The Treasure Chest Cake

Here is another cake from the past, the treasure chest cake:

This was for a young girl at Twin Oaks. I can't remember how old she was going to be, but I think it was eight. Her dad came up to me one day and asked me to talk to Gwen about the cake she wanted because she was too shy to ask. It was so cute. I asked her what she wanted and she said a treasure chest with gold coming out of it in between two trees with fall leaves. So, this is what came out.
And now for the cake story I always tell: When I was eleven years old, I secretly did my first professional cake decorating. My mom was doing a wedding cake for some people who were getting married the next day. After she finished it, she put it in a room in the basement with the door closed so that our cats wouldn't destroy it. Then she had to go out for the night. I don't remember why or where, but I do clearly remember walking into the basement later in the evening to peak at the finished cake and seeing the door open. When I walked in I saw that the cats had licked the icing off about a fifth to a quarter of the cake on one side! I was so worried that this would really screw things up for my mom that I decided to fix it. I got her icing recipe out of the cupboard, made some fresh stuff and re-iced the cake where the icing was missing. It didn't even cross my mind that it was bad to sell anyone a cake that had been licked by cats!!! I didn't say a word to my mom about it and the next day the people came to pick up the cake. My mom brought it to them and noticed that it looked a bit off on one side. It was summer and our house didn't have air conditioning, so naturally, she thought the icing had melted a little bit and this is what she told the people who were happy to just put the less attractive side in the back so no one would notice. In the end, they were very happy with their cake, and in my mind, I saved the day. If they only knew.