Friday, May 25, 2012

Favorite Friday! Birthday Cakes!

Missy, here. And who doesn't love a birthday celebration?

My husband recently had an...ahem...major birthday. One of the decade kind. :) And a wonderful friend from church surprised him with one of her special cakes.

I'm talking the kind of cakes that go up for auction in fundraisers and create bidding wars. One last year raised over $100 for the missions auction!

And Evelyn, bless her heart, spent four hours making one for my husband to celebrate his 50th!

Look at this amazing beauty--that must've weighed over ten pounds!


Seven luscious layers!

Evelyn said she uses two batches of batter and two batches of frosting to make these. And rather than try to slice layers, she bakes seven individual thin layers.

It was so huge we had to slice and freeze most of it. We put it in individual baggies and thaw out a few pieces at a time. The enjoyment will last for weeks!

Thank you, Evelyn, for your labor of love!

What's your favorite treat on your birthday?

16 comments:

  1. 14 layers....
    When you do a torte or an amazingly beauteous wonderful creation like this, even the frosting/filling counts as a layer.

    I would never kid you about something as serious as CAKE LAYERS... Because this cake rocks the biggest Kahuna, Missy Tippens! Happy birthday to Terry! And what a dear friend to go to that level of care...(handling and slicing whisper thin layers of tender cake is not easy... Ruthy wrecks them and pastes 'em together regularly. Can you say "Cake Wreck???") God bless Evelyn. I only wish, wish, wish I lived closer!

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  2. Ruthy, come on! We have a spare bedroom now that the oldest is living on his own! :)

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  3. By the way, Evelyn is an amazing woman. When we hadn't lived here long, and I had our women's circle to the parsonage for the first time, she offered to come help me clean that morning, to finish getting ready (I had 3 young kids at the time). She showed up early and vacuumed while I finished the refreshments! A great friend.

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  4. How many calories a layer? Or do birthday calories not count? That is one amazing cake. I don't even do two layer cakes! But it looks delicious. Great idea to freeze it. You'll have cake until Christmas! LOL.

    We're funny in my family because we like pies for birthdays, not that we'd ever turn down cake mind you so sometimes we have both. My birthday is in October so it's pumpkin pie and whipped cream for my birthday treat!

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  5. Hi all, would you believe I haven't had a birthday cake for I dont know how long. I think I got a half a black forrest cake I shared with a friend about 5 or 6 years ago. Oh I love black forrest cake. this year didn't even get a dessert for my birthday!
    Last year I have a chocolate and banana sunday with out the nuts (it was a combination of chocolate and banana topping) as a treat. I have had a banana split before. I use to have pavlova also.

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  6. Kav, my dad always preferred pies, too! So my mom rarely baked cakes. I love to make pies as well. Love a good pecan pie!! And my son can eat almost a whole pumpkin pie by himself. :)

    Jenny, I didn't get one for years. I was feeling sorry for myself this year and griping to a friend, figuring, like usual, I wouldn't get one either. So my friend, Amy, made me one and surprised me!! She makes amazing cakes. I was so touched! (and made sure to make my family feel guilty) LOL

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  7. Thats cool Missy. For me its I am alone and I dont really cook cakes etc for myself so I tend to not get anything. If I didn't arrange to go out myself normally nothing would happen. This year it was a Sunday and I got invited out to have lunch with a couple at there place. It was simple but nice. It was a HOT day so didn't want the hot food. Oh and then just after midnight I spend the rest of the night as sick as a dog.

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  8. Oooohhhhh -- Jenny -- do you have a recipe for pavlova?! My aunt in Ireland used to make it for special occasions and I never go the recipe.

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  9. I've never heard of pavlova. Jenny, if you have one, send it to my missytippens [at] aol.com email addy and I'll post it here! Giving you credit, of course. :)

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  10. All this talk about cakes is making me hungry!

    And I just finished a quick 10 minute research session on Snickerdoodles. Who'd a thunk they'd be so controversial?

    I always try to make a homemade cake for birthdays. The next one coming up is the oldest son's and he's requested German Chocolate.

    I had to buy a cake from the grocery store for the last birthday, though. That's what happens when you're traveling on someone's birthday. (Nothing against store-bought cakes, I just enjoy making them!)

    But, like the rest of you, I never get a cake on my own birthday anymore - except last year when my husband and daughter decided they'd buy me a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Yes, it was yummy. And yes, it was way too big and way too many calories for just the three of us. None of the boys were at home!

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  11. Jan, several years ago my daughter suddenly noticed that everyone in the family always got a cake except for mom. She asked why. I guess that shamed my husband into buying me one that year. :) They got it at Walmart. But still, I felt so special to be remembered that year!

    German chocolate sounds wonderful! Do you do the typical icing with coconut and nuts?

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    Replies
    1. Yes - except I usually leave out the nuts. The gooey caramel/toffee frosting with coconut seems to satisfy everyone and makes my nut-hating son happy too :)

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    2. Jan, I have nut-hating children, too. So that sounds perfect for them. :)

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  12. Kav yes I posted on a board somewhere will look for it and send it to Missy.

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  13. Sometimes men can really be clueless, Missy.

    For Mother's Day this year, my husband FINALLY suggested we order out. Very nice. I was impressed.

    So we're out walking the dog and he says, let's go by that great bakery. (Trois Pommes - really lovely French bakery) I'm even MORE impressed now. Not only dinner but dessert from a French bakery.

    *sigh*

    We get to the bakery and he walks right on by. I said, "Didn't you want to go in there?"
    Says he, "Oh, I changed my mind. I have all those cookies I bought at COSTCO. I don't need dessert."

    I mean it NEVER EVEN CROSSED HIS MIND that it was Mother's Day dessert he should have been looking for.

    Oh well. Dinner was lovely. ;)

    Even dessertless.

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