What do you do when you can’t decide on a single cake recipe for your birthday? You claim the entire month for your birthday and have a different cake each week
Week One: Grapefruit Cake with Grapefruit Curd and Cream Cheese Frosting. Thank you to TheMistressT who posted her birthday version of this cake. I omitted the poppyseeds and I wished I had trusted my inclination to sub a different cream cheese frosting. The recipe’s frosting was too sweet for me. I ended up adding extra cream cheese and lemon juice to cut the sweetness. In the end the cake was yummy and the grapefruit flavor shone through.
Week two:Chocolate Stout Cake with Carmel Buttercream Biggest change I made was to omit the powdered sugar in the buttercream. I made the caramel the night before, rewarmed it in a double boiler till soft, and then mixed in the butter. It came together beautifully and when I tasted it, I decided not to add the powdered sugar. This cake was everything I hoped it would be scrumptious, rich, and chocolatey with a velvety buttercream that was to. die. for.
Week Three: Gingerbread Cake with Coffee French Buttercream Filling, Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and Molasses Toffee Drip. Recipe is from Tessa Huff’s cookbook, Layered. This was also delicious and the coffee French buttercream was decadent. It’s the perfect cake to have with black coffee or a strong cup of tea.
Week Four:Lemon Poppyseed Cake with blueberry lemon curd and blueberry Swiss meringue buttercream. I was inspired by the Blueberry Galaxy Cake in Tessa Huff’s second cookbook, Icing on the Cake. Though my buttercream is a lovely shade of purple, it doesn’t have much blueberry flavor. I think next time I will try reducing my blueberry juice to see if that ups the flavor. Regardless, the cake is so good and tastes like the promise of spring.
This is the most cake I have ever made in a month. I had fun choosing recipes, though it was still hard to narrow down. Definitely would make all of them again, but probably not in a single month!
Yummy!
We celebrate “Birthday Month” too; mine, like yours, is about over. I just did one “cake”, my favorite cherry pie a la mode. I’m doing low carb, so just had it the one night, and hubby finished it off for me.
However, I’ve been giving myself other kinds of treats. A new storage unit for fabric, “me time” crafting, supplies, and a final dinner out tonight. Carbs may be involved in that. Best birthday month EVER!
