Cow Cake and Drenched Duchess

My friend Gina asked me if I'd make a cake for their little boy Dillon's birthday. He's 2 months older than Maggie, but he's a lot bigger than her. I'd really like them to be good friends, but right now Maggie is kind of scared of him. It's not his fault. Maggie's just not used to the way boys play; I guess getting tackled isn't her idea of fun.

Dillon loves cows and always kisses his Holstein toys goodnight. When they asked him if he wanted a cow or a horse for his birthday he replied with moos. So the order was for a Holstein cake.

This is the first cow cake I've made and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Each new cake is a learning process and I'm never quite positive it's going to turn out like planned. I was really worried the ears were going to be too heavy and fall off. Thank goodness they didn't because the ears made it so much cuter.

It turns out that this is my new favorite cake. I wish I would have taken a picture from the side so you could see the dimension of it a little better, but I suppose you get the idea. It was pretty tasty too if I may say so myself. I thought it was cute that all of the kids were taking dibs on which body part they got to eat. I thought it was rather appropriate that a dairy cow cake be covered in buttercream icing and milk chocolate ganache :)

A word to the wise: If you ever have leftover ganache, don't use it as a dip for potato chips or pretzels. You'll never be able to stop :) But maybe that's just me. I'm a sucker for sweet and salty combinations. I tried the new pretzel M&Ms the other day. They may, or may not, be my new weakness--I won't disclose that information because I'm not willing to admit I have a chronic sweet tooth.

Now on to the "Drenched Duchess" part of this post. The other day I was giving our truck a much needed wash. I had a bucket full of a solution of Armorall Wash and Wax. Duchess was following me around as I lathered up the truck. From her vantage point the bucket must have looked like a nice solid surface to jump up on. I looked down just as she made her leap into the bucket. I didn't realize a kitten could have such dramatic facial expressions. Call me cruel, but the look on her face was priceless as she realized she just jumped into a bucket full of sudsy water. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. And I've never seen a kitten move so fast. She hightailed it out of that bucket in record time and took cover under the truck. I was worried the Armorall would make her sick and I'd be responsible for the loss of another kitten. I tried to coax her out of hiding so I could rinse her off. It probably took a good twenty minutes before she wasn't a scaredy cat anymore, but I did finally got her out and rinsed off. I don't recommend using Armorall to bathe pets, but I have to admit that she was one shiny and fluffy kitten once she was dry!