I make birthday cakes for each of my boys. I don't use fondant -- I strive for "tasty" -- so it can get a bit crazy.

This year, Artemis was away at school learning to become a carpenter at North Bennet Street School in Boston, the oldest trade school in the country. Wow, did he learn a lot! With him hundreds of miles away, I couldn't make him a cake for his mid-winter birthday, so I did something almost as good: a half-birthday cake.

I decided to surprise him with a cake in the form of a power tool he'd been wanting: a SawStop table saw. If you haven't heard of these, you've missed out. These saws have sensors that detect when a finger or other meat touches the blade, and then stops the blade so fast that the only injury is a nick. It's worth watching this six-second demo with a hot dog:

Amazing! What better way to celebrate a half-birthday than with something designed to keep you from having half a finger?

The saw blade was an interesting challenge. I went with a stroopwafel...mmm, caramel goodness. A chocolate bar played the part of a board being hewn in twain, and voila!