It's a Dark Knight

"Y'see, my life is really...complex." Of course it is Bruce Wayne. You moonlight as a man dressed in a bat suit. In real life, you'd be committed. BUT in make-believe it makes for great entertainment.

I'm old enough to remember the REAL Batman. The Adam West version (in television reruns). I've mostly blocked out those memories because for those of you who also remember, Batman could've been a candidate on What Not To Wear. And his sidekick Robin, even more so. Stacey and Clinton would have gone to town on those two. But in their defence, it was the 1960s.

So when I initially started to piece together ideas for this cake I quickly abandoned the thought of implementing the old school Batman with its POWs, KABOOMs, and legendary bat symbol. Instead, I fast-forwarded 40 years to the age of The Dark Knight where Batman actually became cool and the bat symbol - much more streamlined.

Overall, I found this cake to be quite difficult to complete. Forget the fact that it took 8 hours, the issue was how to work around such a dark theme without making the cake look inappropriate or blah (black and grey can only go so far!). Because the cake was for a child, Gotham City's skyline silouettes were kept fairly simple and I chose to use red, orange, yellow and green to spike up the black and grey. At the age of 1, I hardly think Hunter will remember this cake. But in 20 years when he happens upon a picture of his first birthday, hopefully Batman will still be a force to be reckoned with.

Thank you to Laurie who offered this challenge up to me. I should also mention that Laurie is a graphic designer which put some added pressure on this cake! I'm actually making her sister-in-law's wedding cake this summer which is THE coolest cake, but you'll have to wait patiently to get the digs on that. Check out Laurie at http://www.paperbliss.ca for everything from invitations to candy buffets for your special event.

Happy 1st Birthday Hunter - from one Batman fan to another :)