Sunday, November 4, 2007

Another Birthday

My daughter just had a birthday. We all feel sorry for her. She can't help it that her birthday's wrong. Really, birthdays are supposed to be in the summer so you can have pool parties. Despite being born in the wrong (non-summer) season, she is a trooper and manages to have a good attitude about it.

This year we took her to the zoo for her birthday. As we walked across the parking lot, bundled up in coats, scarves, and gloves, she pointed out that as members in the non-summer, we got to park for free. Score! A savings of $4 right there just for having her birthday in November.

Another bonus of having a November birthday is this cake. When considering the options for her birthday cake there was the usual chocolate versus white debate. Then I happened upon a this wonderful cake on Peabody's site. Pumpkin spice cake? Oh yes!

And then I saw these beautiful cupcakes on Nook and Pantry. Maple cream cheese frosting? Oh, drool!

Combine the two fabulous fall flavor sensations and we had the perfect November birthday cake. I doubled the recipe that Peabody used so I had two 9-inch layers. I slathered the butterscotch walnut filling between them (yum, yum). For the frosting I wanted to be sure I had enough for a large cake so I cobbled together a recipe from various cookbooks.


Next time I make the frosting I think I'll leave out the butter. It didn't need it for taste, quantity, or consistency. I wanted a full maple flavor to the frosting and as I added the maple syrup (real maple syrup, so it was rather runny), it got softer and softer. I stopped adding maple syrup and dumped in some maple flavoring. If you wanted to play with amounts, you could probably make it wonderfully without the maple flavoring. I'll give you the recipe as I made it.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

1- 8 oz brick of cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 lb (1 stick) of unsalted butter at room temp.
16 oz (about 4 cups) of confectioners' sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp maple flavoring

With an electric mixer cream together the cream cheese and butter. Add the sugar and carefully beat it in so you don't get a cloud of powdered sugar. I like to start this with a wooden spoon and once the sugar is mostly incorporated, use the mixer to cream it together. Add maple syrup and / or flavoring to taste. To achieve desired consistency, you may need to add a bit more powdered sugar. The frosting will firm up when it's chilled.

To assemble the cake, spread filling over the bottom layer, place the other layer on top, then frost the top and sides. I finished it with fall sprinkles and piped an edge around the top. The frosting was quite soft, though, so I had to hastily pop it into the fridge to chill before the piping slid off the edge.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday to your daughter! The cake looks gorgeous. I love the fall sprinkles.
Fall birthdays are also good to have because...it's not on Christmas Day or New Year Day. Can't think of any other. Oh yes I can! When she gets older she can ask for haute couture winter boots for a birthday present. Bet those summer babies can't do that!

Peabody said...

And see I hated having my birthday in the Summer because everyone else at school go to celebrate theirs and what not. Plus mine is so close to the forth of July that everyone goes out of town for my birthday.
I like the idea of using the maple cream cheese frosting with that cake...yum!

Deborah said...

My birthday is in September, and I have heard that that is the month with the most births. (Something to do with New Years and nothing else to do in the winter...) I would gladly have my birthday in the winter if someone made this cake for me!!

Happy Homebaker said...

What a lovely birthday cake! My younger boy's birthday falls in end Dec. He always complaints that he can't celebrate his birthdays in his pre-school like all his classmates, as it during the school holidays here. The only bonus for him is that he gets to have 2 presents...one for his birthday and one for xmas :)

Anh said...

Such a lovely cake for your daughter's birthday. She must have been so happy!

Anne said...

Such a lovely birthday celebrant. I love maple flavoured frosting since it's naturally sweet and it goes well with a variety of cakes :)

Anonymous said...

I want to thank you for raising the bar in the food blog arena. Your stories, recipes and photographs together are a wonderful addition to the blogoshpere. Please post this site on your blog so people will have a chance to vote. http://2007.weblogawards.org/

Aimée said...

Beautiful cake and adorable daughter!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

aww, despite not having a summer birthday, it sure sounds like your daughter had a lovely celebration anyway!! especially with that cake :0)

wish your daughter a very happy belated birthday from me!

Anonymous said...

Odd thought about a 'wrong b-day'. My birthday is in February and I never thought anything of it.

Yummy looking cake though. :)

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Wrong birthday! Oh, I think not. I'm very happy with my November birthday!
Happy Birthday November girl! Wonderful birthday cake.

Cookie baker Lynn said...

Melinda - She liked the boots for birthday idea.

Peabody - Yes, I had the same problem. I rarely had birthday parties as everyone was out of town for my birthday.

Deborah - September is good. You get birthday attention at school but it's not too cold to go out and do things.

Happy Homebaker - That is kind of lame for your son to have a school year birthday when everyone's out of school! Good thing he's got such a great mom to make him a beautiful cake and make him feel special!

Anh - Yes, she's a happy camper.

Anne - The flavours worked very well together.

DianneM - Thanks, babe! You are as sweet as frosting.

Aimee - Thanks!

VeggieGirl - I did and she says thank you very much. :-)

Anonymous - It's only "wrong" in my world. She's the only one with a non-summer birthday in our family.

My Kitchen In Half Cups - Happy Birthday back atcha, wonderful baker lady!

eatme_delicious said...

Oh I was eyeing that cake on Peabody's site. I can't wait to try it out. The combination cake you put together sounds extremely tasty! I'd trade my summer birthday for your daughter's fall birthday if I could!

Gigi said...

Such a lovely daughter and cake! Happy Birthday!

Cheryl said...

Fall birthdays are the best!! Such a cool idea to combine ideas for this cake. She is a lucky girl.

Cakespy said...

Birthday cake always tastes SO much better than any other kind of cake. Even the same flavor cake, not birthday cake, isn't as good. My opinion of course. :-)

Well it certainly looks like your combinations worked quite well!

Homemade Heaven said...

I feel for your daughter. My birthday is in August, which on this side of the planet means I can not remember a birthday it did not rain and was very cold!!! Tell her if she wants we can swop one year and then I can have a summer birthday and she can have a spring day! Happy Birthday.

Kelly-Jane said...

Belated Happy Birthday, and fabulous cake :)

Patricia Scarpin said...

Isn't she a princess??
She's beautiful, Lynn!

And the cake looks fabulous, what a wonderful way of celebrating her birthday!

Helene said...

What a gorgeous daughter! You are a great mom and that cake rocks!!