Monday, March 15, 2021

T Stands for March Birthdays

 Hi everyone.

 T Day has rolled around again, and today I am going to share some celebration baking from the first week of March. This week I also have a  bit of a longish post.

There were 2 birthdays in my house that week. The first one was Pete's 7th birthday. We don't know exactly when he was born as he is a rescue dog, but do have an approximate date as he was still a puppy when my daughter adopted him. She picked March 1 as his big day, so that's his birthday.

I had recently picked up this box of make your own dog biscuits at Trader Joe's, and Pete's birthday sounded like a good day to make both dogs a treat.

I decided to use my star set of cookie cutters since Pete was the star of the day. Just before I baked them, I put a dab of peanut butter on the top of each cookie as well as a few colorful sprinkles.


They were a hit. And since a drink is required for T, let me share the dog's drink with you.


Smile. (The water is not really green, just the shadow off my kitchen cabinets that are green.)

The second birthday required a bit more of a celebration cake, as it was my birthday. cake My husband volunteered to buy me a cake, but I thought it would be a good time to check another box off my baking bucket list for 2021.
I didn't have this cake on my birthday, but instead we celebrated over the weekend after my birthday, when my daughter came home for an overnight visit.


I wanted to make a vertical layer cake. In this kind of cake (if you aren't sure what I mean), the layers, when the cake is cut, go up and down, instead of the standard horizontal way.
To make this cake you make a jelly roll/Swiss roll style sponge. Then you roll the layers of the cake around each other, standing the who thing on end.


You can see on the right the inner layer (standing upright), and this one of the cutting board will be wrapped around the standing on.
My cake was a chocolate sponge, and I filled it with whipped cream. That's what you see gobbed onto the layer above.


Here's the finished roll before I trimmed it. Then I frosted it.

I don't like super sweet frosting so I made a coffee flavored Swiss meringue buttercream. All butter, not much in proportion of sugar.  I put on some chocolate sprinkles. I was going to pipe a few swirls, especially along the bottom, but I since I needed to make more frosting, I decided this was probably decorated enough. Good thing too.


My daughter decided I needed a candle for every year. 




Lighting them took a awhile and caused a huge blaze.



My husband didn't think I could blow them all out, but it was easy-peasy.  Ha-ha to him.

And after we pulled out the candles, the cake looked like someone was using it for archery practice.



My layers didn't end up quite straight and you can see where a wrap ended,  but it didn't matter. The cake was delicious. Good thing my daughter took half of it home with her too. 

I just hope this year in my life won't be as challenging as the last year was. I'm still waiting to go out to dinner to celebrate last year's BIG birthday, which didn't happen because right after my birthday I got really sick for 5 days and then Corinna (covid) hit and life came to a screeching standstill.  I'm not complaining though because at least I didn't catch covid.

Don't forget to stop by   Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog  where we share our drinks. You can see my glass of milk  and my daughter's water bottle in  one of the lighted cake photos. You can also see my empty dinner wine glass in the photo where my daughter is lighting the candles.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you have a happy T day too.





19 comments:

Kate Yetter said...

Your vertical cake looks very difficult. And it looks like it has a lot of tasting icing. That is my favorite! I love that you are making things off your bucket list. And I had to laugh at your comment about target practice from the candle holes. So funny.
Those dog biscuits look fancy with the sprinkles. What a fun kit.
Happy Tea Day,
Kate


Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Bleubeard is always thrilled when four legged friends join T day. Pete's birthday cookies are wonderful. He is truly a star. And of course, his water was perfect for T day, too.

I'm SO sorry I missed your birthday. I feel bad. I really like that cake you made. It looks really difficult until you explained it. I'm so glad your daughter was able to come home to celebrate your birthday with you. And another cake off your bucket list, too. Thanks for sharing your birthday bash with us for T this almost Tuesday. And thanks go to Pete for sharing his water, too.

Valerie-Jael said...

Wonderful dog biscuits and you r cake looks fabulous! And I am still on this awful diet! Happy birthday to Pete! Glad you had a fun birthday together at home. Hugs, Valerie

craftytrog said...

