Yesterday was my wife’s 29th birthday, give or take a dozen years. Granted, she doesn’t look a day over 32 if you ask me.
I first met Allie during my freshman year of college wayyyy back in 1990 and obviously have learned a great deal over the years. The most important, above all else is this… Birthday cakes must be homemade. And I must use Duncan Hines yellow cake mix and Pillsbury vanilla frosting. Deviate from either of those two and you might as well start claiming your sleeping quarters on the couch.
Granted, the cakes always taste awesome. Kids and adults love them. We’ve been to so many kids parties where there’s fancy type cakes (jelly or pudding inside) that kids don’t like at all. Give ’em a straight up yellow cake with vanilla frosting and they’ll eat their body weight in it. Plus, Allie is insanely talented at decorating cakes, like the still-unbelievable Fozzie Bear cake she made for my 40th this year.
This year, I’ll admit she physically made the cake herself. I was out of town and she was more than happy to bake it. But the decorating was 100% up to me. Her birthday was on Sunday, and I got back in town on Saturday. My nephew Harry (Shout out to the Groppers of NJ!) was sleeping over for the weekend, so he, Jason and Ryan helped me out Sunday morning.
My wife loves, as in LOVES, Vienna Fingers cookies. Nilla Wafers too. Personally, I find them both pretty dry, but hey, this isn’t my birthday. So after coating the entire cake with two cans of Vanilla frosting the night before (to let it harden in the freezer), I took the cake and we went to town. We used Pillsbury’s new colored cans to create a frosting-filled rainbow, then proceeded to add sprinkles and colored sugar throughout. I broke the Vienna Fingers in half and used them and mini Nilla wafers to make an interesting border all around.
The end result? Something insanely colorful and only about 12 calories per serving! (Assuming your serving size is a thimble. For ants.) I was pretty happy with how the cake came out overall, but most importantly, Allie loved it. We still have half of it left in the freezer… well, we did when I left for work this morning. Real curious what’ll be left by the time I get home tonight.
Happy Birthday one more time to my insanely better half!
You are the frosting on my cake of life!
Aww, love the effort you put into the cake. My husband likes to go all out for my birthday, but usually buys a cake. Happy Birthday to your frosting, lol.
Hey, Billie! Thanks so much for the great comment. I used to go all out for her birthday too, but now we both go all out for the kids and save the energy on just a cake for each other. 🙂