Basketball Cake

This year, my son wanted a basketball cake for his birthday. I always find family life is extremely busy around September, and especially this year. The week of my son’s birthday, I had to go to Sydney for a day, my husband spend 3 days in Melbourne, and all the kids had assessment. It was just one of those crazy weeks and I wasn’t sure how I was going to make everything happen. But, I always want to give my children a special birthday (not elaborate, but special), and you just make it work, hey.

This year, it came down to micromanaging our time to the minutes. I usually make my own cake base (using this recipe) but this time, I purchased a pre-bought cake. The night before, my husband drove out to Tom’s Confectionery Warehouse (which is open late each night) to purchase m&ms. The morning of his birthday, we threw it all together and he was stoked with the end result! We had the best day playing skirmish at Thunderbird Park with a few of his friends and returned home to have hot dogs (his choice) for dinner, followed by cake, a swim and handball fun in the backyard. Later that evening — weary but happy — my husband and I laughed about how we made it all work. The investment is so worth it. The next morning, our son came in to our bedroom to say good morning, and said, “I’ve loved all my birthdays, but that was the best birthday!”