Happy Birthday to Me!

For some reason I'm usually a hard person to surprise. That's sad, because I LOVE surprises! Yesterday I found a really nice one over at Rebecca's blog where she featured me on my birthday. That sure made me feel loved and special and was a sweet way to start my day! (thanks again Rebecca!)

It was a babysitting day for me, and my five year old granddaughter insisted she was going to make me a cake "all by myself!" I told her she could do that in the afternoon...that we needed to make breakfast first. So she set out to make some pancakes from scratch...

I like mine with peanut butter and maple syrup! I love it that she loves playing in the kitchen with me.

A little later on she was ready to do the cake. I told her I'd like to try a Red Velvet Cake with Fluffy White Frosting. She asked me to just set all the ingredients on the counter and she could handle it. Ah...not quite so fast there sweetie :) I did the measuring and she did the dumping, pouring, and stirring. The recipe for the cake was given to me by my aunt back in 1967, the year I graduated from high school! I didn't have buttermilk, so I "made" some by adding vinegar to the milk. The frosting recipe I took off the internet.

Red Velvet Cake

2 oz. red food coloring (usually 4 liquid bottles) *

3 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk (or put 1 Tbsp. vinegar in a 1 cup measure and add milk to make 1 cup liquid)

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (or regular white flour)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 tsp. baking soda

Mix food coloring and cocoa to make a paste and let stand. Cream shortening, sugar, eggs, then add cocoa paste. Beat well. Add buttermilk, flour, salt and vanilla. Beat well. Add vinegar and soda, then mix by hand.

Pour batter into two 8” greased and floured round cake pans. Bake in 350℉ preheated oven for 30 minutes.

*I used the 2 1/2 bottles I had in the house and it was plenty.

Fluffy White Frosting

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine milk and flour in saucepan and cook till thickened, stirring occasionally. Cool. Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla with beater. Add milk/flour mixture. Beat until frosting thickens and becomes fluffy.

This was really easy to make and oh so delicious! I told Elylah it was the best birthday cake I ever tasted, and she said "well you're the best grandma!" ahh...

My mom had us over in the evening for a birthday dinner...

And she surprised me with a yummy pineapple upside down cake, which was always my dad's favorite (big smile)...

The kids entertained us with this game of ring toss (a paper towel holder and a bunch of bangle bracelets)...

I started to sit down by hubby and the babydoll said, "hey, I was going to sit there!" So funny...

Another birthday surprise that I received came in the mail from an old friend that I have reconnected with on Facebook. Thank you Leslie!

Hubby has an electric throw on mail order for me. All the stores were out of them...(can you imagine THAT?) Then there was a Starbucks gift card from my kids...and a dozen or so birthday cards...

One of my funniest cards I received was from an old friend who is just about my age. It said: "I know your real hair color, your real weight, and your real age...guess you're stuck being nice to me the rest of your life."

The last surprise of "my" day was a nice long phone conversation with my son who lives in SC.

I had several birthday "outings" with family and friends that were on the calendar for this weekend. I had to take a rain check on all of them because...I ended up coming down with a head cold of some kind. So I'm lying low for a couple of days so I can get well.

Thanks for sharing my day with me!