Happy Birthday Graham!

Update: Below is the final version of the cake, just before it was devoured by five hungry people. I decided it looked too plain, so Natalie and I added strawberries around the edge for a cute floral look. Then Natalie lent the cake some of her little plastic fairies. It does look more like a cake for a 6-year-old girl than a middle-aged man, but then again Graham has never been afraid to stay in touch with his feminine side :) Anyway, we did all LOVE it.

Happy Birthday Graham!! For my chocoholic husband's Nth birthday, we woke him up with a box of chocolate truffles from Joseph Schmidt. It was a real treat for the kids to each have a luscious truffle each BEFORE breakfast. Later we will surprise him with this chocolate cake, made and iced with love by yours truly.

In the past, we've pieced together cakes as a kids' project and disguised all the flaws with mounds of candy decorations (making the dessert far to sweet for grownups' taste). This year I've actually put in the effort to make a two-layer cake from scratch (ok, the cake was actually a cake mix but I doctored it up, and the icing was 100% homemade, I swear!). It looks like something the resident dog at the Ace of Cakes might have made, but I'm proud of it as my first stab at a real cake. Oh and both icing and cake taste delicious (I snuck a taste), so regardless of how it looks, I know my husband will love it!

For more expressions of love, click here.