Today I Bake

Today is my daughter's thirteenth birthday. She is the baker in the family. Mostly incredibly delicious and decorative cupcakes, brownies, cookies, or candy treats. Those are her favorites. When she was little, we made her cakes at home. When she got older, and we got busier, we bought cakes from the bakery or grocery store. I haven't baked a cake for quite a while.

For her thirteenth birthday, she wanted me to bake her cake. Now, if circumstances were different, she probably would have just picked it out, but the option was, "Do you want me to bake it, or do you want to bake it?"
She wanted to be surprised. I was glad to be the surpriser but also a little nervous my skills would be rusty.

I got my parchment cut to a circle and greased my pans, then dusted the side with flour. So far, so good.

Getting them out was a bit nerve-wracking but went incredibly better than expected. 

I let them cool a very long time and whipped my frosting up to lighten the color and texture. Then came time get them on the platter, stack, and frost. 

Again, surprisingly, this went super well. I did forget to do a crumb coating first, but it worked out okay, and I moved forward anyway. 

Then came the sprinkles, which was super fun, and super messy, and I'll likely find sprinkles for days even after sweeping, wiping, vacuuming, and running the rumba. Yes, all of those, in that order. Still finding those little pearls. 

But, as you can see, I did not go light on the sprinkles. They had to be everywhere! And they are. My girl deserves it. It will be a moment of happiness on this happiest of days, even amongst the sad craziness that continues outside.