A {One}derful Birthday Weekend

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Long post alert!

My baby is ONE!  How did this happen?  His birthday was Friday the 13th this year (kinda rad, I think) and I took the day off of work so we could spend the day as a family celebrating our sweet boy.  We drove up to Avila Valley Barn, about an hour away, and had the best time!  Ayden got to meet and feed lots of animals.  He got a kick out of the goats and one patient goat even let him yank on his ear.

Avila Valley Barn is an adorable spot and has a beautiful market full of local honey and produce, fresh pies and bakery items and lots of fun trinkets like vintage-style kitchen stuff and kids' books.  Also on-site is a deli/bakery/candy and ice cream shoppe.  After feeding the animals we ordered lunch from the deli and sat outside watching the farmer drive the tractor along the fields, which Ayden totally loved.  Lunch was so yummy and Ayden enjoyed sharing my caprese sandwich with me.

We're the parents that let their kid stick his hands in the goat pen.

After lunch we decided to hit the road and work our way back south.  We stopped in Los Olivos at Enjoy Cupcakes and got Ayden his very first cupcake for his birthday.  :)  Outside the shoppe was the cutest little picnic bench that was just his size.  He looked so darn cute sitting there like a big boy chowing down on his cupcake!  He threw the frosting on the ground but definitely liked the cake part.

On Saturday we had a little party for him at Steven's Park.  It was a gorgeous day out and even though he was a no-nap-ninja he had fun playing on the playground with his friends.  He was pretty pooped out by presents time, so Momma got to do most of the un-wrapping ;)

Party details

We didn't really have a "theme," per se, but kept everything green and blue.  I'm a sucker for the little details, so I had fun with the little things.  I put together some simple favor bags for the kiddos: glow stick necklaces and mini bubbles for all, superhero bandaids for the boys, princess mini purses for the girls, and for the older girl I found some mini nail polishes and damage-free hair ties.  The bags were finished off with green and white kitchen twine and personalized thank you tags.

Dessert was provided by Enjoy Cupcakes and we had three cuppie flavors: chocolate with cream cheese frosting, raspberry cheesecake and mini salted caramel.  They were a hit all around!  Lunch was chicken, tri-tip, rice and beans from Chicken Ranch and I grabbed a big fruit salad from Whole Foods.  (Ya like how I listed dessert first??  ha!)

I made a little smash cake for A, (recipe here) and made a basic buttercream frosting which I tinted blue with a couple drops of food tint gel.  Although he loved his cupcake the day before, he gagged on the frosting on his smash cake and then was over it.  Womp.  Apparently Momma's bakery isn't as good as the pros. My favorite cake detail was the adorable cake topper I got from Alexis Mattox Design.  It's too beautiful to toss, so I'm going to keep it in his baby book.

We had such a great weekend celebrating our sweet boy.  I can't believe he is already a whole year old.  I cried my eyes out tucking him into bed on the eve of his birthday but surprisingly was okay on his actual birthday.  We are so proud of our sweet, inquisitive boy and are excited to see what the next year brings.

Happy birthday, Ayden Lucas.  You are the light of our lives.  We love you more than all the stars in the sky.





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Lemon Cake with Strawberries and Almond Buttercream

Pin It Now! I have one word for you - Yum.  And summer.  Okay, so two words.  You are going to love today's recipe.  The cake comes from Cooking Light and is moist and fluffy.  The lemon flavor is not overdone, which makes for a great springtime or summertime dessert.

I wanted to spruce up the cake a bit, so I filled it with a layer of lemon curd and fresh strawberry slices.  Lemon and strawberries are the perfect combination.  Like chocolate and peanut butter.  Like strawberries and chocolate.  Like - well, you get the idea.  They're a match made in dessert heaven.

The grande finale in this whole story is a light and decadent almond buttercream frosting.  Are you familiar with almond extract?  It is wonderfully fragrant.  Try it in your next recipe in place of vanilla.  My mom makes these amazing almond shortbread cookies at Christmastime and when they are warm from the oven and rolled in powdered sugar they are melt-in-your mouth delicious.  I just may have to make a batch so you can see the deliciousness. 

