The Best Birthday Cake Ever
Today is NOT my birthday. It is however, Paul McCartney's 71st birthday. (If you're reading this...Happy Birthday Paul! Stop using the hair dye and go gray -- you looked great when you were going salt and pepper in the 1980s and I know you'd look even better now). I've been a McCartney fan since the 1970s. (For me McCartney discovery came BEFORE the Beatles. Backwards, I know, but I've always been a little off kilter!) and the music of Paul McCartney and the Beatles (together and as solo artists) is what brought me and my husband together in a round about kind of way, but that's a whole other LONG story.
Believe it or not, today's blog is NOT about Paul McCartney. Or about Brian Wilson who also has a birthday this week. It's not even about the fact that two men who are both incredible song writers were born just days apart but on completely different sides of the globe. Today's column is about birthday cake. The best birthday cake EVER!
While today may be my birthday, I did have one a few weeks back. (No asking how old I am...let's just say I stopped counting at 25.) For my birthday, my wonderful husband bought me a birthday cake. The BEST birthday cake EVER! It was also my first birthday cake ever, which is one the reasons it was the best birthday cake ever. (Although not the only reason.) Let me explain...
For those of you who don't know me (or don't know me all that well), I allergic to eggs. SEVERELY ALLERGIC! When I say severe, I mean severe! Just a tiny morsel of anything with egg in it will send me to the ER (and that's after I been injected with epinephrine). You cook eggs on the grill and then grill my hamburger, I'm going to end up in the hospital. Just cooking eggs in the house will send me for my inhaler (although, thankfully it will NOT send me to the hospital).
So needless to say, I never had a birthday cake. That's not to say my mom didn't try. She did. And even with Egg Replacer (we've been using http://www.ener-g.com/ Ener-G Egg Replacer for just about as long as it's been on the market) cakes tended to fall flat. Not that they didn't taste good...they just didn't look right.
Then, last fall, something wonderful happened in our town...a vegan cupcake bakery opened! (http://www.pinkfrostingbakery.com/). Unlike Paul McCartney, I am NOT a vegetarian, but vegetarian cupcakes that use no eggs; count me in! The minute the bakery finally opened their doors, I was there! Their cupcakes were/are delicious. My husband was unconvinced. And then he tasted on and became a convert. I became Pink Frosting's number one customer. I tried every flavor they had to offer. I even started rating them. (Chocolate Swirl is #1 followed closely by Banana Split and Chocolate Lovers). For someone who had never had a cupcake in her life, I was in heaven!
A few weeks before my birthday we happened to be buying cupcakes and my husband decided it was time to order a cake for me (although Pink Frosting mostly makes cupcakes, they also make cakes to order and sometimes they even have cookies!). It was an easy decision for me...a Chocolate Swirl cake for me! (That's delicious chocolate cake with a creamy filling and chocolate icing...not unlike the Hostess Cupcakes of yore, only moister and egg free!).
On the afternoon of my birthday, I picked up the cake on my way home from work. It was a thing of beauty. And written on the top of the cake, instead of the swirl, was "Happy Birthday Beth."
After dinner, we put a candle on the cake, lit it and my husband and son sang to me. I blew out that candle, made a wish and for the very first time in my life, cut a piece of birthday cake. It was the BEST Birthday Cake EVER. Moist and chocolaty. And even better the next afternoon when we shared the remains with my parents.
It truly was the best birthday cake ever. Not just because it was a delicious cake, but because it was my first birthday cake. It was the singing, the blowing out of the candle, the cutting, and of course the eating. It was the whole birthday cake "experience" that made this the BEST BIRTHDAY CAKE EVER!
(Now how are they going to top it next year???)
Believe it or not, today's blog is NOT about Paul McCartney. Or about Brian Wilson who also has a birthday this week. It's not even about the fact that two men who are both incredible song writers were born just days apart but on completely different sides of the globe. Today's column is about birthday cake. The best birthday cake EVER!
While today may be my birthday, I did have one a few weeks back. (No asking how old I am...let's just say I stopped counting at 25.) For my birthday, my wonderful husband bought me a birthday cake. The BEST birthday cake EVER! It was also my first birthday cake ever, which is one the reasons it was the best birthday cake ever. (Although not the only reason.) Let me explain...
For those of you who don't know me (or don't know me all that well), I allergic to eggs. SEVERELY ALLERGIC! When I say severe, I mean severe! Just a tiny morsel of anything with egg in it will send me to the ER (and that's after I been injected with epinephrine). You cook eggs on the grill and then grill my hamburger, I'm going to end up in the hospital. Just cooking eggs in the house will send me for my inhaler (although, thankfully it will NOT send me to the hospital).
So needless to say, I never had a birthday cake. That's not to say my mom didn't try. She did. And even with Egg Replacer (we've been using http://www.ener-g.com/ Ener-G Egg Replacer for just about as long as it's been on the market) cakes tended to fall flat. Not that they didn't taste good...they just didn't look right.
Then, last fall, something wonderful happened in our town...a vegan cupcake bakery opened! (http://www.pinkfrostingbakery.com/). Unlike Paul McCartney, I am NOT a vegetarian, but vegetarian cupcakes that use no eggs; count me in! The minute the bakery finally opened their doors, I was there! Their cupcakes were/are delicious. My husband was unconvinced. And then he tasted on and became a convert. I became Pink Frosting's number one customer. I tried every flavor they had to offer. I even started rating them. (Chocolate Swirl is #1 followed closely by Banana Split and Chocolate Lovers). For someone who had never had a cupcake in her life, I was in heaven!
A few weeks before my birthday we happened to be buying cupcakes and my husband decided it was time to order a cake for me (although Pink Frosting mostly makes cupcakes, they also make cakes to order and sometimes they even have cookies!). It was an easy decision for me...a Chocolate Swirl cake for me! (That's delicious chocolate cake with a creamy filling and chocolate icing...not unlike the Hostess Cupcakes of yore, only moister and egg free!).
On the afternoon of my birthday, I picked up the cake on my way home from work. It was a thing of beauty. And written on the top of the cake, instead of the swirl, was "Happy Birthday Beth."
After dinner, we put a candle on the cake, lit it and my husband and son sang to me. I blew out that candle, made a wish and for the very first time in my life, cut a piece of birthday cake. It was the BEST Birthday Cake EVER. Moist and chocolaty. And even better the next afternoon when we shared the remains with my parents.
It truly was the best birthday cake ever. Not just because it was a delicious cake, but because it was my first birthday cake. It was the singing, the blowing out of the candle, the cutting, and of course the eating. It was the whole birthday cake "experience" that made this the BEST BIRTHDAY CAKE EVER!
(Now how are they going to top it next year???)
First birthday cake? Methinks that means you can start counting birthdays from this year forward. ;)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your first cake!! Who would have thought that the current vegan craze would have such a neat effect for someone like you!
ReplyDelete