Let Them Eat Cake! (First Communion Cake, That Is!)

First Communion celebrations can be a very big deal -- with parties that sometimes rival wedding receptions in their size and elegance.

In my family, though, First Communion parties were almost always a home affair, with lots and lots of family present -- and plenty of home-cooked food.

But the one thing that stands out in my memory above all else is the ever-beautiful First Communion Cake.

Our dining room table was long -- long enough to accommodate the 11 of us for dinner every night!  The room itself was adorned by three huge, floor-to-ceiling picture windows filling the entire wall, overlooking a rustic stone patio and pink-flowering crabapple tree; and the table was positioned lengthwise along that wall.  On First Communion Sundays, there would be only two things on the table that morning:  A white tablecloth, and a huge, bakery-made sheet cake.  If you looked closely, you'd see that several of the little lumps of frosting along the bottom of the cake were missing.  I won't point any fingers lo these many years later, but you can be sure I wasn't the only culprit! :)

I don't eat sugar anymore, but I must say that the flavor of a traditional white-frosted bakery cake is among my favorite flavors in the whole wide world.  They can be hard to find these days; grocery stores have moved in as the biggest supplier of cakes, and mom-and-pop bakeries seem to be few and far between, at least around here.  The alternatives don't even smell the same.

(I had a hard time finding a bakery for our wedding cake, especially since I couldn't taste it myself, and The Chief was far less picky about such things than I am; we finally settled on a bakery that touted sugar-free cakes, and had them put a small layer of that sort on top of the regular cake for the cake cutting ceremony.  It was ... not what I remember.  No one else would eat it.  But our guests made short work of the rest of the cake, so I guess it must've been fine!)

One of  my sisters, however, has a tradition that has allowed me to make my peace with this new reality, and Junie B. got to be a part of it when we had a three-family First Communion party for Junie and two of her cousins last year!

In my sister Sharon's family, the First Communicant creates a picture, which the (in-store) bakery then transfers to the cake via an edible photocopy.

Here's the picture Junie B. drew and watercolored (it was her first venture into using blue as a shading to indicate white -- and look how she transferred that concept to the chalice and the host!):

(I also scanned the original into the computer, and printed a smaller version to make thank you notes -- which were certainly put to good use!)

And here's the cake with all three of the cousins' pictures!

(A note on Tradition:  If you look very closely at the lower right corner, you will notice that one of the little frosting shells is missing from the border.  I just want to state for the record that I didn't do it.)  :)

I just love this idea -- the cake couldn't have been more special or unique!  This is something we will definitely want to do again.

Comments

[MaryM]

I just love this idea for a personalized cake. And I love being able to hear other's joyful memories of these special days - thanks for sharing.

[JennGM]

That is a fabulous idea for personalized decorating the cake! I love it!

Cakes do play such a large role in our memory, don't they? Now how can you avoid the temptation of tasting the icing? You must be so disciplined!

[Meredith]

What an awesome way to honor your little First Communicant!! So beautiful :)