Father/Son Cake Bake

     Ben’s Cub Scout Pack held a Father/Son Cake Bake. The idea was for Father’s and Son’s to bake a cake together to silent auction off at the Pack meeting.  Being our very first Pack meeting with this Den and having only attended one Den meeting, we had no idea what to expect.

     Ben knew right away what kind of cake he wanted to bake. When I asked him what he should do, he immediately responded, “Checkerboard Cake!”. 

     About 2 weeks ago Great –Grandma gave us a baking pan that has three round cake pans and a special divider. With this pan you make a chocolate and vanilla cake mix. Then you put the cake mix in the pans in a special order and bake them. They look like targets when they come out. When you stack the three cakes together with frosting and cut the cake, you will get a checkerboard pattern.

     Ben thought this was the neatest thing.  I thought it was great fun to watch Ben and his dad puzzle out how to do this cake. When it was all done, it was beautiful. Ben kept calling it “his masterpiece”.

     We took it to the pack meeting and put it on the table with all the other cakes. All the other cakes were highly decorated with candy or fruit or cookies or were in special shapes.  Ben’s cake did look a little plain. Then the boys were to take one parent and walk by the cakes and pick one to bid on. Ben, in typical, methodical Ben style, walked and looked at each cake. Then when I bent down to ask him which cake he wanted to bid on, he whispered, “Mine”.  I asked him again if that is really the cake he wanted to bid on and he whispered, “Yes, mine. I like plain cakes.”

     So I bid on our own cake. We won, of course (we were the only bid on the cake). Ben proudly carried his cake out and brought it back home.

     Then the next day, we went to Grandma’s house with Ben’s cake. Great-Grandma came up and we cut the cake to see what the checkerboard would look like. Ben was so proud to share his cake with not only his sisters, and mom, but Grandma, Grandpa and Great-Grandma. Great-Grandma was tickled that Ben used the pan and that it worked out for him.

     It was a wonderful experience. Ben was able to do something special with his dad, and he was able to share the cake he baked with his family. This is what Scouting is all about, learning new things and increasing self-confidence in a job well done.