Cake boxes

I can’t help but smile whenever I see a cake box. I saw someone carrying one by the bottom yesterday and I had to chuckle to myself at a memory of one I bought a few years back. I’m not talking about those bright pink cardboard ones you get from a professional bakery, but the ones for home bakers. The Target, Wal-Mart, Macys, etc… kind. With the dome lid, you snap on and can carry with you like a handbag to present your hard work in full glory.

During culinary school, I had a request by some international friends for a birthday cake. I had befriended some beautiful Norwegian exchange students while living in Berkeley. It was a blast hanging out with them, and they loved that I was their “token” American. I spent a long time thinking out my very first official birthday cake as a professional baker. How could I show off all of the wonderful skills I had just learned? Ah hah! I would make a four-layer genoise filled with homemade dark chocolate butter cream, and fresh raspberries (as they had just come into season).

I spent two days working on this cake, then realized on the day of the party I had no cake box to bring it with me. Granted, the party was only a block away from my Berkeley apartment, but I wanted to go all out in presentation. Off I went to Target to get my new cake box to carry my masterpiece. I found this awesome light blue retro looking cake box…on sale!! I was so proud of myself for finding such a great deal, but I should have known better. Silly me.

The night came to walk around the block to Fondue Freds and off I went cake box in hand. I was across the street when, I kid you not, the bottom of the box falls out and my beautiful cake goes splat face down in the middle of this driveway. The icing on the cake (pun completely intended) was that five seconds later a car pulled up wanting to turn into that driveway and had to sit there and wait while I scooped up my now ruined masterpiece. I can’t even describe how upset I was, yet due to some teasing we all just cracked up. Even though I was embarrassed to show up with this disaster of a cake, the Norwegians honored my hard work by taking bites from the areas that had not touched driveway.

I hope you have learned from my mistake. FYI, the cake box was returned to Target the following day.