Cook-a-Doodle-Doo

"You can make frosting?" my niece asked me last night at SuperTarget in the baking aisle. I assured her we did not need to buy a can of frosting. I did, however, get the Funfetti cake mix because she was set on having something with sprinkles in it. We spent a great deal of time in the candy aisle, looking for just the right things to decorate the butterfly cake she imagined.

She mixed well (though her arm got sore, she said), licked the beaters with a smile, and waited for the cake to bake. While it baked, we read Cook-a-Doodle-Doo by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel (one of my favorites) on my library window seat. She loved how only Rooster knew the right ways to bake and measure and laughed at the oven mitt on Iguana's head, especially when it came in handy for extracting the cake from the oven.

Then we beat the real frosting, added the pink and violet gel coloring, and cut the candies she chose as decorations. The antennae were a favorite (strips of Twizzlers with a half piece of a Mike and Ike on the ends). The finished product generated pride and drawing in her art book. Her face will glow even more when the seven candles adorn the cake tonight.