Gratitude Monday -- Cake and Age

My husband baked me the best birthday cake ever.
It was a Cocoa Madeira cake, but we didn't have Madeira so he used  an Argentine Tannat, a red wine
The recipe called for milk, but he decided to use tannat for that, too.
Good call.
This cake is gluten free, and  so moist and so good it was all I could do not to finish it in one sitting. It's all I want to eat.

And it's all for me as chocolate gives Mike a headache.
I am very grateful for my husband and for his thoughtfulness in baking me such a wonderful cake.
Said birthday was Saturday.
Even though the documentation insists I am 56, I still feel:

I am grateful for that, too.

Gratitude Monday - Birthday Porn

My 51st birthday was yesterday ( Nov.22) and for it my husband baked me

a cake. Here he is prepping the cake pans for a carrot layer cake.

He devoted most of his Saturday to it. We grew the carrots, the flour is organic, the eggs are from his dad. It's healthier than most commercial health food.

Here he spreads the cream cheese icing for the inbetween section.

The icing on the cake.


Adding the ground pecans for the finishing touch.




The finished product.

Very, very yummy.



Yes, I am grateful.

Gratitude Monday - Cakes and Rain

Last week we were treated to a few rain days. This is good in that we're having a drought, but it meant my husband was off work for a bit. He put his time to good use by making some practice cakes.
It is his wish to perfect the cake that has the top recessed a bit to allow for a gelled fruit topping. I am grateful he got the opportunity to make two last week before work got in the way.
I was his guinea pig.
Emphasis on pig.




This is the second effort before the gelled liquid was added on top. It included rum.
Did I mention I was grateful?

Fifty And Fabulous

This is a Westphalian Cherry Cake.

It's my birthday.
I'm fifty years old today and thoroughly proud of it.
I can take all that glorious life experience from my first 50 years and put it to good use during my second 50.
That is going to be fun.
And if you're wondering about my use of the word fabulous, let me assure you I mean that I fully intend to live a life that becomes the stuff of legend.

We're going out tonight so I insisted we start on the birthday cake last night. It's very tasty. I'll be insisting he bake something similar soon.