First Day of School Pencil Cake

I can't believe it is almost time for another "first day of school"! This year will be our sixth one! I still remember that FIRST first day of school with my four year old son (my two year old daughter was just observing that year). (: I had been waiting for that day for years. I wanted everything to be perfect. We set up a little desk in the playroom along with the new whiteboard and shelves and a few supplies. I had mapped out the whole week's lesson plans although he was just doing kindergarten, and I am pretty sure I could have handled teaching letter A without a lesson. (: I had also planned a few special activities for the first day. First we all got dressed up and fixed our hair. Then we got out the camera to take "official" school pictures. I had to get one with me and the kids together, as well as one of each of them by themselves. I also made a special treat that we would have after we had done our "work" for that day. I kept it a surprise from the kids, and they couldn't wait to see what it was going to be.

While researching back to school activities, I found the Pencil Cake from Family Fun Magazine, and I knew I had to try it. Mind you, I am not an expert in baking or decorating so this would be a challenge for me. I bought all the supplies (it's actually a brownie, not cake), and the night before the first day, I got to work. I baked the brownie and cut it according to the directions to make the pencil shape. I recruited my husband for the next step- mixing the colors for the frosting. We must have spent an hour adding and mixing colors to get just the right shade of yellow and pink for the pencil. Was it too orange-y or should it be more yellow-y? Will it get darker or lighter when it dries? (back to that perfectionist thing. Sigh.) Little did I know, that was the easy part! We spent another two hours frosting the silly thing! Then there was the piping for the eraser and tip. Ugh. I wanted to give up, but I kept thinking of their little eyes lighting up when they saw it. I knew they wouldn't care if it had a speck of brown in the white, or if it wasn't the exact color of a pencil, but it still had to meet my criteria before it could be FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL acceptable. Finally, we were done. I added a personal touch by putting his grade and date on the cake. I was happy with the results- mistakes and all.

 

Well, the kids loved it! And it was yummy too! I knew this had to become a tradition for every first day of school. Then came year two. All the memories of making year one's cake came back, and I wasn't sure I wanted to do it again! My husband suggested doing something else but no, I had to keep the tradition! Looking back, I probably should have tried something different that second year because after I did it for two or three years, the kids started asking specifically for "pencil cake" and I couldn't refuse. (: Well, the second year of making the cake went a little better and the third year even better. I was getting to be a pro. The cakes didn't necessarily look better year after year, but at least it didn't take us four hours to make them anymore! Last year, I even did it without hubby's help (although I still obsess about the right shade of yellow-orange!) LOL! I am so glad we stuck with it, and now it is our favorite first day activity. Each year we get their "school picture" with the pencil cake that shows the date and the grades of both kids. I have been making just one cake for everyone with all the names and grades, but now that all three kids will be doing school this year, I am going to run out of room! I have thought about making mini pencil cakes for each child. We will see. Either way, we will always have pencil cake on the first day of school! The kids really look forward to it every year, and so do I!

Here are the pictures in order of years: