IMG_5270 I'm coming off of a major sugar-high. Major. I may not make it through this post. We bought our first ever bona-fide bbq/grill this weekend so we decided to have a bbq with friends and cakes to celebrate Henry & Kate's birthday. I never had a chance to make birthday cakes for them (which I was having some major guilt about.) So at 11:00 p.m. Sunday night, I started pouring over come cookbooks for some cake options. I can't remember if I bought this cookbook when I was at Magnolia Bakery or if I bought it on-line, but I don't think I've ever made anything out of it.
IMG_5263 Henry wanted a vanilla cake and Kate wanted a "chockey" one. The cookbook has a "Traditional Vanilla Birthday Cake" recipe that I used and I paired it with their chocolate buttercream frosting. I later remembered that Henry said he wanted vanilla frosting (trying to keep the two separate was confusing!) so I kind of botched that but then I gave him the a-ok to put his lego star wars figures in the frosting and so he felt much better about it all. Kate's cake was the "Chocolate Buttermilk" cake with a vanilla buttercream frosting that I tinted pale pink. IMG_5249 I have to say that I think the vanilla was better than the chocolate. The vanilla was really light & fluffy and the chocolate was pretty dense, but it wasn't necessarily moist, if that makes sense. But the vanilla buttercream frosting was really, really good. We sang to the kids and it pretty much went down like this for Kate:

"Oh la, la, everyone is singing to me, I think I could get used to
this!"IMG_5235"Wait a second. I'm not so sure about all this birthday singing business…"
IMG_5236 "Mama!!! HOLD ME!!!!"
IMG_5237 "Wait.a.second. I need to pull myself together. I am 2 years old after all and there are candles that need blowing out!!"
IMG_5238 Phew. That was intense.

And to think, it all happened to the tune of "Happy Birthday to you…"

Being 2 is hard work!

Posted in

11 responses to “Cake Baking”

  1. Michelle Cummings Avatar

    Happy Birthday Kate! that cake looks delish! I love to back from scratch too…makes everything taste all the better!

    Like

  2. Abbey Rice Avatar

    Awesome photo series of Kate! One of my nephews was traumatized at age 2 by the whole “Happy Birthday” song (someone dropped a glass of ice-cold lemonade on his head during the song) and for YEARS he would go running in terror whenever the song was being sung to anyone. Looks like Kate has a better handle on the whole thing.
    My FAVORITE chocolate cake recipe is from the back of the Hershey’s Baking Cocoa box (or on their website – Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake). Every time I make it someone wants the recipe and it’s super-duper-duper easy.

    Like

  3. Morgan Avatar

    Hey Abbey-
    The Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake is one of our all time favorites. I make it all the time, thought and was hoping to branch out to something else….so much for branching out!!
    Miss you-
    xo

    Like

  4. vanessa zinke Avatar

    I think Kate has the best “sad face” ever. breaks my heart…she’s so cute!

    Like

  5. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    There are always tears at 2 year old birthdays!
    Thanks for sharing.
    Makes me want to bake a cake 🙂

    Like

  6. Sandra Avatar
    Sandra

    Great job…they look YUMMY!

    Like

  7. Mom Avatar
    Mom

    Oh. My. GOSH. I am soooo sorry to have missed that Academy award winning performance. Laughed my head off …
    Miss Kate. I love you.
    xxoo

    Like

  8. Kelly Summey Avatar
    Kelly Summey

    That is hilarious! She really pulled it together for the end…wish I could control my emotions that well. I made my daughter’s 3rd B-day cake recently…it was a Duck Pillow Pet Cake…yes…that’s what she wanted…very interesting! Yours looks delicious!

    Like

  9. Adrianne Avatar

    Intense is adorable!! : )

    Like

  10. Lori Avatar

    I haven’t had luck with that cookbook but the basic chocolate mayonnaise cake is my go to recipe now.
    Funny photo series, she rallied in the end! 🙂

    Like

  11. Healthy Foods Blog Avatar

    The way she laughed, the way she cried, she is still lovely. belated happy birthday!

    Like

Leave a reply to Michelle Cummings Cancel reply