First Birthday Cake

Published January 11, 2016 | By Pam

Cake final 2

There’s just something special about turning one year old. It’s a milestone, an accomplishment, after twelve months of evolving and growing and turning into a little person with a distinctive personality. No longer so helpless, but instead, much has happened – sitting up, crawling, maybe even walking, eating table food, sleeping through the night, playing pat-a-cake and sprouting some teeth . . . oh, the list goes on and on!

Truly something to celebrate.

We recently did just that for our little Gracie. I enjoyed making her cake. Nothing too elaborate. She wouldn’t know of any imperfections, and it got the message across.

First Birthday

I started with a box cake mix. White, of course. I never like to use egg yolks in a white cake, whites only, and the result is a bright-as-snow cake. I covered a cookie sheet with a piece of pink, plastic table cloth. You could use mylar, or foil, too. The day before, I baked the cake in a 13 x 9 pan, removed it from the pan, and cooled it completely. Then I froze it. Made for cutting the number one shape much, much easier.

One shape A slab of frosting keeps the cake on the sheet. The frosting is a recipe I’ve had for going on 40 years. It came from the “cake lady” when we lived in western Nebraska. Everyone ordered their special cakes from her. She even did my wedding cake. Years later, she was gracious enough to share her buttercream recipe with me, and I’ve used it for every cake and cookie that needed frosted since.