Birthday spice cake

I told you about the birthday party we had last weekend. Remember? The wrapping paper made out of an old helium balloon?

Well, his other gift was this spice cake. It wasn't "the" birthday cake to share. This one was a gift for the birthday boy to take home. It's kind of a tradition.

The recipe is eggless and milkless. I believe it was used often during the depression. It has the density of a fruit cake. 

This cake is heavy, man. Heavy.

When topped with a cream cheese frosting, it is a real treat. 

Happy Birthday Spice Cake

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cup water

1/3 cup shortening

2/3 cup raisins

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons water

2 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Boil the brown sugar, 1 1/4 cup water, shortening, raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves for three minutes. Allow to cool.

Dissolve the salt and baking soda in the 2 teaspoons of water. Add to the boiled mixture.

Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the mixture.

Mix the walnuts into the cake batter.

Grease and flour an 8" x 8" x 2" loaf pan and pour batter into the pan.

Bake for 55 minutes. Allow cake to cool before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

2 sticks of softened butter

4 ounces of cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Beat the butter and cream cheese together. Add the powdered sugar. Mix. Then add the vanilla. Mix well.

Frost all sides of the cake.

 

Since we were going out to dinner, I knew the cake would be out of the fridge for a few hours. So, I put it in the freezer for a while. (Dig the corn dogs in the back.)

I figured this would help the cream cheese frosting hang in there during the party. 

I only made one cake this week, so of course I have a craving for it. Guess I'll have to make one for our house, too.

Do you have a tradition of baking something in particular as a gift for someone?

 

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Birthday wrap. It's elementary.

Went to a birthday party last weekend. This was the gift we took. 

Did you guess the wrapping was a deflated helium balloon?

It's so sad when party decorations lose their passion.

I tried tossing them in the air, but they always drifted down again. 

Fortunately, these balloons got a second chance at life.

Sherlock knew what I had in mind. 

I cut open one side of the balloon. It could be used as a gift bag at this point.

I kept snipping, though, to use it as traditional wrapping paper. I like the way the material gave me a natural angle. I was able to fashion an envelope-look on the back.

Comfy in there, Sherlock?

Ever-so-cheap bunting

We recently had a couple birthdays in the family and my usual stash of banners and decorations had seen better days.

I thought, "Hey, bunting is really cute. I think I'll make my own."

It was incredibly easy. Oh so easy.

And cheap? It cost me zero dollars. 

I already had the raffia on hand, so that would have otherwise cost a little something, but you can use whatever is around the house, such as curly ribbon--anything you can form into a long strip.

The raffia strands weren't very long to start, so I just tied them together. The long strip was then hung. The whole thing is so light I was able to just tuck the ends under some photos on the mantle.

Next I cut 13 diamond shapes from some brown shipping wrap--one for each letter in "happy birthday."

Then the diamond shapes were folded in half.

The letters printed quick-as-a-wink and I cut them out and glued one on each half diamond triangle.

Next, the diamonds were hung on the raffia strip. A tuft of raffia separated "happy" from "birthday" so the words didn't run together.

It wasn't fireplace season quite yet, so I didn't worry about my decor catching fire...but yeah...be careful about hanging paper things in front of fireplaces.   :)

Snipping and gluing--so much fun!! 

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