A Birthday…

Tags

6 layers, 6 years, Anna, birthday, cake, rainbow

We celebrated Anna’s 6th birthday this Saturday, oh my how the time does fly by. It’s been a long and hard year for us this past year. We’ve moved, into an apartment that’s not far from our old one and is much larger but is one that we are unfortunately not happy with, I had a very difficult pregnancy with lots of pain and swelling and immobility near the end, we had our twins Lukas and Benjamin arrive shortly after the beginning of the new year and both needed an extended stay in the hospital and Lukas ultimately had a much longer stay, Anna had been sick with what seemed like the same cough and cold all winter long and right into the Spring months and Thomas and myself have also been sick this year much more than we usually are. The only reprieve we seemed to have from someone being sick was the 6 weeks that we spent in the US this summer in July and August. We had a really nice time visiting with family and friends for 5 weeks in NY and one week in RI. The summer was too short and upon our return to Germany we all fell ill again with a bad cold which has cycled through all of us twice now with almost no breaks in between. It has been sleepless nights with runny noses and fevers, short tempers and crying babies. To put it bluntly we have been miserable and have had even less time (Thomas and I) to ourselves these past two months than we did when the babies were first born. It took all I had in me with no sleep the night before, because Ben has been really sick with a bad head cold, to make Anna’s birthday cake. I baked the 6 layers on Friday and frosted and assembled it on Saturday. We celebrated her special day yesterday with a visit from her Oma and her Aunt and “Uncle”. We sang, she blew out one candle because I couldn’t find any of the birthday candles (which must have gotten lost in our move to the new house last fall) and the five of us put only a small dent in the six layer rainbow cake with pink frosting that had a marzipan horse on top. The cake was made to Anna’s specifications and with her expert help. It wasn’t too hard to make actually but was rather time consuming. We are planning a kid party which will include all of her close friends at a farm that hosts kid’s birthday parties next weekend. I hope the boys will be well by then. It’s hard to get anything done with two sick babies in the house. Anna got a pink skateboard, a magic kit, a blue bird that copies what you say, a stuffed unicorn and a bunch of new art supplies: watercolors, modeling clay, fabric pens, those colorful packing peanuts that you can stick together with water and create things and a few other things. I am truly exhausted as I type this and have no time to even post most days so I don’t know how often I’ll be able to keep up with my blog right now but I’ll do my best to check in every now and then.

Anna’s Rainbow Birthday Cake: with 6 Layers

For the Cakes

• I used this recipe doubled for the classic 1-2-3-4 cake

Make the cake batter one batch at a time. In a separate bowl take a third of the batter (about 2 cups) and mix with the food coloring of your choice. I used organic food derived food coloring for most of the cake layers. Prepare a nonstick 8 or 9 inch round cake pan by buttering it only and evenly spread the cake dough in the pan. Bake at 350° F for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick when inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Do this two more times with the other two-thirds of the cake batter and two different colors. I only have room for two pans in my oven so I baked two at a time and then the third cake afterwards. After about 10 minutes of cooling in the pan release the sides of the cake from the pan with a spatula and set on a rack to cool. When completely cool assemble the cake or wrap each layer with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for up to one day or in the freezer for longer until you are ready to assemble. Then make the cake batter again according to the recipe and repeat these steps with three more colors.

For the Frosting

• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• 1 package of Vanilla Pudding Mix or a packet of whipped cream stabilizer
• 1 packet Dr. Oetker’s Bourbon Vanilla or Seeds scraped from the inside of a Vanilla Bean or 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Sugar to taste
• Food Coloring (optional)
• Marzipan
• Assorted Berries

Whip the heavy cream with the pudding mix, vanilla, sugar to taste and food coloring until stiff. I added pink food coloring derived from raspberry concentrate. Top each layer of the cake with frosting and spread evenly over the cakes but not too close to the edges. Top the cake with berries and/or a marzipan design of your choice. Enjoy!

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Anna Is 5!

