This week is my eldest son's birthday. In previous years I have been lucky enough to spend some time with him close to his special date, so have been able to furnish him with the obligatory candle receptacle, but this year he is too busy (rude) to fit in a visit, so what to do? A birthday wouldn't be a proper birthday without a cake baked by mum - on that at least we can all agree.
The only choice open to me was to use him as a guineapig and make him the lucky recipient of my first postal bake! I made a mini loaf cake (equivalent to 3 cupcakes) baked in one of those metal trays you get Chinese take away in (unused I hasten to add - purchased especially for the task in hand), with a close fitting cardboard lid. The cake batter filled about 2/3 of the tray, which left me room enough to add a generous layer of butter icing, and left almost enough room for me to add a piped design on top of that. I say 'almost', because putting on the lid did a teeny bit of squashing damage - but the design was still recognisable, and this has potential!
I froze the finished cake in its entirety, then sellotaped a candle to the lid, popped it in a box and headed off to the Post Office. The cake arrived unscathed the next day and normal birthday celebration was resumed!
I am going to be working further on this as an offer for my website, as being able to post cakes out would be a potential game changer. Needless to say, Patrick's siblings have assured me I don't need to wait for their birthdays if I need to make any further postal trials! They are just SO supportive of my business!