‘A huge colony of ants had taken possession of the pink cakes’

Image: Unsplash

It seemed like such a nice idea, those pink cakes or slices of cake as a treat, but if it turns out on the supreme day that you haven’t thought of something, you’re embarrassed.

Aleida, mother of twins Tess and Derek (5).

“Tess and Derek are each in a different class, so my assignment for their fifth birthday was clear: over sixty treats. The candy bag with raisins and relatives suggested by me was immediately dismissed by my daughter, in particular, who ‘had enough already’.

Pink cookies

We decided to make pink cake faces, a small glacé with a piece of licorice lace for a mouth and M&Ms for eyes and nose. I spent my entire Sunday afternoon on it. Yes, my Sunday afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. called it quits after fifteen minutes of cutting licorice laces and gulping down M&Ms. For the licorice lace mouth I made a notch in the pink layer with a knife.

“It took me about three hours, but the result was impressive”

In some glazes this had a negative effect on the top layer, which cracked apart. Never mind, I had stocked up on extra supplies. Nose and eyes did not stick, but I had a solution for that: glaze, with which I firmly stuck the M&M’s on the pink layer. It took me about three hours, but the result was impressive: two large oval trays, covered with pink faces. Their facial expressions weren’t all that cheerful – such an indentation with a knife is no mean feat – but at least they had a mouth. Aluminum foil over it, in the cool hallway and Kees was done.

Also read – ‘I long for the old fun treats at school’ >

ant invasion

The next morning, the children came down the stairs in ecstasy, ready for their glorious entrance that morning at school. Suddenly I heard screaming. A huge colony of ants had taken possession of the treats. Four layers of carefully applied aluminum foil were to no avail, both trays were black with ants. To the right of the blades ran a black stripe, with ants carrying that many times their own weight in crumbs toward the front door.

“My first impulse was: we just wipe it off, nobody sees anything about it”

My first impulse was: we just wipe those animals off, nobody sees a thing. But not only on it, there were also ants in the pink cakes. Derek pulled a cookie face and we saw three ants. Tess broke a cake in half and five ants walked through the interior.

The children looked at me, I looked at the children and we knew: in the dustbin with it! Their enthusiasm turned to disappointment and I could already see the lower lips trembling. It remained only for me to do what I had to do to turn the tide. I promised them ice cream the next day.”

drool

Simone, mother of Amelie (4) and Jax (2).

“A super fun idea to make and not too difficult: slices of cake (read: sandy beach) with a piece of acid mat (read: towel) on top. And on top of that another doll from a salty row. Umbrella next to it and the summer scene was complete. My daughter thought they were beautiful and proudly handed them out to the class. Luckily, she didn’t see that the sour mats by half the class were causing overproduction of the salivary glands and these children were making their way across the cake crumb-strewn floor to the trash can to get rid of the sour taste.”

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