Cool Bevo Birthday Article

[GoHorns1]

On Dec. 23, Shannon Imbruglia showed up for work at Bark Avenue Bakery in Orlando, Florida, to a strange message on her desk. The company she co-owns is a pet bakery that makes treats for dogs and cats, but this one caught her off guard.

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"Birthday cake for a cow," the note read.

Imbruglia tried to track down more information. Maybe it was for a dog named Cow? "No," one of her employees said. Someone called asking for a birthday cake for a cow.

Bark Avenue is used to strange requests. Imbruglia said they've made treats for horses. They've even done gender reveal cakes. There's no such thing as too weird, she said.

But this one was puzzling. She called her son, who works for Rock 'Em Socks, the footwear company that caters to sports-themed offerings, to ask whether there was anything big going on in town that the cow cake could be related to.

The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, he told her. Texas vs. Michigan. Florida Citrus Sports, the people behind the game are known to pull a few stunts. Maybe they want you to make Bevo a Cheez-It?

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Imbruglia went back to her colleague: "Did they say anything about a longhorn?"

"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, but that's a cow," she replied.

Easy now. That's no cow. That would be Bevo XV, the pride -- and mascot -- of Texas, a steer that weighs about 2,000 pounds with horns measuring nearly 5 feet across. But Imbruglia's son was right. Florida Citrus Sports did indeed want Bark Avenue to make Bevo a Cheez-It -- but one that he could safely eat.

So Imbruglia researched and figured out what to bake for a behemoth. She settled on a 12-by-12-inch cake designed to look like giant toasty snack cracker goodness, but all organic and safe for bovine royalty. She worked up a recipe that included applesauce, cinnamon, vanilla, wheat flour and baking soda, and sent it over to Bevo's people, who approved.

She finished baking the cake Monday and decorated it Tuesday morning.

Bevo will have his pick of a giant Cheez-It or several smaller Cheez-Its. Cheez-It Citrus Bowl

"It's a pretty honker cake," Imbruglia said. "It seems like it's 50 pounds. It is so heavy."

As to how Imbruglia got the orange Cheez-It color is not exactly a secret, she says, but she and another small cake supply business collaborated to get all-natural colors they could combine to get the hue just right.

"We're grateful for the experience just because it's fun," Imbruglia said. "We haven't had to dig into our creative side like that in a long time, so this kind of brings our whole team together. Everybody jumped in on it."

Imbruglia is a huge football fan and loves all the excitement and visitors the bowl season brings to Orlando each year for the Citrus Bowl, as well as the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which was played on Saturday. This will be the 80th Citrus Bowl, and to celebrate, they've also created a pop-up bar -- "the country's first bowl-themed bar," they say -- called the Citrus Bowl Lodge from Dec. 26-31 with memorabilia, old press clippings and programs from the game.

Bevo won't be there. But he'll get his own Cheez-It.

Imbruglia is excited to get in on the action this year by doing her part. And Bevo, naturally, is a fan of all things orange.

"I hope I get the opportunity to go down and meet him too," Imbruglia said. "We'll see."