Happy Birthday, David!

There you go. The cake says it all, doesn't it? Happy Birthday, David! If you take a close look you might notice that the squiggly lines are a little squiggly in more places than they should be. If you took a closer look at my hands that afternoon you would have noticed a slight shaking. A bit of a ledge I had to talk myself down ... that the cake was going to taste great. That the icing was perfect and wouldn't pool into one lemon mess. And that I would, for goodness sake, actually spell his name or even "Happy" correctly. All worked out well. If the picture doesn't tell you that, let me say the round of applause I received at the birthday party would.

Thirsting for some additional information about the cake? It was lemon. Very lemon. I took a standard yellow cake recipe for two 9-inch cakes, added the zest of two lemons, and, poof, like magic, a cake. Well, more like magic, maybe a little praying, a dance or two to the gods of leavening, and an offering to the mistress of taste, and, poof!, a cake. The two cakes were then split in half with each layer receiving a healthy sprinkle of lemon syrup (equal parts lemon juice and sugar, brought to a boil, and cooled) and lemon curd. The citrus tower was then topped with a quick lemon icing (confectioner's sugar, a little milk, some butter, vanilla extract, and more lemon curd). I later thinned the icing, added some food coloring, and set about wishing David the happiest birthday I could wish him.

In a way I felt like I was also wishing it to myself. I can never give a baked gift without feeling as if I am stealing some of it in return. The smiles I see, the licked spoons, the clean plates, are all like little blue boxes wrapped with sparkly pink bows.

Happy right back at ya!