This past week was “Adam’s Birthday Week.” Somehow his birthday lasted four days ;) Although, I declare June my entire Birth-month. So I guess it’s ok =)

Adam’s birthday was on Thursday, and it was also his last final for his third year for electrical, as I mentioned in my post about our new house, Needless to say there was much to be celebrated on that day. In the afternoon once I was home, Adam’s sister had come over for a visit with our beautiful new niece. We got to hug, cuddle, kiss and awe over her for a few hours. She is just so precious!

The night before, I had made Adam some ‘birthday cookies.‘ He said they were like the top of a cupcake, they were pillowy soft. I had to add some sprinkles to them, of course, to make them a little more special. I used Martha Stewart’s Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies recipe. It reminded me of my favourite show, Seinfeld, when Elaine goes into business selling muffin tops. These would be great for any day, even when it is not a birthday.

So, Adam thought we were going to his parents for his birthday dinner. Usually when there is a birthday in his family we have a birthday dinner at his parents house. However, I thought it would be nice to go out and celebrate seeing as how it was a double-whammy celebration that day. And, he had received 100% on one of his final tests earlier that week.

Coincidentally, I had seen a Groupon the week or two prior to a restaurant that I had recently read a review for, as it was part of the very popular Dine Out Vancouver event. Carmichael’s, located in the Hilton Vancouver hotel. I knew it would be good, so I bought a Groupon and phoned up his mom to ask her to join us.

When we left the house, I was slightly dressed up, in a dress and high heels, and Adam was pretty casual. It’s not unusual for me to dress up, but I had mentioned to him “oh, maybe we will go for a drink and dessert afterwards somewhere.” He thought we were only going to his parents, so I let him think we were. I secretly packed his dress shoes and a change of clothes for him to slip into once we arrive at their house. When we walked in, he did ask his mom why she was so dressed up. I let him in on the secret that we were not staying in for dinner, and that he should go and change, handing him the bag of clothes I secretly packed.

He was surprised, and still didn’t know where we were going. When we arrived, the restaurant was sparse, as it was a Thursday evening, but it was nice to not be in a crowded loud restaurant. We all ordered different dishes, and each was delicious. His mom had the special, a pork chop with apple chutney, mashed potatoes and a reduction with asparagus I believe. She said it was so good, and the pork chop was gigantic, she shared with his dad. His dad had the prawn and chicken linguine, also very delicious, I (swaying from my diet, and lusting after ravioli since our sampling from a Costco trip the weekend before) ordered the squash ravioli – yum. Adam, the birthday boy, had a steak. His favourite, the filet mignon was was perfectly cooked and so tender. It was a great night out.

Side note – our first four dates Adam ordered a steak, and remarked to me that “you’re going to think all I eat is steak” (which was basically true, since he doesn’t cook ;) ). I’d like to think his palate is MUCH more developed since I moved in. This boy did not eat anything when he was younger, pasta – no sauce, disliked onions, didn’t eat stuffing etc etc. I’ve heard many stories from his mom. Which is the opposite of my childhood, where my Dad sauteed liver and onions, we had whole lambs hanging out in the garage, and we ate chicken hearts with rice and parmesan cheese. Obviously you must know by now I have a love of food. All foods. There are no options in my kitchen, unfortunately, and he learned to love many new foods. Including, mussels. I know.

But, I digress. The birthday boy’s week continued, with Saturday night’s party. I had invited about 12 of our friends over for dinner. I made a giant pot of slow cooker pulled pork – my first time, and it was a huge success. I used this recipe, which worked perfeclty. I did double/triple the sauce as I had four small/medium pork roasts in one slow cooker. I got all the fixings for fajitas, guac, salsa, cheese, sour cream, black beans, lettuce, etc. and we all had a mexican themed dinner. It was very delicious. We will be eating pulled pork for days.

This has become a long winded post, but on to the cupcakes. I had seen this post by one of my cake idols, and sweet blog addiction, Sweetapolita, the queen of all pretty cake delicacies.

I knew I wanted to make them, because 1. They had Nutella ‘Cloud’ frosting, and 2. They were covered in sprinkles. I love a good yellow birthday cake, and so created the vanilla version of the cupcakes for our dinner party. I had made Adam’s sister as another ‘baby meal’  packaged it up, and gave them four cupcakes as well. Apparently they were eaten two-by-two. And I needed to include more next time ;) Everyone loved this frosting, it truly is like a cloud, not heavy, not overly sweet and a perfect component for the yellow cake base.

