When DS1 started school, I was ridiculously over-excited at the thought of the Cake Sales, because I'm just so wonderful at baking.
When the first one came around, I was a mixture of ambition and disorganisation. I wanted to make something fabulous but forgot to buy any ingredients. The night before the Sale, I eventually found a recipe that I had all the stuff for, something called a "Treacle Spice traybake", so I made that.
But that wasn't enough. I wanted everyone to know that I had made this delicious cake, so I also made a DISPLAY BOX for it!, out of cardboard, which said "Treacle Spice Traybake, made by Beautiful, DS1's Mummy!"
Oh God.
In the morning the traybake looked a bit unappetising, so I sprinkled lots of icing sugar on top and took it in, in its special box, and proudly handed it to the PTA woman who looked a bit bemused.
At 3pm, I went to the Sale to see how many people had raved over my offering. There I saw it: during the day, the icing sugar had melted into the black treacle in the sponge, turning it into a weird dappled grey/green colour. It looked exactly like it had gone mouldy. If you've seen an algae-covered pond or mossy gravestone, you've seen my traybake. It sat there, ignored and avoided by everyone, in its box. Its special home-made box with my name, and DS1's name, written on in massive letters...