Tot's love of green tractors results in Deere birthday cake
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 08/02/2012 2:08 PM
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CLERMONT, Iowa —Waylon Peterson is only two, but the son of Cassie and Kristopher Peterson of Clermont knows which tractors he prefers.
He likes the green ones.
"He loves anything with a motor," his mother said. "He calls them, 'voom, vooms,' and he loves the green ones best."
When the youngster celebrated his second birthday last month, his aunt, Samantha Peterson, and his grandmother, Christine Peterson, decided to bake him a John Deere cake. Christine and her husband, Terry, and Samantha were visiting from Hummelstown, Pa.
Cassie Peterson was born and raised in the Elgin and Clermont area. She met her husband, Kristopher, in AmeriCorps.
"I convinced him to move to Iowa after we graduated from our service," Cassie said.
The couple moved back to Clermont in fall 2006. Cassie works for the Valley Community Coalition. Kristopher works with special needs students and is a bus driver.
Cassie said her sister-in-law and mother-in-law are talented bakers. They took their ideas, plus others they found on Pinterest, to create their John Deere masterpiece.
They made trips to Norby's Farm Fleet in West Union and to a kitchen store in Decorah to get the correct baking and decorating ingredients and farm toys for the top of the cake.
They baked two 9-by-13-inch cakes, one was a green and yellow layer cake. The other was a chocolate peanut butter cake. The two cakes were then connected together.
"It's unbelievable what they came up with," Cassie said.
Cake decorations include a John Deere tractor tilling a field. Behind the farmer is a field of corn. A cart filled with soil waits as another farmer loads hay bales with a Deere skid loader. Cattle and goats in pens are also depicted.
Christine and Samantha created the field furrows using various tips on the frosting piping bags. The soil in the cart was crushed Oreo cookies. A wall was built of wafer cookies.
"Kristopher came up with the idea for the corn," Cassie said. "He colored tooth picks with a green Sharpie. The leaves were green ribbon and the tassels were dabs of yellow frosting."
Green fields of frosting and "Happy Birthday Waylon," were displayed in bright yellow letters. Samantha drew a farm background to surround the cake.
"Waylon wanted to take the toys off the cake and play with them," Cassie said. "He was fine with us eating the cake, he just wanted to play with the toys."
Cassie's mother and stepfather, Janice and Allen Knox, gave Waylon a John Deere tractor riding toy and wagon for his birthday. The tractor stays at their house in Clermont, and he rides it there.
"My step dad was so anxious for Waylon to see his present that he actually gave it to him two weeks early," Cassie said. "Waylon's a natural at steering and maneuvering the tractor."
Cassie isn't sure when Waylon's obsession with John Deere got started. Kristopher has a John Deere lawnmower, and the tot sees Deere tractors in the fields.
Cassie put photos of the cake on her Facebook page and got lots of comments from family and friends.
"Everyone was in awe of the detail," Cassie said.