Happy Birthday, Lola!

My baby is seven. Seven years old, seriously! Don't know quite when that happened! We celebrated her birthday last night in typical fashion - with a speedily whipped up cake. This was complicated a bit by everyone's wacky schedules and the fact that the birthday princess did not want a chocolate cake, did not want a vanilla cake - she wanted half and half! Let's just assume that her goal was not to complicate my life but to make all the cake eaters happy, no matter what flavor they prefer. I had to take it a step further, of course, because I can't (all together now) LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE! So I made one regular yellow cake layer and one slightly taller chocolate layer, which I then split in half, so that the resulting cake would be a thin layer of chocolate, a thick layer of vanilla, and another thin chocolate layer. The layers were glued together with whipped chocolate frosting.

I then covered the whole thing in pink vanilla buttercream (what else for a pink fanatic?!) and added accents in the same light pink and writing in a darker shade. Shana then artistically placed flowers and the cake was ready for eating.Here's a look at the inside:It was quite yummy. The birthday girl seemed to really enjoy it

and she also enjoyed her gift - a Fur-real Friend that Shana brought back from the US. All in all, a very happy birthday! Ad meah v'esrim, Lola, in health and happiness!

Dvora

Ooh, pretty cookies

If I were normal, my ambition would be to make tons of money, go on swanky vacations, drive fancy cars, that kind of thing. But no, I have to have ambitions to perfect decorated cookies. Not to leave well enough alone and bake the 80+ flavors of cookies already on the menu. To decorate sugar cookies. This summer has been a good start, with lots of fondant covered cookies. My friend Faigy came for a visit this summer (had the best time seeing her and spending Shabbat together - can't believe that the long awaited trip has already come and gone!) and she brought me food markers, which have played into the insanity.

This was the first set of cookies this summer - for a 50th birthday of a proud birthday girl. Then someone celebrating a fiftieth anniversary saw them and wanted the same thing, but anniversary subbing for birthday. Since I neglected to photograph the platter, I phonied up another cookie for your enjoyment. Just picture this in the center of a cookie platter, with the same "50" cookie surrounding it. I also provided a Shabbat Chattan platter,a "Mazal tov," need to impress someone platter,

and an assortment to embellish a bar mitzvah oneg Shabbat.

In all honesty, these were phonied up too, as I was pressed for time and didn't photograph the purchased dozen. Then I did platters for another bar mitzvah, to greet the guests as they arrived for Shabbat, and added decor cookies just for a little somethng special. These, by the way, are the real thing.Cool how just a couple of cookies can liven up the whole look, right?! I must give credit to my artist daughter, who designed all of the really cool cookies. Where the talent comes from, who can say, but it remains a mystery to me! Now I just need time to work on my royal icing skills. Someday, I hope, but not too far away!

Hope you liked these little favors!

Dvora

L'Shana Tova U'Metuka

Wishing all of you a happy, healthy, peaceful, prosperous, blessed New Year. My #1 resolution? Blog more often! I have lost my blogging groove, but I will, b'li neder, get it back and get back to it after the chag. It's been a long, hot summer, and I have MANY pictures to share and some decent stories to report. Well, mostly pictures, and I hope I remember enough to caption them. May your holiday be filled with meaningful prayer, thoughtful contemplation, spiritual inspiration, good thoughts for the future, joyous meals, and good company, all in the right time and in the right proportion. Enjoy lots of sweet treats for yom tov! Don't forget to try my grandparents' honey cake. I hope to show you some of what we made this year.

Shana Tova U'mevorachat - K'tiva V'chatima Tova!
Dvora