Mole's Birthday Celebration

The birthday girl!

Last week we had our girls night birthday celebration dinner for Pauline (AKA "Mole"). My  mom gave her this nickname years ago! It seems to have stuck...at least for Mom and I! We had a lovely dinner at Outback and my responsibility was to make the cake. Mole requested anything with chocolate...lots of chocolate. So, I went sifting through my various cookbooks (yes, I collect those too) and stumbled upon my favorite one of all.

This is a good cake cookbook. There's an excellent recipe for Hummingbird cake that is just divine, but remember I was in search of chocolate. Inside was a recipe for Easy Chocolate Party Cake. It was pretty easy and pretty chocolatey! So, I gave it a try. Everyone was pretty pleased. Mole thought it was great! I, myself, am not a big fan of super chocolatey, but if I were it would be great if I do say so myself. It was very dense and rich. You could only eat a little before you were on chocolate overload! Here was the result...

They never quite look as good as in the book, but we'll take it. After all, I am an amateur!
Here's a pic of Mole cutting and serving her cake...

Of course, Kathy had to stick her finger in the frosting (gross) and taste it! Good thing we had already gotten our pieces before that happened!

Here's a final pic of Mole and Gladys!

This group of ladies were my mom's girlfriends before I came along, but now that I'm all grown up I'm one of the girls. I look at it as having lots of extra moms and friends. These ladies have watched me grow up and have been there for me all of my life. It's kinda like the Ya-Ya's!

Ahhh...lemon cake

Here was my challenge...

My mom requested a lemon cake for her birthday. Well, she didn't know it, but I was planning to make it for our girls night celebration last Monday. You see...this cake is divine! I'm not a fan of lemon normally. I don't choose lemon meringue pie when we go out, but I do enjoy lemonade. This is the exception! This is not my recipe, but that of my friend, Laura. Never am I able to replicate the absolute fabulosity of other's creations; however, I was willing to attempt it anyhow.

So, it began...

I followed the instructions very carefully. I LOVE my Kitchenaid blender! That is the most wonderful creation ever made. I bought the beautiful robin egg blue blender (doesn't match a thing in my kitchen now) several years ago...about 7 or so. It's been through lots and still strong as an ox. If you don't have one go get one now! I just don't know how a kitchen can not have one of those essential tools!

In went the eggs...

Then, all of the other goodness together...

Oh, Yummmy!!!

The waiting begins...Is it gonna turn out right? Is the color looking like Laura's. Oh, my!

Out it came...it was so beautiful! The rose pan just completed the look! By the way...Dynamo hates those funky pans. They are a pain to clean, but they also tend to stick much easier because of the grooves. You have to get down in the grooves and grease away!

It was definitely a hit! Here are mom and the girls admiring the cake! Whew! It passed the test!

And, a group photo from dinner here (we had to squeeze in)...

Even our waiter wanted a piece! I was so excited that it turned out like Laura's! It wasn't quite as wonderful as hers and probably never will be unless she makes it, but it was pretty good if I do say so myself. I'm glad that the birthday girl and the girls enjoyed it!

The recipe is definitely headed to the "Favorites" section of my special recipe flip book (I'll feature that next week). It's a keeper and will become a recipe that I will use often for work pot lucks or as a hostess gift.