Birthday Cake

Jane, despite a botched birthday cake, is now one years old.

The cake itself sunk on one side, but looked good otherwise.  I let it cool for 20 minutes, like the instructions said, before attempting to release it from the pan.  The cake had already pulled away from the edges, so I turned it upside down and gave the bottom of the pan a gently tap.  Nothing happened.  My husband told me to give it a few shakes, and I did.  The cake exploded out of the pan in a shower hunks and crumbs.  

I cut a square out of the biggest chunk and iced it, with my homemade icing.  The icing was lumpy and too thin.  I stirred and stirred but could not get the lumps out.  I like mixing everything by hand, but I was really missing any type of electric beater.

I had decided to decorate Jane's cake with dandelions, her favorite flower.  There were plenty to cover her cake yesterday morning, and the mowing people don't come on Tuesday.  Unless the previous Monday was a labor day, in which case, they come and mow all the flowers while you're gone.

So, Luke and I scavenged these two little scrawny dandelions, the only two to survive the mowing, and put them on the cake.

So, here's the cake.  It doesn't look like much, but it was made with love and Jane liked it.