birthday cake!

My mom's birthday was last week, and she requested that I bake her a cake because no on has ever baked her a cake before. This might seem unbelievable, or impossible, but you have not met my family. My mom grew up in Brooklyn with a family that adhered to the 1950s kitchen ideology of only using pre-packaged or prepared foods. My grandma never baked. She made a lot of pot roast. My mom had never seen fresh vegetables until she visited my Dad at home during a summer break in college, and asked, "What's wrong with the asparagus? It's so green!"

Now in our family, we have never been big bakers, and certainly not ones to keep sweets or baked goods in the house. This was another image of American life that I tried to dispel. My students had this idea that all American mothers are constantly baking chocolate-chip cookies, then arranging them on a plate for when their children run through the door after getting off the school bus. Well, I never took a school bus. And I live in an apartment building, so I couldn't exactly burst through my front door and into my kitchen. And when I finally did make it into my kitchen, there was no plate of cookies waiting for me on the table.



Sometimes, my Mom would meet me at school with a mug of hot cocoa on particularly freezing days. Those were great. And every Friday was what we called "Candy Day" - my Dad would bring me home a candy bar in his brief case, and I got to go to the candy store and choose something else. On birthdays, my Mom would bake me a cake, but other than that, she has never been one to commit herself to the oven purely for the effect of having something fattening on hand.

So for her birthday, I made her the birthday cake of her choice: basic white cake with a raspberry center and chocolate buttercream. And to let it be the cake of all the birthday cakes that never were, I topped it with a "5" candle - no second digit necessary!


I like this photo because my Mom looks like a shark.


Enjoying her delicious cake ...


... and sharing with the rest of the famiglia!