A Cake to Bake. A Birthday to Break.

Yes, we have all the eggs.

Yes, we have the powdered sugar and vanilla.

And Yes, we have the berries.

Mother and daughter get to mixing and making and baking an angel food birthday cake.

This is perfect.

The oven is preheated. 

The timer is set. 

The batter is poured into the appropriate pan. 

The plea goes out, "We need a bottle with a long, thin neck to hold the angel food cake pan upside down when it comes out of the oven. I head through the pantry door toward the basement to find a suitable long, thin-necked wine bottle for the job. A Chateau Ste. Michelle chardonnay bottle is selected and placed on the counter top, ready to let the culinary confection cool when it comes out of the oven.

The timer goes off. The cake pan is removed and place upside down on the neck of the wine bottle. A job well down. It's all over but the shouting.

Then a soft one-hump whump. And then the shouting. Whump just happened?

Half of the baked cake flopped out of the upside down pan. This wasn't supposed to happen. Yikes. Check your setting. Aw, it was supposed to bake at 375 F - but the oven was set to the default and only baked at 350 F. 

It's edible. A little gooey. But edible. Just dump a boat load of fresh berries on it, light it up with some candles and it will be fine.

***

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Dad is tasked with cooking the requested steak dinner out on the grill on the south deck. Make them steaks red, bloody, juicy and rare are my instructions (except for mom, ruin hers by cooking real thorough). 

Sean cuts up the Champaign mangoes he has brought to the party table

A birthday steak dinner is served

And now... it's time for the birthday cake.

Umm, maybe if we all sing real loud and dad is exceptionally off-key as usual, maybe nobody will care if the fallen angel food cake is a bit lopsided.

Make a wish!

Happy Birthday Inga!