Bray, a creative soul I know from the Polymer clay world, was deep diving into her struggles with perfectionism.
As I sank into her words, I found myself feeling less attached to the outcome of creating a perfect cake. When she spoke about Kintsugi, the Japanese art of filling and putting broken pottery pieces back together with precious metals, usually gold, my attention fell on the pile of cracked eggshells oozing mucus onto my counter.
Until that moment, all I saw in my kitchen was a chaotic mess, but now, I saw something more. I grabbed my camera and started shooting close-up photos of the cracks. With my stress diverted into something productive, I finished the cake in a much calmer state of mind!