Our first introduction to America was through Pokemon and Raffi. I still love Raffi songs. When we landed in the US of A almost 18 years ago, our son Aditya at that time was 4 years old. Our friends took us to the mall with their son who was about 8-10 years old. There we were first introduced to Pokemon and trading cards. We thought it was funny that he pleaded with his parents to get him the cards and his argument was that it was really valuable and years later, he could make a lot of money selling those cards. Little did we realize our son would soon ask us for trading cards and give us the same reason. As the years went, a lot of his Christmas presents were Pokemon and Yugioh cards. We went on eBay to get the collectibles and “more difficult to find” cards. We watched the Pokemon TV show and hummed the catchy theme song – Pokemon, Gotta catch ’em all, Pokemon. The younger one followed in his brother’s footsteps.

I loved to bake and I always baked their birthday cakes. I procured the Wilton cake pans – dinosaurs, Spider-Man, Scooby Doo, Pokemon. Every year it was a different cake depending on their interests. It started off with dinosaurs and my younger one had a Scooby Doo cake a couple of times. Some years it was chess, soccer, basketball and some years Pokemon.

I thought that like Dinosaurs, Sports and Pokemon were also a phase. But I was mistaken. They are still very interested in Sports and video games. Pokemon eventually moved from TV shows and cards to video games. Little did I realize that this phase may not end. They now play competitive video game tournaments and I have been told that it includes a lot of strategy and thinking.

With one kid visiting and the other off to college soon, I decided to make a Pokemon cake for them. I suppose it was for me too. Nostalgia, maybe or just the sudden feeling that life will not be the same.

Am I ready to retire the pans? Not yet!

Go Catch Em, boys! Not just Pokemon but success and happiness in life too!

I made a coffee chocolate cake with lemon buttercream frosting. The cake still brings a smile on my boys’ faces and that makes mom happy!