Birthday cake - 4 days early

Dave's a simple guy. All events are better with dessert. So, when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday all he could come up with was cake. For the years past, I've bought him a piece of cake because I'm not a fan.

This year I decided to put my minimal cooking skills and newly acquired kitchen tools to use and make a cake. As an adult, I don't think I have made box-cake ... which certainly means I haven't made a home-made cake! My sister has gone to cooking school and I remember her telling me about a great white cake that she made. I trolled her blog and called, but didn't get her recipe. Instead, I found a recipe online that said it made a very light, fluffy white cake.

Okay, so I have new tools, but what I have not acquired is a mixer. So, between my normal slowness because I have no idea what I am doing in the kitchen ... and the fact that I had to mix everything by hand - making Dave's birthday cake took 3 hours! The recipe was more complex than I normally do. You had to sift the flour, then measure. After adding in baking powder and salt, you had to sift all those ingredients 3 more times! Then you whisked 4 egg whites and sugar to make a soft meringue. I've gotten directions post-cooking school on how to whisk, but I need a remedial class! My arm felt like it was going to fall off. And then it got worse because the next step was to cream some butter and sugar. Best I could tell, that step translates to mix, mix and mix some more! The last step was to alternately add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar and then some milk until all of the flour and milk was mixed in. Then some vanilla and almond extract. The final step was to mix in the meringue. I gotta say, the batter was very lovely. Creamy and soft.

I also made a buttercream frosting because Dave hearts frosting. I bought some Mets color food coloring and candles and viola:


Like I said, I'm not a huge cake fan. But, turns out home-made cake is good!