Anyway, back to the cake...  Head's up - when it comes to the lemon curd filling, make sure to leave a bit of room on the edges.  I spread lemon curd all the way to the edge of the cake and it started to ooze out a bit after I put the second layer of cake on top.

Lemon Cake
2 c AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (that seemed like a lot to me, so I did 1/4 tsp)
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs
1 c nonfat buttermilk
zest of one lemon
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Lemon curd (you'll need a bit less than a jar)
Fresh strawberries (a handful, just depends on the size of them)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare 2 8-inch round cake pans: butter pans, line with parchment paper, butter and flour parchment paper.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In the bowl of your mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Finally, mix in lemon zest and juice.  Divide batter among prepared pans.  Bake approx 30 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pans for five minutes, then invert onto baking racks and remove parchment to cool completely before filling/frosting.

Almond Buttercream
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp pure almond extract
zest of one lemon

In the bowl of your mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy.  Slowly mix in powdered sugar, mixing well.  Add in almond extract and lemon zest and beat until thoroughly mixed.  Make sure you lick the paddle attachment.  It's what all the pros do.

Ginelle's "June Cleaver" Chocolate Cake

Pin It Now! A couple of weeks ago, my friend Ginelle surprised me with the most stunning scrapbook I have ever laid my eyes on.  Ginelle is extremely creative and unbelievable talented when it comes to scrapping (not to mention cooking and pretty much everything else!)  Any time she would share her latest project with me I was always blown away.

Well let me tell you...  she really outdid herself this time.

She created every element of this scrapbook herself, right down to the pages, literally hand cutting the heart shape over and over for each page.  We share a love for all things Twilight, and the paper she found for this project is undoubtedly very Twilight-esque... deep reds, black gothic details... very romantic.  My bumbling words don't do this piece justice (neither do my photos).  It is absolutely one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever received and one that will be cherished.

On to the cake...  Last year when I asked Ginelle what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she answered, "A homemade, very June Cleaver-y chocolate cake."  And I knew exactly where I would go for just such a cake.

Ina Garten's cookbook, "Barefoot Contessa At Home", features this decadent cake.  It is, without a doubt, the absolute best chocolate cake you will find anywhere.  Trust me.  I've eaten a lot of chocolate cake from a lot of different places, and this is the real deal. I've never come across a cake that stays as moist as this cake, and the buttercream is sinfully rich.  Note: the recipe for the buttercream calls for an egg yolk to give more depth to the flavor and give the icing a nice shine.  I leave this out as most people aren't comfortable with the idea. 

Ginelle loved this cake, so what better way can I say "thank you" than with her very own June Cleaver chocolate cake?  :)

Always make sure your ingredients are at room temperature (yes, even the eggs and buttermilk).  It truly does make a difference.

Ginelle's "June Cleaver" Chocolate Cake

from Ina Garten
1 3/4 c flour
2 c granulated sugar
3/4 c cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter two 8" round cake pans and line with parchment.  Butter the parchment.  Dust pans with flour.

In your mixer, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt on low speed.  In a separate bowl whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.  Carefully beat the wet ingredients into the dry until just incorporated.  Then (SLOWLY!) mix in the hot coffee.  Divide batter evenly between both prepared pans.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 30 minutes in the pans, then invert onto cooling racks.  Once cakes are completely cooled, frost with chocolate buttercream.

Chocolate Buttercream

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter - softened
1 lg egg yolk (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
1 c + 1 tbsp sifted powdered sugar
1 tbsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 2 tsp hot water

Melt chocolate and set aside to cool.  In mixer bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy.  Add in egg yolk and vanilla and beat for one minute, scraping down the side of the bowl with a spatula.  Slowly beat in the confectioner's sugar on low speed (unless you want a sugar storm!).  Add the coffee and chocolate and beat until fully incorporated.

Set one layer of the cake on a cake stand, flat side up.  Spread 1/3 of the buttercream across the top.  Add the second cake layer and frost with remaining buttercream.  Summon all your willpower not to immediately dive into the cake.  Enjoy!!

 

I promise this isn't waiting for you in that cake box, G ;)