On Daddy’s birthday I awoke early hoping to slip out of the house to buy some french bread from a local bakery. Alas, my son heard me getting ready to leave and insisted on accompanying me to the bakery. We got into the car and drove the three miles to the bakery. I got a loaf of bread and my son, thanks to his good looks, got a free chocolate chip cookie. We headed home to make daddy a special birthday breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and french pressed coffee. As I got the pancake batter prepared, daddy and daughter woke up and came downstairs too. Our son presented his (and his sister’s) painting to daddy with a happy birthday hug. Of course daddy loved the painting and really appreciated the hand prints too.
After breakfast we sent daddy downstairs to work on his dissertation so that we could make his birthday cake which was going to be a surprise… daddy knew I was making a cake but he did not know what kind. Making cakes takes a lot of forward thinking. I had planned it all out days before and had all the ingredients. One of the secrets to making a really yummy and successful cake is making sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature before beginning. I had everything ready to go and the cake batter came together nicely with my son’s assistance. I divided the batter into three round seven inch cake pans, transferred all three pans into the preheated oven, and set the timer for twenty minutes. After twenty minutes I checked the cake and the batter was completely uncooked! Somehow my preheated oven was turned off! I quickly turned the oven back on to a slightly higher heat and set the timer for another ten minutes; completely paranoid that the cake would not rise properly. Thankfully, the cake baked without any other problems…
(To be continued…)