Birthday Cake For Me

Being the avid baker and cake decorator that I am, I am usually the one who makes celebration cakes in the house. So naturally, I wanted to make my own birthday cake too. In the past, my parents have always made me amazing birthday cakes in the design of whatever I asked for (within reason). I can remember most of the cakes I had when I was younger, and they were all very beautifully decorated and equally as tasty! 
     For my first birthday (I don't actually remember this one, but I have seen pictures), I had a cake shaped like a number one, which was simply a rectangular cake with some pieces cut out. For my third birthday, I had a cake shaped like a teddy bear (it was cut from a 9x13-inch rectangular cake). For my sixth birthday I had a butterfly cake, which was a double layer round cake cut in half, the halves turned outward, with Oreo cookies placed in the middle for the body of the butterfly. Then it was decorated with very colorful candies and piping details. For my eighth birthday, I asked for a flower cake, which was very simple but very pretty. My parents baked an eight inch round cake and twelve cupcakes. They decorated the round cake with yellow icing and the cupcakes with pink icing and arranged the cupcakes around the cake to make a flower. Then everyone at the party got to eat their own cupcake. For my twelfth birthday, my dad made me a cake shaped like a cat. I believe I found this idea in a cake book at my school library, and it was all cut out from two round cakes. It was very cute. I cannot remember the exact ages, but I also remember a beach party cake, where a 9x13 inch cake was iced half in blue icing, sprinkled with brown sugar for sand, and decorated with Teddy Grahams in Life Saver flotation devices. My brother also got a cake with Teddy Grahams once, but his was based at a baseball field. I also remember a Spongebob Squarepants cake for my brother, which was very well done. And I helped my parents make a tennis racket cake for my brother too. And how could I forget my i-pod cakes? Little rectangular cakes decorated in different colors to look like i-pods with licorice and marshmallows for the headphones. My parents were always good to us, and usually made us two birthday cakes - an extravagant one for our birthday parties, and a simpler one for the family at home. 
     I myself have made a Mickey Mouse cake, a monkey cake, Christmas cupcakes, jungle cupcakes, flower cupcakes, Halloween cakes, bunny cakes, hamburger cupcakes, a witch cake, a shirt and tie cake, a three-tiered cake, one fondant cake, a Minecraft cake, and a twenty-one cake, among others. So last year I was convinced I would make my own birthday cake. My parents said no, that wasn't right, that they would make my cake. Then they asked me what I wanted this year. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted, so I asked for a surprise, as long as the cake was not store-bought, from a box, or used canned frosting. They tried to scare me, making comments about needing to buy more spinach, or beets, or boxed cake mixes for my cake. In the end, the cake turned out fabulous! They made a brown sugar pound cake, which I would have never thought of, but I love brown sugar so it was perfect - very sweet and very good! They iced it pretty simply with vanilla icing, and piped a few simple flowers on the side (all using the tools in my cake decorating kit, of course). It was very pretty and delicious. Here is a picture of it.