This is a reposting of an article I originally wrote on my Developing for Dynamics GP blog.
I have been involved in the Great Plains world now since 1994. During that time I have become known for my work with development techniques and pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
While my passion for my work in the Asia Pacific Microsoft Dynamics GP Support Team as an Escalation Engineer as well as products I have developed and my recent “pet projects” (The Support Debugging Tool and Menus for Visual Studio Tools) are what most people see. This is only one aspect of my life. I have a beautiful and intelligent wife, Jennifer, and two great sons, Aaron (12 now 13) and Rohan (11 now 12).
My family life is something very important to me and hiding in that part of my life is one of my (previously) secret talents. My wife bakes the best tasting Birthday cakes for my kids, but she does not have the patience to decorate them more than coating them with a delicious butter icing. On the other hand, as a nerdy developer, I have lots of patience, an eye for detail and I am a perfectionist. So my wife and I have developed a tag team approach to Birthday cakes. She bakes the cake(s) and makes the icing and then I shape and decorate to create the final product.
In summary, Jennifer is responsible for how the cake tastes and I am responsible for how it looks.
I mentioned my cakes in passing to Mariano Gomez and he suggested that this hidden talent could be the subject of a fun post. You never know, it might surprise a few people. Here are the cakes I have made over the years:
Rohan’s 4th Birthday Cake – Thunderbird 4 (Thunderbirds are go!)
Rohan’s 6th Birthday Cake – Pirate Ship
Aaron’s 9th Birthday Cake – Herbie
Rohan’s 8th Birthday Cake – Race Track
Aaron’s 10th Birthday Cake – Cars
Rohan’s 9th Birthday Cake – Chicken (based on a drawing by Rohan)
Rohan’s 10th Birthday Cake – Halo Scorpion Tank
Rohan’s 11th Birthday Cake – Piano
Aaron’s 13th Birthday Cake – Transformers
Rohan’s 12th Birthday Cake – Turntable
Aaron’s 15th Birthday Cake – Portal 2 Weighted Companion Cube
Maybe, if I ever decide I need a career change, this could be it!!!
For those of you who would like the recipe for the cake used it is attached to the bottom of this post.
Let me know what you think.
David
19-Mar-2009: Added Rohan’s 11th Birthday Cake.
14-Jul-2009: Added Aaron’s 13th Birthday Cake.
09-Mar-2010: Added Rohan’s 12th Birthday Cake.
24-Jun-2010: Added Aaron’s 15th Birthday Cake.
This article was originally posted on the Developing for Dynamics GP Blog and has been reposted on http://www.winthropdc.com/blog.
You, sir are incredible ! Prettiest cakes I have ever seen. What else do you have up your sleeve ?!
Posting from The Dynamics GP Blogster
http://dynamicsgpblogster.blogspot.com/2008/10/using-menus-for-visual-studio-tools.html
Reference at the end of the post.
Hi Jivtesh
Thanks for the feedback. There are some other hidden talents, but I will save them for another day.
You can’t give away too many secrets at one time, can you?
David
WOW! Those cakes are beautiful! I am like your wife: no patience for decorating. I am sure your sons were delighted with their special cakes.
David,
Had you foreseen a blog when you made these cakes, you would have saved some pieces to show us how it tasted as well. 😛
So do save some pieces from the next masterpiece.
Vaidy
The Scorpion Tank is still the best one. But I guess I will see my own Scorpion on the 16th of September!!!!
If you have not already seen my previous post on my hidden talent, now is an opportunity have have a
From blog articles to support administration to coding to application designing and finally to interesting cake recipes…
Man – you are just wonderful… A king of all trades… 🙂
Hats off for the creativity of your entire family…
The mini music book stands out :)as does the HALO Scorpion tank… Belated Birthday wishes ROHAN…
I just want to know what stored procedure you called to complete these masterpieces!
Hi David,
Jay here (previously from MBS Support team in manila). I am delighted to see the cakes.
I liked best the Scorpion tank. Awesome..
Regards,
Jay
Jemson Lukang
Ive been searching for thunderbird 4 cakes to copy! this is very impressive. How did you do it without bits falling off, I envisage a lot of swearing on my part. I made a split screen camper for my son’s 2nd birthday which was pretty cool but it wasn’t really 3D. Any tips?! Im okay with the flavour aspect but a bit scared of 3D..
Hi Zoe
Have a look at the recipe attached to this post. I creates a sponge cake that not too fluffy while still being moist and soft. It has enough strength to not fall apart. Also, the icing is the correct type to allow the parts of the cake to stick together.
The Thunderbird 4 cake was made from 3 cakes. My wife creates the cake "building blocks" I need in the shapes I want. Then…. here is the trick …. I freeze them overnight in the freezer.
Then, the next day I carve the blocks to shape using an electric knife and smaller knives for detail. Then I join the blocks together, using the icing like glue…. put icing on both sides and push together.
Once the shape is correct and the blocks joined, I ice the outside of the cake. This looks good and also stops the cake from drying out.
The final step is adding extra decoration and/or props as needed.
Hope this helps.
David