Birthday Love

I Love Birthdays

Why?  Well, why not?

I think everyone should be made to feel extra-special on their special day.  After all it only happens once a year and 1/365th of your life is not that much.  Birthdays are a great reason to celebrate and to get together with people you love!   I have to say I also think the fact that birthdays always come complete with birthday cake is fantastic!!! (Who could say no to that???) And for those people out there who don't like turning a year older: in case you haven't yet noticed, everyone's getting older at exactly the same speed so you might as well take a deep breath so you can blow out all those flaming candles and enjoy a delicious slice of cake.  There's a silver lining in everything :)

The reason that I am on the subject of birthdays is because it was just my Dad's birthday.  I was very happy that I was able to go home for the occasion in order to celebrate with my parents, my niece and my niece's boyfriend. We had a lovely dinner in which everyone contributed, followed by cake.  I really enjoyed baking in a kitchen (thanks for lending me yours, Mom) since I'm without one this month. 

The Brown Sugar Butter Cream
Just before adding butter!

The cake was again from trusty Sweetapolita.  And it was another hit!  I'd asked my Dad what kind of cake he'd like, which started off with Spice (likely what he actually wanted) and ended with Chocolate (likely what he figured I wanted to make).  Chocolate is a classic flavour for a birthday cake, but since it's Autumn I decided on Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice.  Not because I am a girl.  No not at all.  It was because I was intrigued.  You see, I found this recipe which called for yams.  And it had rave reviews.  I figured yam, like carrot, should be good.

Autumn Delight Cake

Well it was a success and I highly recommend trying it yourself, or just telling me you need it, because I'd love to do it again, but next time I'll use my Kitchen Aid Mixer and my small offset spatula.  Oh how I love the perfect tools!  As usual, I did something a little different from the instructions, and in this case I didn't make the filling (too sweet maybe? and my Dad doesn't care for marshmallow...) and simply used the butter cream inside and outside.  And this wasn't just any butter cream icing, it was brown sugar butter cream and it IS amazing!  I suppose it wouldn't go with everything, but it sure was a perfect match for the spice/yam cake, which also was delicious.  With the candied pecans on top, the cake was just as she described: 

"Every bite is crunchy, then brown sugar creamy, then dense, moist & spicy, then sweet and crispy, oh, and then crunchy, and then dense, moist & spicy, and then, alas, sweet and crispy, and then dense, moist & spicy. Help me, Rhonda."  

 Yes, Help me Rhonda!  
The Autumn Delight Cake might be vying 
for first place in my cake hall of fame, too!

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Sitting In The Pilot's Seat

I noticed this chair one early morning before work and thought I'd share it.  It's got a sort of nostalgia to it.  Made me think a little of goggles and a scarf in an open cockpit bi-plane...  Or perhaps if you sit in it long enough you may encourage philosophical thought along the lines of Le Petit Prince - although you might need the company of a fox...  

... or an Alepou (that's a Greek fox, and Greece is known for it's its philosophical contributions)

Anyway, I think it looks pretty cool.