Tags

Anna, apples, baking, birthday, Birthday Cake, bread, cake, cake pops, caramel, dessert, friends, recipe, stick bread, stockbrot, strawberries, twist bread, vegetarian

Anna turned 5 yesterday! I just can’t believe what a big girl she’s getting to be now. We had a party for her with her friends on Friday afternoon and made stick-bread upon her request over a wood fire in our barbeque grill outside. We got lucky that the weather was actually quite nice for this time of year and we were able to spend most of the birthday party with the kids and their parents outdoors. I served cut up Elstar apples from a local apple orchard and homemade caramel sauce for dipping. Anna and I made chocolate cake pops for the kids the night before and kept them in the freezer until just before the party and at Anna’s request we served her favorite salad: cut up cucumbers and cherry tomatoes with feta cheese served with olive oil, salt and pepper. It was a pretty basic party but we had fun grilling our own bread on an open fire and spending the afternoon outside with family and friends on a lovely fall day.

Today we had a quiet day at home, as the weather was not as nice. And this afternoon we had a small family party, just Thomas, Anna and me, with a surprise birthday cake that I made for Anna while she was at Kindergarten yesterday morning. We gave her our few gifts that we had for her today and the big gift (Fluttershy from My Little Pony, as seen in the first picture above) she got from us on her birthday last night. She was very excited to turn 5 this year and I think her birthday weekend has been pretty full so far with family, friends and fun. She even told us last night after everyone went home after the party and we cleaned up and were getting ready for bed that she loved her birthday day but it was almost “too much birthday”! Oh I love my little, big girl!

 

Strawberries & Cream Layer Cake

Cake recipe adapted from Kristina’s Raspberry Cake via Sugar and Cloth
Frosting recipe adapted from Posie Gets Cozy’s Cloudburst Frosting

For the Cakes

• 1 3/4 cups granulated Sugar
• 2 sticks of unsalted Butter
• 3 cups Cake Flour, sifted
• 2 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 3 Eggs, room temperature
• 3 Egg Yolks, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups whole Milk
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Red Food Coloring (All natural if possible) *optional

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare 3 nine inch cake pans with butter and flour. Sift the flour into a medium sized bowl. Add the baking powder and salt and whisk together. In a larger bowl cream the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer or in a standing mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the butter/sugar mixture one at a time and beat in well between additions to incorporate. Add the three yolks all together and beat until everything is well combined. Blend in the vanilla extract. Then alternating between dry and wet ingredients add the flour mixture and the milk (in thirds) into the batter, beating well between additions. Add food coloring at this point, if using, and blend in well. Divide the batter evenly between the three nine inch pans and bake for 20-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. If you bake the cakes on more than one level in your oven you’ll need to rotate them half way through the projected baking time. Let the cakes cool slightly and then remove them from their pans to cool on a rack.

For the Frosting

• 1/4 cup all-purpose Flour
• 1 cup of whole Milk
• 2 sticks of softened Butter
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract or 1 packet of Dr. Oetker’s Bourbon Vanilla Extract
• 2 cups sifted Powdered Sugar
• Red Food Coloring (All natural if possible)

In a saucepan over medium heat combine the flour with the milk, whisking in the milk very slowly to avoid clumps. Whisk constantly until the mixture begins to thicken and is the consistency of pudding. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature until it has completely cooled. This may take a couple of hours. I left mine to cool for three hours so plan accordingly. In a large bowl cream the butter with the vanilla extract and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the roux to the frosting and continue to beat until well incorporated and becomes fluffy again. Add the desired amount of food coloring, if using, and blend in well.

To Assemble

• 1-2 jars of high fruit content Strawberry Jam (I used 75% fruit jam)
• 1 pint (about 400-500 ml) of Heavy Whipping Cream, whipped firmly
• 1-2 packages each of fresh Strawberries/Raspberries

Place a cooled cake on your serving platter. Spread evenly almost to the edges, but not quite with a layer of strawberry jam. Cover the jam layer with a generous layer of whipped cream. Lay a second cake on top of the cream layer and press down gently until the filling comes out to the edge and the top of the cake is even. Repeat with a layer of jam and whipped cream. Place the third cake on top pressing down gently again until level on top and the filling just comes to the edges. Cover the entire cake with frosting and smooth it out as best you can. Let the cake chill for at least 3 hours before serving and up to one day. Smooth the frosting out again if needed, it will be easier once it has chilled thoroughly. Add whole strawberries to the top and raspberries along the bottom before serving. Enjoy!