...
I DUG OUT MY TRUSTY AND WELL-SPATTERED West Virginia Carrot cake recipe. In spite of having five good and ever-so-capable daughters, Minnie's birthday cake was going to be whipped up by her one and only daughter-in-law!

Every last one of those lovely daughters was going to be at the birthday party--the one who lives in Washington state, the one who traveled from Ohio, the three local ones who've been hosting all kinds of guests at delicious sit-down meals during the lengthy Easter holiday, and running to fetch their mom from the nursing home numerous times.

Making this cake was the least I could do, plus here's why I leaped at the chance--I may never again (as I've never before) baked a cake for a loved one who is entering her eighty-ninth year!

I didn't have a lot of time to devote, but I certainly wanted to do the job right. This meant making two cakes. Some of Minnie's grandkids would be dropping in at the party, some with kids of their own. It just wouldn't do to say, Oops, we ran out of cake! (I mean, really--whatever would those ever-so-capable daughters say then? [Not to worry, Dear Reader, they'd say nothing...they don't get worked up about minor things, those sises-in-law.])


So, my first step was producing 'the goods'--my name for that great bowl of shimmering orangeness that is grated carrots. (Be forewarned, Dear Potential Baker of Same Cake, it's by far the most time-eating part of this whole endeavor: peeling and grating the veggies! Of course, there's also the painstaking excess of minutes spent frosting the layer cake before it has cooled (should you do such a foolhardy thing)--heaping great globs of cream-
cheesey icing on the bottom layer and rushing to mount the second layer atop the first, then slathering the whole thing with piles more icing [sadly noticing a few minutes later how the whole thing is morphing to a sideways slump...and slipping around like an oaf on ice when one tries to set it right.)


Once I'd gotten that layer cake made (the real birthday cake), then I set right to work and repeated the process (another great bowl of grated carrots) and mixed up more batter to bake in a sheet pan (the easy way). Of course, then I felt that I needed to make stiff pink icing to letter the cake...but arrrgh...time was trickling away. Minnie's one and only son was drumming his fingers and tapping his toes (no, not true, he was scooping up the layer cake to transport to the car, along with the nut-free cupcakes made expressly for the one [she's hosting tonight] who thinks nuts are disgusting]).


The hastily-squeezed
pink-icing letters were
relegated to the
sheet
cake.


















And Minnie seemed pleased with both cakes
and the whole
celebration




















of her eighty-eighth year.
Happy Birthday to my
cute little mom-in-law!

...