Naco's bday

Naco turned a year older on January 15. To celebrate, we went camping at San Mateo campground. We stopped for dinner at Pedro's Tacos on the way because she loves that place, cockroaches and all. It was MLK weekend so quite a few people were camping but we found a nice spot and got set up. Red checkered tablecloth, camping chairs, bonfire, tent, friends, fun. Add some s'mores, bday cake, and presents and that makes for a splendid time. Next time we'll take a little more firewood as it was a rather chilly night and that wood burned fast!

One small glitch: the cake. Oh, the cake. I love baking so volunteered to make Naco's bday cake. She loves funfetti so I decided to make a homemade funfetti cake. Wendy and I babysat the night before camping so I hit up the grocery store and started baking late that night. While making the batter, I realized that we don't have round cake pans at our house. Oops. Luckily Ryan was there and thought he had one at his house. I wanted to make a four layer cake so I texted a few friends to see if they had any I could borrow, too. I picked up the one from Ryan and went to Naco's to borrow her two. She had fallen asleep but I found a way to get in and got the pans myself. I was content to reduce the layers to three. I baked the cake and put the frosting off until the next day. The cake was slightly more done than I wanted but it was ok. (Side Note: Ovens are so frustrating to me. You spend so much time on something and then mess it up because of 1-2 measly minutes in the dang oven! I should have learned my lesson by now. Baking times are estimates. Ovens are unreliable. Ugh...)

I got home from work on Friday to make the frosting. I ended up having to go to the store for candles and food coloring (losing precious time, of course). I wanted tall candles and the store didn't have them (I thought I had some but apparently I'm losing my mind). So I asked Naco to bring her own candles for her bday. She's great so she didn't mind. As I stood there choosing food coloring, I realized that I wanted the frosting to be white. If my mind worked the way minds should work, I would save myself a lot of headache.

Anyway, I made the frosting, frosted the cake, decorated it with sprinkles, all on a beautiful white cake stand. I gingerly held it while I drove to Naco's house, cutting off the circulation in my arm, but made it safely. It was so pretty and Naco loved it!

We put candles in it, sang happy bday, Naco blew out the candles, and we served everyone. I took one bite and knew something was wrong. I voiced my concern but nobody seemed to notice so I tried another bite. It was bad. This nightmare of a cake was bad! Naco agreed with me, Wendy ate almost her whole piece before she had a bite that didn't taste good. I sent it home with Wendy and Ryan happily ate his whole piece and would've eaten a second!

I'm not sure what was wrong with that recipe but we're thinking it had something to do with baking soda or powder (don't remember which now). I don't know if the recipe called for the wrong thing or if what I had was old or what. Luckily I don't have big flops like that often. And luckily we all have a good sense of humor. And luckily I'll have plenty of chances to redeem myself before Naco's next bday!

A very happy bday to Naco! Despite the cake, we had a great time! And went on to get pedicures and see a movie the next day.