“I want a pirate cake for my birthday,” Happy Boy says—eight months before turning four-years-old. “And Sassy Girl wants a cat cake.”
The order doesn’t change. At least twice a week, Happy Boy makes the same statement. Sassy Girl’s birthday is only three months away, but Mommy doesn’t know how to make a cat cake. So, she calls Aunt Kissa. In December, Sassy Girl excitedly watches as the cat cake arrives—a three-dimensional cat in colors she chose herself.
Five months later, Mommy asks Aunt Kissa for help again, decorating Happy Boy’s pirate cake. He happily bounces around the kitchen and living room as Mommy and Aunt Kissa frost the cake with chocolate icing for land and blue and white icing for the ocean. They top it with a paper pirate ship and paper pirates fighting over a paper treasure.
The Super Kids inherited Mommy’s sweet tooth. Happy Boy was the first to decide to help her mix cookie dough and brownie and cake batter, then Sassy Girl joined in when she was old enough. The kitchen is a crowded place when baking is to be done. When the Super Kids fight over who will stir next, Sassy Girl uses her sassy powers to win.
Then, one day, a happy accident occurs.
“After your show,” Mommy says, “we’ll clean up your toys and go to bed.”
But she isn’t fast enough when the recording ends and the TV turns to a live show. It only takes a few seconds for Happy Boy to be sucked in.
Cake.
Two bakers are making birthday cakes, using a child’s drawing as a guide. One baker adds booby traps—holes filled with sprinkles hidden inside the cake. Both cakes are decorated with a rainbow of colors and what should be impossible effects.
Happy Boy can’t pull himself away. He doesn’t hear or see anything else in the room—only the cake show. When the bakers are done, he knows which cake he would choose, but he isn’t disappointed when the child on the show chooses differently. It’s only when the credits have finished that he can think about helping clean up the toys.
“What is this show?” Mommy asks. She couldn’t fail to notice how it captivated Happy Boy. She looks it up: Best Cake Wins.
The next morning, as soon as he wakes up, Happy Boy goes straight for his blocks. He starts to build.
“What are you making?” Mommy asks.
“A cake,” Happy Boy answers, not looking away from his work. “With booby traps.”
Hearing this, Sassy Girl decides that she wants to make one, too. Mommy likes block cakes—they don’t make a mess. The only problem is Friendly Boy. He wants to play with the other Super Kids in his friendly way, but he doesn’t understand block cakes. To him, when blocks are put together, they need to be taken apart. He’s confused when Happy Boy and Sassy Girl push him away.
Watching Best Cake Wins becomes a weekly treat (twice-weekly, if BYUtv is feeling generous). When Mommy tells Happy Boy that they have an episode to watch, he dances around the room as if they’re making a real cake. And since watching bakers decorate cakes for half-an-hour a week isn’t enough, Mommy has to find all the kid-friendly cake shows their on-demand options will supply. Happy Boy happily tells her about the ingredients. He happily describes the designs. And, he happily exclaims about the finished products.
Then, he happily gets out the blocks.
