let her eat cake

I have more respect for chemistry after our Colorado vacation. Since we were gone on Leah's actual birthday we talked about ordering a cake vs. making a cake for the special day. Neither I or my mother-in-law had baked many cakes at high elevations, but she happened to have a box of strawberry cake mix (with alternate instructions for baking at higher elevations) so we figured it would be fun to try.

As it turns out the instructions on the back of the box may work just fine if you are at elevations of approx. 3000 feet above sea level. Apparently there are lots of other different rules to follow if you are between 3000 and 7000 feet and once you are as high as we were... you should just order your cake from the bakery in town. (We obviously didn't realize this as we were at 10,000 feet.) This is a long explanation, but when you look at the first picture you will understand why I feel the need to do so much explaining. :)

I have to add a disclaimer that my mother-in-law is a GREAT baker of desserts... and an excellent cake decorator as well... so just remember that we were working under harsh baking conditions with very limited resources.

First Julie made a batch of brownies for the skiers who would need a snack when they came off the slopes. In the same pan, half of the brownies were just barely cooked, while the other half were so well-done they couldn't be chiseled loose from the pan, they had to be soaked off. Later that day, when both layers of strawberry cake had fallen so badly in the middle they looked like soup bowls, Julie had the idea to fill the "strawberry cake bowl" with the brownie goo and mound it up in the center so that it actually pushed the top layer up too...Would you ever know there is a huge mound of brownie goo in the middle of this lovely, perfectly flat-topped layer cake? And it was good!! I guess I shouldn't be surprised... actually... I can't think of anything that is wrong with stuffing cake with brownies. More people should do it!And just look at her face when she saw it!

So when we got home from Colorado, it had been 2 weeks since my parents had seen their little princess. They were on vacation the week we before we left and we missed them by just a few hours. So my mom made Leah a birthday cake as soon as we got home. Coincidentally, strawberry again! This one was her mother's recipe. Mmmm! And its a good one.

And Leah's very own tea-cup-cake. She is a big fan of cake at all elevations. Leah was able to catch up on all the flips she had missed while Bibby was gone. Also caught up on lots of silly time with Pops.For cake #3... (and yes I do believe this is excessive, but, I had already planned the party before the other 2 cakes were spontaneously made and eaten) ...I made a 2 layer chocolate cake and chocolate cupcakes! (Oh and chocolate mini cupcakes for the top of the cake.)

After having a mishap with my oven thermostat which ruined the first 2 batches of cupcakes, I calculated that I must have spent more than 10 hours making these desserts, at the completion of which I may have heard Kevin tell me to get a life... or a job... or something like that. This girl likes to party! And she LOVES to eat cake. I didn't get many pictures of the birthday party, but my sister did. She has been preoccupied with shepherd dreams and has been unable to get me the party pictures... I will forgive her... since she is going to let me name one of her sheep!!! :)