Merry-go-round of birthday cakes

Grand Island Dispatch, May 4, 2007

March and April in our family are birthday-brimful. There are seven birthdates in these two months. There are other months that are birthday-crowded, as well. But they don’t seem as closely spaced as these seven are.

Cake-baking to celebrate each one of the dates became rather overwhelming for me, the baker of record. So I arranged the celebrations to be grouped together.

No one complained.

We grouped three birthdays for a March party. Then we managed a grand party for this April 15 celebration of our California-based grandson’s day. Erin is in the Marines. He and his wife, Amanda, were in town for a wedding. His dad and step-mom put together a memorable party. I baked the cake.

The Texas “baby” and the Allegany, N.Y., one celebrated at their own places. The April 30 son got a special cake – his favorite – applesauce spice with lemon frosting.

There have been Sesame Street’s Big Bird cakes, a merry-go-round cake with peppermint stick and animal cracker decorations, and holly and berry cakes. You-name-it, I-did-it cakes.

There have been a few disastrous, slipped-apart two-layer cakes and some that barely served the number of cake-eaters invited. I always hide the cake from the celebrant’s view to maintain the element of surprise. The worst calamity was a chocolate cake with fudge frosting, baked for our youngest son, Michael. After a nice dinner, I went into the front bedroom to get the cake.

There sat Buffy in front of a low bench wearing a chocolate mustache, growling at me not to touch her private banquet. “Bad dog! Bad dog!” I rescued the half-eaten beauty and dashed it to the kitchen, carefully cutting away the areas with teeth marks. Using leftover frosting, I patched the cake and repositioned the 11 candles to upright locations.

It was a delicious cake. And despite the fact that chocolate is not good for dogs, Buffy suffered no ill effects.

We have had a few ice cream cakes and a couple of birthday pies. Variety is nice.

In the case of the Christmas Day birthday, one year our Karen celebrated twice. We thought it was quite fair to give her a half-year, warm June 25 birthday party. Young guests had fun at outdoor games.

My mother, Kay Pinner, started the half-year tradition for my brother by having his December birthday shifted to June. And Ward’s cake was a first, as well. Mother got her inspiration from a magazine. It was the first Merry-Go-Round cake. It looked spectacular. After a lunch for his friends – peanut butter and jelly sandwiches washed down with milk – out came the cake. Mother brought out her Gorham silver cake-server, her flowered Italian luncheon plates. We sang “Happy Birthday” and Mother tried to cut the cake. Her boiled frosting had hardened to something akin to concrete. The cake-server was sidelined in favor of a heavy-duty carving knife. The cake tasted just fine.

As a result of that fiasco, I never even considered making boiled frosting, though I do a seven-minute frosting. It’s relatively easy.

Here is our favorite chocolate cake:

Black Devil’s Food Cake

1/2-cup cocoa
1 cup hot coffee or hot water

In a small bowl, blend these two ingredients.

In a large bowl, put:

1/2-cup softened margarine
1 and 1/2-cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla.

Beat well. Mix together in a medium bowl:

1 and 1/2-cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4-teaspoon baking powder

Beat the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture alternately with the cocoa/coffee liquid.

Bake two eight-inch greased and floured pans for about 32 minutes or in a Bundt pan for about 40 minutes.

Frost with Chocolate Butter Frosting.

Chocolate Butter Frosting

1/2-cup butter (or margarine)
2/3-cup of cocoa, or three squares of unsweetened chocolate, melted
A dash of salt
3 cups of confectioner’s sugar
4 to 5 tablespoons vanilla.

If using cocoa, sift or mix cocoa with confectioner’s sugar.

Mix butter, sugar and vanilla. Stir in hot liquid and, if using melted unsweetened chocolate, add it. With an electric mixer, beat on a medium speed until well mixed. More liquid may be used if frosting is too stiff.

If frosting is too soft, add, a little at a time, more confectioner’s sugar.

Here is another favorite cake:

Applesauce Spice Cake

Grease and flour an 8- or 9-inch square pan.

Mix two cups of flour with 1/2-teaspoon salt. Add 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/2-teaspoon each of ground cloves and nutmeg. Combine in a large bowl:

1/2-cup margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs

Beat for two minutes.

Add:

1 cup of cold applesauce and the flour mixture, then 3/4-cup of raisins and a half-cup of chopped walnuts or pecans.

Bake at 350 degrees. For the 8- or 9-inch pan, bake about 40 minutes.

Frost with lemon or vanilla cream cheese frosting.

One more favorite:

Squash Poppy Seed Cake

1 medium butternut or acorn squash, steamed or baked, scooped out, cooled and mashed.
1 package yellow cake mix (1 pound, 2 and 1/4 ounces)
2/3-cup orange juice
3 eggs
1/4-cup poppy seeds

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Beat well.

Using a Bundt pan, greased and floured, pour batter into pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool. Invert pan onto serving plate.

Glaze with 1 to 1-and-1/2-cup confectioner’s sugar mixed with 2 to 3 tablespoons of orange juice. While glaze is still moist, set birthday candles in place.

If you don’t have a birthday coming along, save one of these special cakes for a Mother’s Day gift.

They will all love you, the baker.