So, I’ll admit that at this point I totally forgot to take photos, so basically the next photo on my camera is of the finished cake… woops!
You can see that I did tweak the design just a little. First of all, I made the fruit bits around the cake centers only strawberry instead of kiwi/orange/strawberry. This was mostly because I worried that the mix of fruit would be a little confusing unless the cake also had a mixed fruit filling, which I didn’t really want to do (it seemed too muddled, flavor-wise). Same for adding specks to the chocolate layer… I considered both almond and coconut and decided it might look a little odd to replicate, so I just omitted them.
I also made some fondant berries (I couldn’t find good berries small enough to fit on the ledges) and some fondant candles.
Also, I opted for a runnier (but tastier) glaze over a thick, less tasty one. It was essentially a vanilla glaze. I considered cream cheese, but I despise chocolate and cream cheese together for some reason. I do acknowledge that personal tastes aside, a cream cheese glaze could have been a good solution!
On Saturday morning, I ran the cake over to the shelter, where a group of very sweet volunteers received it. Here it is set up in the front lobby:
The volunteers dug in soon after, and reported they thought it was delicious! Heart: full.
Finally, here’s a comparison photos:
Now, to talk about Good Mews! Post delivery, I made sure to spend time with some of the kitties. My friend Josh joined me for kitty cuddlin’, and I’d be remiss to not show you some of the sweethearts we spent time with.
First off: Cinderella! This girl took to me immediately and we cuddled up a storm for a good half hour. She was sassy, energetic and beyond lovely… I hope she gets snapped up by a cuddle-loving human with a place in their home for her very soon!
Here she is headbutting my friend. What a sweetie.
Then there’s Clyde, a giant orange kitty cat that melted both our hearts. He was such a gentle giant… If Josh was gonna snap up one kitty from the shelter it’d be this teddy bear.
As for the cat that would take JOSH home… that’d be Raglan. This sweetie literally sat in Josh’s lap, dug her paws in and let out a low “mrrrrrrrr” if Josh tried to end the snuggle session. She was gonna cuddle come hell or high water. At first she was a little skittish, but we quickly learned that’s because she was deaf. I can’t imagine how tough it was for her before Good Mews, because she was rescued from a hoarding situation. Thank God she’s safe now, and she is going to make one heck of a lap cat one day.
Some more lovebugs I met include:
Celeste, whose coloring blew me away. She had such a calm disposition, too!
Noelle, who wanted to use my tote bag for a nap more than anything else.
Pixie, a sassy girl with lots of spunk even with just one eye.
Sasha, a shy sweetheart with a gorgeous coat (and a cute kitty boyfriend named Ramsey!).
And finally… the queen of the shelter, Tricky Mews!
Tricky is a long time resident and shelter mascot at Good Mews; she’s also the only kitty not available for adoption. This amazing cat has been through a lot… she was shot during a domestic violence incident and was left paralyzed. Because of this, she wears diapers and is bathed and cleaned up daily by the loving staff. Despite all of this, she gets around just fine and has a definite playful side. She loves people despite her bad experiences, and is generally a wonderful personality. Ultimate Cute Factoid: When she attends special events, she wears little hand-sewn diaper covers the volunteers call her fancy pants. Eeeee.
She even has her own Facebook page! And that’s where I’m ending this entry, because nothing I can offer you could possibly be better than Tricky’s Facebook page. Not a thing.
See you cats (har) next week!
