It’s a Three-Cake Birthday Week at the Parker House
Saturday- Cake for the costume party (as requested by the birthday boy) chocolate cake with caramel icing and a “cherry on top”. I took a little bit of creative license and made a cherry sauce between the layers and gave it three cherries, for my son’s three years. Costumes, cake and peach ice cream from the Anniston farmer’s market were upstaged by kid music led by our friend and very talented musician Katy Cairo (currently playing with the Gypsy Begonias). But the brand new book with magnifying glass from Mariya Bullock, Disney’s Little Einsteins: Mission: Color Discoveries upstaged everything.
Sunday- Buttermilk pancakes dressed up as a Birthday (Pan) Cake. This is one of the joys of the B&B– the opportunity to make people’s special occassions a little more special. This simple little cake drew tears of surprise from the young lady for whom it was made. Her mom’s tradition is to take each of her daughters on an overnight birthday trip to enjoy time together – without siblings- and to inspire late night, intimate conversation about all the important parts of growing up. I love the idea, but I suppose I’ll have to wait until Eleanor is old enough to talk to try it out!.
To make a Birthday (Pan) Cake at your home, use a sharp, sharp, pointy razor blade to cut holes into the edge of the foam for toothpicks and dig a little hole in the bottom of the candle and attach it to a toothpick as well. Pancakes need a little toothpick help to stay standing straight and tall. Wide mouth canning rings work just fine as pancake molds if you coax the batter out a little gently and don’t fill the rings too full.
Now on to Cake number 3. Birthday cake disguised as health food or veggies hidden in a birthday cake… Carrot cake with cream cheese icing for daddy’s last birthday this side of the “hill.”