Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Weekend Celebration

Over the weekend, we went to visit our friends, Jennifer and Jason. Their daughter, Veronica, will be turning 2 yrs old on the 29th. We will not be able to attend her birthday party because we have a unexpected trip out of town this Labor Day weekend. So, we celebrated her birthday early. That way, we could enjoy seeing her opening her presents.It was a beautiful day in New York City, so we took a walk and went to their nearby park. This was Melody's first time on a swing.She has learned to sit up on her own recently, so we figured we would give the swing a try. She was a bit scared because you can see her right arm gripping the seat.But she really enjoyed it! She was cracking up laughing when we would swing her.Veronica showing us how the big girls do it.I baked her a cake, a Chocolate Strawberry Cake with Fudge Frosting. Her parents didn't know how she learned to blow out a candle, but she started making the blowing motions as soon as I lit the candle. They think she learned it from those children's dvds that she watches. Those dvd's are very educational these days.The cake was so yummy! It was moist even though it had no eggs in it. The moistness comes from the buttermilk. Originally, the recipe is called One-Bowl Buttermilk Chocolate Cupcakes. I doubled the recipe and spread the batter into two 8 inch cake pans and baked them for 35 min. In the middle, I put strawberry preserves and diced up some fresh strawberries. The Fudge Frosting came from the book, Chocolate Holidays. The frosting was quick and easy. It was very easy to use because when it's warm, you can use it like a ganache and pour it. Or you can wait until it cools for it to become a frosting consistency.

25 comments:

Danielle said...

Happy Birthday to Veronica, and how lucky is she to get a delicious cake from you? It truly does look scruptious too. She is adorable btw. So is Melody swinging for the first time :)

rohanknitter said...

Mmmmmmm, that cake looks soooo yummy. Sure looks like somebody had fun on the swings!

flanthrower said...

what wonderful smiles! (the cake looks delicious too! I love buttermilk in baked goods.)

CynCyn said...

now i'm hungry for cake!! Are you going home for the weekend? b/c I'm coming to NYC! wish we could just zap and trade places. I'm taking bolt bus (have u heard of it?)

Rebekah said...

yummy! that cake looks delish!

little girls are so cute! :)

Julie said...

Oh isn't she adorable in the swing! I'm such a fan of buttermilk for baking and I'm the oddball that things lemon juice curdled milk is not an appropriate sub. It doens't have the same texture and it doesn't taste as nice either. I need to find myself a good fudgy frosting. I still dream of the dobosh torte I used to get back in Louisiana, 9 or 11 thin layers of yellow or white cake with super thin layers of raspberry between, some kind of gritty white sugary egg white stuff around the edge, all covered in an amazing fudgy frosting. Oh I would kill to be able to make that!

YayaOrchid said...

Happy birthday to such a sweet little girl! Looks like everyone had fun. Your cake looks totally awesome! I have to say, seeing Melody in the swing laughing is such a sweet picture.

The Feathered Nest said...

Ahhhh...these are the good days, Oiyi..these are the days that create our memories of a lifetime...xxoo, Dawn

Agnes said...

What a lucky birthday girl ... the cake was so yummy!

Jennie said...

Melody looks so cute in the swing, a friend has a 2 yr old & she loves the swings, all you hear from her is more, more, more =)

Elaine/Muddling Through said...

Children and swings just go together and Melody makes such a sweet example of that!

And oh my, that cake looks AWESOME!

~Elaine~

Anonymous said...

Wow, that Veronica is cute. We would like to snatch her, but she hates us.

best,
Aunt Harriet and Uncle Bryan

bunbun said...

wow, I really must try this one bowl cake recipe! Looks divine, and I love baking with buttermilk.
Also Melody in the swing is just priceless!

jacquie said...

she's so cute in that swing! this recipe looks fabulous!

priscilla joy said...

nothing like being young and enjoying the beach, thankfully i've done that! not being biased here but melody steals the show! wait a minute, i think i am. oh well.:)

Jackie said...

Happy Birthday to Veronica.

Swing is always to the "hot" spot in the playground. Kids love them. My DD is still heading for the swing if we were near a park with swing.

YayaOrchid said...

Oiyi, will you please stop by my blog? You've received an award there! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

The cake look so yummy, thanks for the recipe. Looks like everyone had a great time!

Unknown said...

The shots of Melody on her first swing are incredible. So precious! She is growing up!!!

Anonymous said...

I love the swing action! And the cake, now I'm hungry!!
Tina

Christy T said...

oh gosh, that cake looks delish!

Anonymous said...

OK. If I had a million bucks, I'd hire someone to make me sushi and you to bake me cakes!

Sarah said...

That cake looks awesome! And Melody -- oh my gosh, she is getting so big!

Unknown said...

Look at how much Melody is growing!! Holding up her head already, wow!

Happy b'day to Veronica, that cake looks fantastic!!

Rima said...

That looks like one mean, yummy cake! And in the few weeks that I was gone, Melody has really grown!