Two for the Road

Cooper turned two this month, and had a nice, low-key day befitting someone with a pre-K social life.
If you ever need the perfect gift for a child under 5, just get him a bunch of balloons.

They are always the highlight of all the presents. Although Cooper got some toy versions of things he's constantly trying to snatch from me & Troy, namely: keys and sunglasses. (He seems eager to leave the house for some reason.)
After much debate, I ended up making him a very simple cake from a really great cookbook my Mom gave me when I got my first apartment. It's called Easy Basics for Good Cooking, and is published by Sunset. Sunset is a wonderful West-Coast publishing company that puts out a magazine by the same name, and this particular cookbook has a recipe for everything you really could want without getting too fancy. I first learned how to make risotto from this book, and that was before I knew we were supposed to pronounce it rizz-OH-toe.
Back to the cake. It's simply called "Yellow Cake," and I iced it with cream cheese frosting. The thing is, when we were eating the cake, Troy remarked that it tasted like Bisquick. Well...that's no lie, it did. That is to say, the cake tasted like a pancake. A giant pancake. And why shouldn't it? When you look at the ingredients, you can see that it basically is a pancake in cake form.
So, if you like the idea of eating a Pancake Cake, then you will love this recipe.

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (now you know I didn't do that)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened (1/4 lb.)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375F, mix above, pour into prepared pans, bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Instead of cream cheese frosting, why not go all the way and make a buttercream frosting laced with maple syrup?

1 box (1 lb.) powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
4 to 6 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoon pure maple syrup

Beat all ingredients until light and fluffy. Frost your cake.

The day ended on a dramatic note. First, Griffin tied the balloons to himself in his ongoing effort to fly. That did not work. Wyatt then tied Dr. Light to the balloons, and the boys launched her off the front porch. They were laughing and thought it was great until they saw her float above the neighbor's rooftop and head East, turning into a speck on the horizon. Then the tears started flowing, and I had to jump in the car and try to race down Dr. Light and the balloon bouquet like a hot-air balloon ground support unit, a nearly impossible mission. The local skater dude had a good laugh when I stopped to ask him if he'd seen a bunch of balloons sail by. Meanwhile, during the drive, I had to listen to Griffin's bizarre scientific theories about flight, and several false sightings of Dr. Light. We eventually packed it in and went home, and I told the boys that she was no doubt heading over to Cape Canaveral for a shuttle launch. Or maybe she wanted to cross the Atlantic. In either case, it was a stunning exit. And, as is always the case with balloons -- they were fun while they lasted.
Happy Birthday, baby!