I love this picture, with her Mom's arm around her.
I made this Cake for her, still my favorite cake recipe, Classic Yellow cake from Sylvia Weinstock. I doubled the recipe and made four layers. It was the tallest cake I've ever tried. I put plastic drinking straws through the layers to keep them from sliding around in the heat.
It's such a moist cake, it works really well at high altitude with the adjustments I made. Raspberry filling is between the layers. I carved it to make it even all around, which made it pretty crumby . . .
. . . but buckets of buttercream cover everything.
The cake is almost level, but then I piped the top in a crooked circle so it looks like it's not. Everything is a learning experience.
Happy Birthday Amanda!
Right before the party, I put edible flowers from our garden on the cake.
Amanda's littlest son is a big fan of cake, and, as you can see from his face, ketchup.
Our neighbor Julie made this beautiful tribute to Amanda, using words we all gave to describe her.
Success! We made her cry.
Lemonade on the alligator as the sun goes down. Summer is good.
