September is for Birthdays

So I have been jonesing to make a birthday cake. Seriously. There was an article in the New York Times Magazine last March which went through a number of different birthday cake recipes, and since then I have been dying to make a classic yellow cake with chocolate icing. Christmas 2004 I celebrated Christmas, with the then beau's family and he felt we should bring a homemade cake. Of course his feeling translated to me baking a cake. A Jewess backing a Christmas cake. I had no idea what to do. So I made my idea of a Christmas cake: red velvet with a green cream cheese icing and red hot decorations. How did I make the cream cheese icing green? With almost a bottle of food coloring. Can you guess what happened to beau's family's tongues? The cake was delicious, but I was a bit horrified (why did he ask his Jewish girlfriend to make a Christmas cake? of course she went kitsch to somewhat disasterous results).

Not to say that kitsch is bad. Back to my classic birthday cake. I thought I might make one in May but it didn't happen . . . and then I had to wait until September for the next rush of birthdays. Since Tara and Geordie both celebrated on the 1st I decided they wpuld be my victims. I made a yellow cake with sour cream chocolate icing from the better homes cook book. I thought the cake was dry (my cooking buddy said that it wasn't that it was dry but rather my use of that all purpose flour that gave it too large a "crumb" he suggested cake flour). Icing I will make again and again, pretty simple and delicious . . . stick and a little bit of butter, 12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, mixed over heat. Then cooled. 8 ounces of sour cream added, and a pound of sifted powdered sugar combined in. It was so yummy. Next time I might use higher quality choclate. But I will definately still let Geordie decorate his cake.