When I first told Ayaan that I wanted to make this cake for his birthday, he was completely opposed to it. He did not want a cake that had anything to do with 'Coronavirus" or "Lockdown!" He hated the idea! He wanted a Lego themed cake. Albeit, my first drawing of the cake was not very impressive. But I managed to get him to slowly warm up to the idea and later he ended up loving the cake!
This cake is of course not about celebrating the lock down, but showing him how in spite of this state of lockdown we are in, he still has so many good things in his life, so many reasons to be grateful for! Yes, we are all staying home to stay safe, his friends cannot join him in person, but they can still be with him! Each of his best friend is featured on the second tier of the cake (behind their closed doors) with a personal message in the form of a "messenger' or "discord" message. Even in the lock down they are all connected through internet-- this definitely is a blessing to count. The first tier shows all the ways he is still having fun at home--reading books, playing family games, playing with Lego, Xbox, and there's always something to do in the computer. I wanted to add the four of us on the top of the cake, celebrating his birthday together, staying in as a family and appreciating the time together. But this cake was already a lot of work, without adding the extra four figures, so I skipped it in the end.
Ayaan helped me with a lot of the ideas in the cake--the bunting designs, the empty playground scene outside the window, the wooden floorboards, designs and colours of doors. He also wrote the messages from his friends. Adit sent his message, Saadat's was taken from the birthday message he sent Ayaan.
Each year I try to make a cake for Ayaan's birthday that celebrates what he loves that year or a memory of him of that year. This cake hopefully will remind him to cherish the friends he had and the good times he had at home this year.
