Evolution Of The Duck Cake

For my birthday right before we got married, Ben threw me a surprise party and made me a duck cake. He bought a duck pan for a 3D duck, and used decorating frosting to cover it. Unfortunately it fell over in the car on his way to my parents house. I very much appreciated his efforts, but it's kinda become a point of humor in our relationship. When we moved to California, he whipped out the mold again to try to recreate it for the nieces and nephews for Easter. However it didn't cook right, and so it never got to be enjoyed. Last year for my birthday, Ben somehow was able to locate the duck pan packed away in our boxes to once again resurrect the duck cake. It turned out a lot better! Still not how I think the creators of the pan meant for it to turn out, but better. I didn't get a duck cake this year (which was okay). Ben didn't bring the pan to California while we were there for a family reunion, but I did try to out do him on the duck cake for my sister's birthday, which we celebrated on Sunday. I now know how hard that thing is to make! The cake turned out fine, the trouble I had came when I frosted it. The frosting was too soft and ended up with crumbs all in it and dripping down the sides. It did taste good though! We are determined to get this thing perfected! In the mean time, here is the evolution of the duck cake so far:

Duck #1-for my birthday in 2004 a month before we got married. Survived falling over in the car.

Duck #2-R.I.P.- not a survivor...Easter sometime between 2005-2007? (not pictured)

Duck #3- for my birthday in 2008. Complete with duck poop. Thanks for that, Ben. A little flat on one side as well, and suffered from dripping frosting it looks like.

Duck #4-My attempt for Annie's bday 2009. It wouldn't have been too bad if it weren't for the frosting malfunction.

Stay tuned to see if we can ever get it perfected! One of these days..... Also if you ever ask us to make a cake, be careful- you might end up with one of our trial ducks.