Not to worry, though—this one comes to you angst-free.
Yay, right? That river of insecurity is more of a gentle…stream this morning. Must be the good night of sleep, the sun that is shining, and that chirp-chirpy bird in the tree I’m hearing.
Oh, and that cup of French Roast didn’t hurt.
So. The cake. Jem had a couple of friends spend the night last night, so we saved his birthday cake until then. It’s a Lethal Peppermint Chocolate cake, found in this cookbook
“Look,” she told me, “Stop calling me for all my recipes. I’m just going to get you your own copy of the book.”
Not really.
She just thought it.
The cake was delish—simply decorated but delish—though I apologize for the maniacal look on Jem’s face. It’s a 13-year-old boy thing. Also, his hair’s all wet because of a water fight with his father.
After we’d lit the candles and sung The Birthday Song, (as opposed to, say, The Barney Song), Jem reached out and, with his thumb & forefinger, started extinguishing his candles by hand.
(We call this “titzing” the candles on account of the sound it makes. It’s a manly-man thing that my husband promotes.)
“Jem,” I demanded, ever the control freak mom and greatly concerned by his lack of protocol, “What are you doing?”
He stopped after titzing two of the candles and grinned. “Those are all my girlfriends.”
Postscript: Please do try to stop back later—I have a massive recap of the 14th Annual MN Home Education conference. Massive.
A water fight with dad!!? Now that is a cool dad. Cake looks great! Happy big 13!
I just said the same thing (to myself eh)
Those are the BEST cookbooks. I also highly recommend The Cake Doctor Returns and maybe the Cupcakes! because you take the time to make pretty things whilst I tend to just slap it together.
I was thinking no such thing other than "how in the world am I going to compete with 10,001 Recipes for Minnesota Hot Dish: One for Every Lake… oh look… CAKE!" Your ganache looks perfect! You must have deciphered my notes. I might have some more for you since I've made a few new recipes since you've been here so just bring your book on back and I'll add them, OK? Happy Birthday, Jem! Hope you liked the cake!
I know you were thinking no such thing, Charlotte, but I love you too much to NOT tease you. And surprise–that wasn't the ganache recipe! Someone in my house ("Kids? Come here!") ate all the semi-sweet chocolate, so I went with the chocolate cream cheese frosting. It was pretty good, too, though not as good as the ganache.
PS. Felicity loves reading all your notes.
Well then somebody did an excellent job smoothing the frosting. It looks like ganache! Love to Felicity!
I am a firm believer that cake needs to taste good. Looks, well, that is just a bonus. And I think yours looks gorgeous!
I think your 13 year old and my 12 year old have a lot in common! Trouble they would make together! 🙂