My Son, the Football Fan

In our family, Autumn means birthday time.  Our daughter was born at the end of August, our son in September, and baby number 3 is due in November (gender yet to be determined).  Last year, I decided that one of my gifts to my children would be to create a cake personalized for them.  My daughter requested a chocolate cake with cherries, so my first Black (and pink) Forest Cake was born.  I already revealed this year's cat cake in a previous blog post.  Less than a month later, it was time for the magic again.

I admit that this year's cake may have held some personal flair, but the idea was all him.  A few weeks ago, I had a proud dad moment when my almost 2-year old son chose to watch football ahead of Saturday morning cartoons.  His eyes grew wide as he witnessed dad watching CFL highlights on the computer, so I pulled him onto my knee and we shared a holy moment of mutual football appreciation.  We remained there for a half-hour watching game recaps back-to-back-to-back.

Watching my boy's exuberance reminded me of Wayne Gretzky.  As a two-year old, young Wayne would watch Hockey Night in Canada throughout an entire evening, and when the final game ended, he cried.  This was the source of his hockey genius; he just loved the game so much.  Now I have a similar story of my own to share at my son's Heisman acceptance dinner.

I digress.  Fueled by my boy's new found love of football (he now thinks the only purpose of the computer is to watch football), I present this year's cake.  I made a almond tarte, covered it with a chocolate ganache, and finished it off with Good n' Plenty laces.  In commemoration of the University of Utah's entry into the Pac 10, my son thought it appropriate to garnish the cake in such fashion.  Who am I to argue with him?

The birthday was a success.  We rode the Heber Creeper (very slowly), opened many presents (thanks to Grandma Barb), and enjoyed a delicious almond-chocolate confection.  We later discovered that the birthday boy actually doesn't like cake, as he painstakingly ate around it only to consume all the ice cream.  Oh well, the rest of the family enjoyed, and the flag was the real winner of the night.