So I told you before that I was going to order a cake against my dad's wishes. The funny thing is I know he just doesn't want me to spend the money, it's not that he doesn't want cake.
Cake is important to our family. My parents owned a bakery for 22 years and even after selling it, my dad continued in the industry as both a baker (for several large industrial bakeries and as a donut maker for Tim Hortons) and for the past 6 years or so has been working at a bakery wholesale company as one of their top salesmen.
Growing up, it wasn't "what do you want for your birthday?" it was "what kind of cake do you want for your birthday?" You see, while it was always my dad's dream to own a bakery (and he makes amazing bread and pies), my mother is the talented artist in the family and could create just about anything out of cake.
My brother was into star wars - you know what he got? A Darth Vadar and R2D2 cake one year - hand done by my mother.
I was into strawberry shortcake - I got a cake with a handdrawn strawberry shortcake and her little pet on top of a cake (and it looked just like the cartoon!)
My mother was so talented at this that when Charles and Dianna were getting married, one of the British pubs in Toronto was holding a wedding party (in their absence of course) commissioned my mother to DRAW CHARLES AND DIANNA'S FACES ON A CAKE and she did an amazing job (was in the newspaper and everything for it).
Now today, big deal because they have all kinds of edible paper where you can use your printer and print an actual picture on a cake but she did it old school - with small, fine tipped icing bags and hours of hard work and hand drawn sketches and stencils she had to create herself.
Anyways - growing up cake was a big part of our lives and it continued forward. I owned a bakery for about a year and half before settling for a nice comfy government job (the bakery was so much work and at the end of the day, I was working to pay the landlord, and the hydro, water and gas companies and my suppliers so not too much leftover for me).
I became pretty good at doing cakes myself (taught at the sleeve of the master of course
). And I've done a few wedding cakes in my time along with birthday cakes, anniversary cakes, retirement cakes, christening cakes and just someone-wants-a-cake cake.
Now, I'm done baking cakes. Maybe for a really, really special occasion I'll whip out the mixer but generally I'd rather buy a decent cake (and with my dad's customers we've found out quickly who makes an awesome cake and who doesn't).
Anyhoo -
On our first cruise my dad was so happy to see "cake of the day" on the room service menu and let's say, it didn't disappoint:
Disney Magic "Cake of the day" October 2010
Fast forward to our Disney Dream cruise - B2B cruises Oct 2011:
Can you see the difference (well, I mean, besides the size of the pictures)?
The first cruise, the cake of the day was, well cake - cake with icing and/or whipped cream (nutrifill - stabilized non dairy whip but still).
On the Dream the "cake" was more mousse, gel topped non-cake type bakery goods (with no baking required and comes from a mix).
it's not cake. Sorry but it's not.
On our April 2012 Disney Magic cruise, my dad was so desparate for cake by the last night that he practically begged the server to find him a piece of actual cake.
What he came up with wasn't bad, but it was actually a brownie (denser than cake and no buttercream icing).
So, despite my dad's protests, I faxed in (well, I got my brother to do it through his company because he only pays pennies for a fax) a cake order form for an 8 inch marble cake with dark chocolate mousse filling and vanilla buttercream icing to be delivered on night 2 in the dining room and it should say, "Happy 65th birthday Bill".
If anyone has late dining and ends up as the same rotation as us - feel free to come by on Formal night for a slice of cake
Osso Buco di Vitello
Palo's Homemade Tiramisu 
. I have a pirate-y type shirt that I may or may not pack but that's as far as I'm going to go.
