Last year I made this beauty.
It was a fig and crystallized ginger cake with a lemon cream cheese icing. It was so incredible. I wanted it to be just perfect, and it lived up to my desires. I put a lot of thought into planning this cake, altering my fig cake recipe with the leftover crystallized ginger I had in the pantry, and tweaking the cream cheese icing I use for carrot cake with lemon juice to complement the fig flavor. This cake takes time to make, because you first have to make fig jam. But that's exactly what makes it so moist.
The year before I made something simple. I made Molly's adaptation of Edna Lewis's Busy Day Cake. Then, not wanting to ruin it with icing (I'm actually not a big fan of icing, though the previous photo may have made you believe so) I just topped it with some simmered mixed berries. And it was melt in your mouth amazing.
Even before I baked from scratch, way back in high school when I was into a different sort of baking (wink wink), I liked to make cakes. I liked to surprise unsuspecting friends with a birthday cake every now and then. I enjoyed being the girl who brings the cake to the party.
When I took on the endeavor to bake and cook from scratch, I continued to make cakes for friends, but they got better. This one is a pretty little number, made for my friend Mimi.
I especially love planning and making my own birthday cake, because it's for my birthday. Which means it can be whatever kind of cake I want. That's exciting! But also a bit of a chore, because I like pretty much any kind of cake. In fact, I've never met a cake I didn't like. In case you ever wondered where the name of this blog came from, perhaps it would help to know that I just love cake in general. And I love to make cakes for no particular reason. Here are a few of my favorites.
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| fig cake |
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| french yogurt cake with tangelo glaze |
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| standby fresh apple cake |
Needless to say, it's not that I haven't planned my cake for lack of options. Rather, lack of time and quite honestly, lack of care. This year so much has been going on that I haven't put much thought into my cake, but I better start planning right now.
What kind of cake do you like to eat on your birthday?
3 comments:
What beautiful cakes you make! Last year I made a lemon meringue ice cream cake topped with fresh raspberries for my birthday. It was the first time that I ever tried to make anything like it.
I had chocolate espresso cake AND strawberry shortcake last night, as a belated birthday from Murphy's. =D
can't wait to see what you come up with this year!
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