Tuesday, April 20, 2010

celebrating 4 years

Wyatt recently turned four. We had lots of family out to the "farmette" for the celebration. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he promptly replied, "A big brown cake with brown icing and fruit in it." Made to order.

The boys spent a bit of time in the baseball diamond...


We all enjoyed the glorious weather...

The kids had a hard time parting with the golf cart...


And the birthday boy talked for days about how fantastic the day turned out to be.

***Since posting this, I've had a request for the cake recipe I used. It's my own adaptation of the Magnolia Bakery cupcake recipe. I think I've managed to find a recipe the adults like and that I don't feel *as badly* about giving to my kids. Here goes:
Chocolate Layer Cake
2 c. whole wheat white flour
1 t. baking soda
3/4 c. good quality organic butter (or 1 and 1/2 sticks)
1 c. maple syrup
1 c. brown sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 c. buttermilk or sour milk (I actually used almond milk with a teaspoon or two of vinegar because that was what I had)
1 t. vanilla
Combine flour and baking soda. Cream brown sugar and butter. Add maple syrup. Add eggs, one at a time. Add melted chocolate.
Add dry alternately with milk and vanilla.
Pour into two 9 in cake pans and bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes or until cake tester is clean.
Icing:
1/2 c. good quality organic butter
powdered sugar (start with 4 c. and add from there if needed)
1/2 c. milk (again, I used almond)
2 t. vanilla
melted unsweeted chocolate or cocoa to desired chocolaty-ness
I iced the first layer, put on a layer of raspberries (reserving three for garnish), then squashed the top layer on and iced the whole thing. Garnish with a dusting of cocoa powder and the three left-over raspberries.





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