Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Ben is 6

Actually, he turned six on Easter and wanted a birthday treat for the whole church's Easter breakfast.  I baked 7 loaves of paska, a rich yeast bread flavored with lemons and oranges, with icing and sprinkles on top.  Ben was sold on the icing and sprinkles, I was sold on the easy bake-ahead-and-freeze factor.  I never took any pictures of the bread, for some reason.



Then there was his requested birthday cake.  He wanted a chocolate cake covered with white icing with green around the edges.  As far as I could tell, he was describing a layer cake that was totally iced (he wasn't impressed by the paltry amount of ganache that was "icing" my birthday cake; never mind that it was a delicious cake).  I made a wacky cake in 2 round pans.  I put peanut butter icing between the layers for some extra flavor, and iced the whole thing with cheater Italian meringue. Then I tinted some Italian meringue green and experimented with piping it.  

The blank spot is for the 6 candle (re-used, of course).



It worked pretty well, although the lines softened after several hours. What did not work was my vintage cake cover.  It was too small!  Which led to a strange contraption on my counter involving my dishpan and several dishtowels.  

Fortunately, Ben loved his cake, and it tasted good, so everyone was happy.



I was even happier when I bought a cake stand and dome.  The dome is actually acrylic because I like its shape and I was nervous about a large, fragile glass cover. I'm planning to use the cake stand for more than just cakes, and I want the children to be able to use it, too. (The cake stand debuted on Mother's Day with the poppyseed violet cake, when I realized I wanted to tell you about piping Italian meringue.)




There were presents, too, and quite special that his sister thought of him and bought him gifts with her own money. 



It's a joy to have a big boy in the house!

11 comments:

Rozy Lass said...

Such a pretty cake! I love my cake dome and use it for many treats: cakes, pies, brownies, sweet breads, and bundt cakes.

jenny_o said...

Your cake is impressive! And I love the sibling hug at the end.

Our first child's first birthday cake was a bit of a disaster. I had been inspired by gestational diabetes to cook and bake healthier meals and treats. I made a four layer healthy cake (thin layers) with some kind of slippery icing between the layers. By the time we served it, the top layers were sliding off the bottom. After that I stuck to regular cakes. I'm not very persistent, can you tell :) It looks like yours was much more stable!

Lisa said...

Beautiful cake, Margo. My mouth is watering.

BLD in MT said...

What a lovely celebration of this milestone. That last photo is just precious beyond words.

Julian said...

I like the polka dots on the cake! How sweet of big sister ! Christina

momma-lana said...

Happy Birthday Ben! Our oldest grandson turned six on Mother's Day.

CGrace said...

Oh, your cake got gorgeous! You'll have to give me a piping lesson.

Rebecca said...

That last bit was from Rebecca. Pitfalls of having a big girl with a Google account.

Rachel said...

I love those last two pictures! Happy birthday, Ben!

Hazel said...

Lovely cake, and I love my cake dome too. :)

Sew Blessed Maw [Judy] said...

Happy 6TH birthday Ben.. What a pretty cake, and such a happy birthday
Your children are so sweet.. How adorable that Genevie bought Ben a gift with her own money. The photo is priceless!!!!
My children are aged like yours..girl first then boy.. When I see your photos, I miss my sweet babies.. They are now 37 and 41!!!