And to end the birthday week, we did have a birthday dinner at his parents Sunday night, with his sister and brother-in-law, along with our sweet little niece. Adam requested a Birthday Pie, as he did last year. Apple pie is his favourite. I was told the pie was a close replica to their grandmothers. A lovely compliment, as we know grandmother’s make the best pies.

Cookies, Cake and Pie. I’d say he had a good birthday. Oh, and I bought him a video game.. though I may regret that one.

Simple Birthday Cupcakes

Sometimes simple is good. No fanciness, no fondant decorations. Just good old fashioned birthday cake.

Yellow Butter Cake
Slightly adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

Ingredients:

● 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
● 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
● 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising) *Don’t have cake flour? I recently made this cake with a recipe for it!*
● 1 tbsp. baking powder
● 1/2 tsp. salt
● 1 cup sugar
● 4 large eggs
● 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
● 1 1/4 cups milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Into a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined after each addition.

Divide batter between the cupcake liners, I use 1/4 cup to scoop them in. Bake for 18 minutes, until golden on top.

Let cool completely before frosting. Best served the day of.

Nutella Cloud Frosting
Recipe from Sweetapolita

Yield: Enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes (I frosted 24)

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (227 grams/8 ounces/2 sticks), softened, but cool

1 cup (125 grams/4.5 ounces) icing sugar (confectioners’ or powdered)

2 teaspoons (10 mL) pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup (125 grams/4 ounces) premium bittersweet chocolate

1/3 cup (100 grams/3.5 ounces) Nutella

1 tablespoon (15 mL) milk

Method:

1. In a bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine the icing sugar and butter and beat on low speed (I use #2 on my KitchenAid mixer) for about 1 minute.

2. Add vanilla, and beat on low speed until well combined. Add the melted and slightly cooled chocolate and beat on medium speed (I use #4 on my KitchenAid mixer) until smooth (about 2 minutes).

3. Add the Nutella and mlik and beat on med-high speed for another minute.

4. Brace yourself.

Or..something like that. Maybe not in Greece, but resembling Greece! So my old neighbor asked me to decorate a cake for a friends 50th birthday, and the birthday theme was Greece! So I decided to come up with a Santorini inspired cake! I used fondant for the top and cut it out to look like the skyline, with the famous blue doors and roof. I used graham cracker crumbs for the sand and made a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream =) I like the way it turned out, and the birthday girl loved it!

First off I’d like to wish my mom a Happy Birthday!! As I mentioned earlier, my mom has been away at the Dominican Republic for a week! And today is her Birthday! But she isn’t home til tomorrow, friday, missing her birthday! So I thought I would bake her a cake so she could have it when she gets home! A birthday isn’t a birthday without cake! Also, I’ve gotten my final grades back and was super happy to receive a B in Biology! So all that stressing, and even lack of baking paid off! So, I think I deserve a piece of cake too!

Ever since I made the Zucchini cake I’ve been wanting to make a carrot cake, mostly so I could use my shredder attachment again! But also, my mom loves carrot cake as well! I was originally going to make another one from the Joy of Cooking, but then compared the two and liked the additions of coconut to the cake, also it seemed to make more. So, from the book I got for my birthday last year, Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my home to yours, I decided to try out her Bill’s Big Carrot Cake. So far I’ve loved everyting I’ve baked from it, including the white out devils food cake, which I made for my brother’s birthday in March, which was de-licious!! So here’s the recipe for the carrot cake! It’s definitely a winner.

Bill’s Big Carrot Cake

From Baking: from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan
Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted with a shredding a blade or use a box grater, i used my KitchenAid with the shredding blade and baby carrots)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
• ½ cup moist, plump raisins
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup canola oil
• 4 large eggs
• *I also added about a cup of crushed & drained pineapple

Getting ready:

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.

To make the cake:

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.
2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. It will resemble custard or Jell-o at this point.
3. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.
4. Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
5. The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract. If you’d like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut in.

*I toasted some coconut beforehand, and sprinkled it on top of the first layer in the middle of the cake.

To assemble the cake:
Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting. Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:
This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it’s good plain, it’s even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Happy Birthday Mom! xox From Me & The animals