Happy 5th Birfday Honey!

It was with sheer luck and the good grace of God that John's birthday did not turn into a barfday what with the boys being so sick mere days before.

I had decided that since his family was coming to celebrate I would make my famous lasagna (requested by my hubby) and a chocolate cake.  Now, I do pride myself on being a pretty good cook however, baking is not my forte.  I had a boxed mix of Betty Crocker Devil's Chocolate Cake and I purchased 2 containers of Betty Crocker's French Chocolate Icing.  I am all about cooking from scratch for the most part...with the exception of cake baking.  I'll take any help I can get.

I found out that the key to an extremely moist cake is to add 1/4 cup of mayo to it.  Sounds weird?  Sure does but I dare you to try it...you'll never NOT add it again!

I baked the cake on Friday night after the boys were asleep for the night and decided it would be a lot of fun for Adrian to help decorate it.   After icing the cake (which is so, SO much harder than it sounds) it was not the prettiest looking.  The sayings "Don't judge a book by it's cover"  and "It's what inside that counts" were going on in my head as I iced this baby up.  And I'll hand it to myself...eating this cake made my taste buds feel the most incredible joy of taste sensation they've never felt before.

Of-course, Adrian had another idea of what his Dad's birthday cake should be and this is how the conversation went one morning last week:

"Daddy, I'm going to make a birfday cake for you!"

"You are?!"

"Yes, it's going to be a chocolate cake with pineapple, chocolate chips and mango!"  Okay, so his tastes are not what you would call middle of the road and though he could be onto something there, I decided to leave out the pineapple and mango but did throw in the mix a handful of milk chocolate chips.

When Adrian awoke from his afternoon nap on Saturday the decorating began!

After icing a very shaky "Happy Birthday Dada!"...

...we decided that the ultimate candy decoration of choice...

....would be Smarties (Daddy and Aidy's fav) and some sprinkles.

One for the cake and one for me!

There's the birfday boy and .... Gary Busey junior?!!  Must've been a gooooood nap!  Eeek.

Making sure the sprinkles and Smarties are juuust right

In the meanwhile Gary Busey junior is on a tirade....

Let's keep him quiet by throwing him some Smarties....yes, that's a fantastic idea (ahem - not mine!)

Okay, so noting the beautiful script I am going out on a limb and admit that cake decorating may not be my calling.

Adrian even decided where the candles went and how many...this year Dad's turning 5!

Later that evening, enjoying the scrumptious chocolate cake and champagne!   (and acting like total goofs)

Happy 5th Birfday Honey!  I love you!