business of birthdays

"I don't know about you,

but I'm feeling 22."

Most overplayed song of '92 babies this year.

This is only because I've found that my motivation to bake was only brought about by the promise of a birthday... with exceptions.  And it's like a game, choosing something to make for someone else that makes it a game of how well you know someone and/or how well you can make the intangible into tangible food form.  Plus, I suck at gifts.  New Year's resolution: bake more.

Christy's 21 misshapen 'Malibu' truffles.

So misshapen that I didn't bother documenting it with a photograph...

Because Alicia told me she loved chocolate, and I didn't want to make yet another cake, and 21 means alcohol must be included in all forms of a gift.  Adapted from Alton Brown's recipe, except I used Bacardi plus only a hint of coconut cream (because she doesn't like coconut, but I thought I'd challenge that anyways because it's what I do).  I don't know why I keep trying to make truffles - they always come out ugly or melty or messy.  Maybe one temperature controlled room and five hundred attempts later, I'll get it right.

Bernard's key lime pie.

Because 'our child' briefly obsessed over it in the backseat of the mini van I no longer have to drive during a dessert hunt, and I thought it'd be fun to try to futilely compete with Miami (because that's also what I do).  Whatever, the other option would be store bought, and that's not as cool.  Anyways, I was quite proud of this one between the effort of sifting graham cracker crumbs for a good crust and making a pretty meringue without burning it.  Adapted from here, which happened to be the most straight forward recipe with pretty pictures.

Allison's healthy pseudo cake-bread hybrid.

Because I missed her birthday bash where there was apparently an ice cream cake that she said she ate too much of as we headed to the pool the next time I saw her.  So my quiet reaction to this was to nix whatever fruit filled cake schematic I was trying to form.  Lucky we had a huge box of spinach in the fridge at the time, so my first idea was a spinach-orange cake, which became a spinach-lemon cake, adapted from this spinach-lemon cake.  Anyways, the one I delivered to her was still a wee bit under cooked, so to get a picture, I had to remake it.  Subbed applesauce for oil and cut down the sugar (which I rarely do for special occasions) to add to the healthiness.  Except, hopefully hers was better than my remake because I added too much spinach (without squeezing out water) to the second time and it came out super gummy...mreh.

Kenny's GIANT 'Nutella' sandwich.

Because dude's ragingly obsessed with Nutella - quite unlike anyone else I know.  I didn't even have to think when his birthday came around.  It was really a matter of what vehicle I would be presenting the Nutella on.  But I got side tracked when I was shopping and ended up buying this... mocha... chocolate hazelnut stuff by Jiff instead.  Still delicious; made better with coffee flavor.  So angel cake = fluffy white bread (just the way most boys...and younger children like, it seems).  And pudding-like cream puff filling stuff = 'Nutella' (because the stuff on its own was too dense to spread on the cloud of goodness that is angel cake).

 All wrapped up in foil like a lunchbox sammich.

Sammy and Dan's apple pie cheesecake.

Okay this was kind of cheating in a couple ways.  One, it was neither of their birthdays, but I have a disease of making promises without planning for time.  Two, it was less based on what I thought they would like... and more on the fact that I had a bottle of untouched apple pie liqueur sitting around.  Well, to be fair, they did request a cheesecake, so I got that part right.  This was approximation baking.  Graham cracker crust.  Basic New York cheesecake (yogurt instead of sour cream works just as well apparently) with a shot of apple pie liqueur.  Oatmeal crumble topping because I remembered they liked the mixed textures of my baby.  This also marks the first time I've delivered an 8 in cake (with a piece missing for my personal taste test) to someone who responds with "Is this all for me?  I can't finish this."  Whattt?  To that I say, cake lasts at least a week in the fridge... and it's not even that big; I could finish it.

Eric's assembly-required brownie ice cream cake.

Because of the aforementioned dessert run.  Because the first thing he asked me to make was a vanilla cake (labeled: easy to please) that I adulterated anyways.  Because dude consumes dairy the way Kenny does Nutella (maybe even worse?), so it was either ice cream... or a gallon of milk on the side.  Made a brownie 'cake' with Ghirardelli as my guide, of course, and (this is the hard part) went to Kroger's to purchase cookie dough ice cream = essentially Ben and Jerry's half baked.  No picture because it was literally just a brownie with a pint of Ben and Jerry's.

Treated myself to a breakfast burrito for breakfast... mmmm, best present of all.