Cake and cookies look fabulous Erika!
Happy birthdays and T-Day.
Alison xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

I have a friend who makes dog biscuits (she sells them too) and they always seem to have such yummy flavours. Yours look pretty enough to eat! (Confession here - I used to persuade one of our childhood dogs to share his biscuits with me!)
Enough of my weirdness - your cake looks great, although I did laugh to se all of your candles lit! It certainly does look like a challenge to make! Happy T day, Chrisx

Karen said...

Wow! that cake looks soooo good! I laughed at all the holes the candles created :) I'm glad you posted about the dog biscuit mix, I think that will make a nice little present when I visit my Granddog Wilson soon. Happy Birthday!!

Divers and Sundry said...

Happy Birthday to Pete! I'm sure he felt quite the Good Boy :)

and Happy belated Birthday to you :) What a cake! That looks tricky to put together. I'd never heard of this before. It sounds delicious. Happy T Tuesday!

Mae Travels said...

That is a very spectacular cake. I'm a totally inept cake maker, especially when it comes to frosting and assembling layer cakes. So I am awed by your accomplishment.

Many happy (very happy!) returns of the day.

best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

CJ Kennedy said...

What a fun thing to do for Pete and Maddie. I saw a dog biscuit kit from the King Arthur catalog that came in yesterday. Your cake looked awesome. I had never heard of a vertical cake so what a cool design. I wonder if the layers didn't' come out straight because chocolate cakes are rather delicate? Either way, it looks delicious and what an awesome light from all the candles. Happy T Day!

Jeanie said...

That cake is amazing and looks like it was REALLY hard! Well done! And the doggie biscuits are so cute! (Did you get all the candles blown?)

Linda Kunsman said...

If I didn't say it before (my mind has not been working up to par lately)-happy, happy birthday to you!!! I loved all the candles on the cake- and hooray for blowing them ALL out at once Erica!
That cake looks decadent and it must not have been easy to put together. And happy birthday to Pete as well- what special treats he got as well. Happy T day!
and PS thanks so much for the happy mail- will post next weekXO

Let's Art Journal said...

Wow, your vertical cake looks amazing - yummy! All those candles made me smile as they lit up the room so brightly ...lol 😉. Glad you had a fun birthday and I hope you get to celebrate your last one soon. Never seen dog biscuits to bake before, I bet they enjoyed the peanut butter too! Take care and wishing you a Happy T Day! Hugs, Jo x

Sharon Madson said...

Happy Birthday! And, that cake looked delicious! Yes, we are waiting to get to go out to eat again! :)

DVArtist said...

Well happy belated birthday to both of you. The dog biscuits are just too cool. But that cake is AWESOME. The lines are perfect. I bet it tastes great.

Meggymay said...

As you will guess I am catching up on reading posts this morning. I am smiling at the thought of you making the special biscuits for the dogs birthday, we do love our furry friends.
Your Birthday cake looks awesome and I'm sure it will have tasted as good as it looks. It was good that your daughter could visit and light up the candles.
My two sons keep me going with phone calls and visits, the family bubble that hasn't changed for more than a year.
Stay safe Erika.
Yvonne xx

J said...

Happy belated birthday, I think your cake looks delicious and I love the vertical stripes, I'm amazed your DD managed to get the candles all on the cake, so funny all the holes left after taking them out.
Happy Birthday to Pete too
Jan S

Mrs.B said...

WOW! that cake looks amazing - calorie free of course!!
Glad you had a fun birthday and were able to celebrate with your daughter and hopefully you'll be able to catch up on last years celebrations soon.
I've never seen dog biscuits to bake at home, I bet they didn't last long.
Have a great week,
Avril xx

Empire of the Cat said...

Happy birthday from one Pisces to another :) and to Pete - his dog biscuits look lovely as does your amazing cake. I also had a coffee flavour to my cake but it was a quick 6 mins in the microwave job for mine. Have a lovely weekend Elle xx

nwilliams6 said...

Happy Birthday! The cake looks fabulous and yummy! What a great thing to create and the frosting (my favorite part) sounds great too. I love that she tried to put on so many candles - sounds like something mine would do! Love the baked dog treats and the dog's bowl - so fun1 Thanks for sharing all the pictures.