So, since I last wrote, waaaay back in April, much has transpired. First, I will share with you the yummies I have been baking :)
Glenn's birthday was May 29th. Since gift giving is a challenge to both of us, we generally go out to dinner and/or bake a cake for each other. (Well, Glenn doesn't bake, but rather makes the drive to Baker's Square every year for my favorite cherry pie!) This year was no different. I got my cherry pie, and Glenn got a birthday cake. And not just any birthday cake... no, no. He got a chocolate hazelnut layer cake with hazelnut mousse and homemade chocolate curls on top! His new favorite. (I stole the recipe from Erica's Sweet Tooth... thanks Erica, whoever you are!)
At first, I was feeling really guilty for only baking a cake. What kind of a wife doesn't get her husband a present for his birthday? I started planning on making a really nice card for him and surprising him with a nice dinner and birthday cake for dessert. Ok, that sounds a little better. So, I woke up the morning of the 29th, wished my dear husband a happy birthday and sent him off to work for the day. I set out to the grocery store to buy the missing ingredients to make the best birthday cake in the world for the best husband in the world. When I got home ( now about 1 in the afternoon... I know, I had a slow start..) I started organizing myself in the kitchen. Apron on, check. Mixer ready, check. Ingredients collected from all corners and placed neatly on the counter, check. 2 cake pans prepped and ready, check. (At this point, I will pause to note that if you haven't heard of lining the bottom of your cake pan with parchment paper, it's a nifty trick that can save lots of aggravation when it comes to getting the cake out of the pan. A step I skipped this time around...) I began stirring, mixing, pouring, baking, whipping and started to feel like a pro. Things were coming together nicely and in plenty of time for me to work on the card I was planning to make. I pulled the cakes out of the oven, and they looked fantastic. I made the hazelnut mousse while the cakes were cooling, still feeling quite proud of myself, I wondered "why do people think this is so difficult? This is easy and FUN!" Yay for cake.
And then when I turned out the cake, this happened:
And This :
And all of the sudden, it was 4 o'clock, I didn't have a card, my husband was going to be home in an hour, and baking was not fun anymore. I did the only thing one can do, when it's your husbands' birthday and you don't have a cake. I started over. Thankfully, I had enough ingredients and didn't have to go back to the store.. that could have been a complete disaster. As it was, I thought "well, at least I have the mousse made, and I've done this already and I should be able to get this done before he comes home. Wrong!! One hour is not enough time to put a cake together, even if you have the mousse made. And so, my darling husband came home on his birthday to find the kitchen an absolute pigsty. Dishes were piled high in the sink, chocolate and egg whites dripping onto the counter and stove, cocoa, flour and cake crumbs fallen onto the floor, and a sweaty, flustered, dirty wife trying to force a welcoming smile. I explained to him that I was trying to surprise him. Surprise! there's no dinner! Surprise! there's no present! Surprise! there's no cake... yet! He graciously smiled, gave me a kiss, nibbled on the collapsed heap of chocolate mess that still lay cooling on the counter.. "Oh my gosh, this is AWESOME. I think this is the best cake EVER! If you made all your cakes like this, I would be a happy man!" he declared. How kind. He went to settle himself down after work, and I scrambled to try to assemble my second cake.
And then, this happened:
Ok, ok . It wasn't that bad, but it added to the drama of an already chaotic cake baking experience.
With my husbands enduring patients, I was able to assemble a somewhat presentable, but far from perfect birthday cake (I still can't cut straight layers) by about 8:30 or 9 pm. Don't ask me what took so long, or how baking a cake took 9 hours, but somehow, it did. But, the silver lining is that it really was delicious, and who doesn't want cake for dinner? He even made me save the scraps from the first cake which we froze and enjoyed a week later.
Happy Birthday my sweet! I love you.
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