Our First Birthd...Wait, JESSICA'S First Birthday

Let's just be honest: Jessica's first birthday party was for us as much as her. I love cooking, and Dave is the toy king, and we were glad all the parents stayed to talk to during the party. But I think she liked it too. I hope so; we'd been looking forward to it since Christmas.

In preparation for the big day, I surfed the internet & started sketching cake designs. I practiced a bunch of new cake decorating techniques. (I think I've been watching too many cake-decorating challenges on Food Network.)

In January, I made this pink one: yellow cake with raspberry filling & Dave-made lemon curd, lemon frosting, and pink raspberry marshmallow fondant. I just used a box cake mix, store-bought jam, & tub frosting. But the fondant was from scratch (I had play-dough flashbacks) & I tried edible markers to make the little dots.

Refrigerating the cake made the slices come out perfect-looking, but it was soooo sugary: a 1" slice would give me a headache. 

In February, I experimented with these techniques: drying royal icing decorations, then gluing them on with icing (fish on the sides & the vertical swirls); whipped chocolate ganache filling; chocolate cream cheese frosting (lower sugar); rice crispy shapes (the giant fish); modeling chocolate (dark Ghiradelli's & corn syrup, yum!) in chocolate (fins) and white chocolate, dyed blue (to cover the fish); sugar free cake; making those swirly icing decorations; & dying cake layers.

I still used a boxed white cake mix. And buttercream frosting makes me gag, so I was glad to find another option. The chocolate cream cheese frosting (cream cheese, a little powdered sugar, chocolate chips, & cream) was so decadent---not too sweet---that I added it to my "banned foods" list. (It's 3 desserts that I only get to make once a year, & I have to ask Dave permission first.) I'm not a big fan of cake anyways (I ask for pie on my birthday), so we've been giving out cake right and left.

So when we celebrated Jessica's birthday, I felt more confident about what I was doing. I decided on a farm theme, since Jessica loves animals so much, especially dogs, cats, & cows. Her farm cake on the bottom was chocolate box mix (hey, I wasn't going to add "from scratch" to this already complicated endeavor!) with green cream cheese frosting. The barn was sugar-free yellow with chocolate cream cheese frosting. And the cake board & both cakes were covered with orange-flavored marshmallow fondant. The roofs, mud puddle, dog, etc. are made from modeling chocolate, and some of the animals we made with almond marzipan.

And by "we" I mean me, Dave, and his parents. They were here to celebrate Jessica's birthday (late) & mine. They drove all the way from Houston, & what do I reward them with? A day of slave-driving in the kitchen! Dave's Mom has good cake-decorating experience, & she was a huge help: piping furrows & plants, covering the barn, making the coconut haystack, roofing the barn, etc. Dave's Dad made all those little apples, Dave mixed colors for the animals, & they both hung balloons & streamers. 

I totally could have done the cake myself, as demonstrated by the two previous cakes. But with the party deadline, I WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN ANY SLEEP THE NIGHT BEFORE WITHOUT THEM! Thanks Mom & Dad & Dave! 

Of course we know our parents love us, but let's tell the truth, they were there to see their grandchild! They clinched their good favor with Jessica with cuddling, singing, flirting, and this winner of a baby toy: the ball-blowing machine with music. She learned pretty quick how to push the red button, and she was screaming with delight at those flying balls. And that's a blessing of not having the first grandchild: her toys are all pre-tested, grandchild-approved.

That was before she got sick though. She wasn't eating well the day before her party. And unfortunately for her first birthday, along with some lovely gifts, she also got diarrhea, poor girl. So she wasn't her hyper self with the other kids, and she picked at her cake, instead of mashing it in her mouth.

(She got the lumpy silo, and the duck.) We played an animal race game, and had punch balloons (when I saw them in the dollar store, I had a flashback to my own childhood, and bought them.) I wish we could could've invited everyone, but you can only fit so many clowns in a car, you know. We had a great time: thanks to everyone who came and the gifts, all of which Jessica loves.

We delayed Jessica's party by 2 weeks because 2 days after her birthday we would fly to Arizona to meet Jessica's new cousin Graham and see other family. (I'll blog about that trip & the weekend with Dave's parents later.) And I spent the 2 weeks before her actual birthday (Feb 28) finishing a project more important than cake: I made a first-year scrapbook of Jessica for her birth family. They are the whole reason we had an excuse to party. And it's really hard to mail cake. Thanks to Nancy Morris, who helped me make a little month-themed scrapbook years ago; I'd been saving it for this very reason, and it turned out cute.

On Jessica's actual birthday, Dave made a "J" in her birthday pancake. That evening we opened presents: animal puppets & tails. Dave played with her so much she knows how to put her hand inside them. He is fantastic with kids, and I'm so glad he's Jessica's father. His interrupting-cow knock-knock joke is funnier with a cow the size of a boxing glove on the end of his hand.

She also got clothes (size 18 months) & Baby Einstein videos (thanks to my Mom!), glasses (which she loves), Mickey Mouse color wonder paper & markers (and FYI, one month later she can now take off the lids and put them back on, which made me hide all the regular markers.)

See Jessica puffing up her cheeks in the picture? I worked for a month teaching her to blow out matches, hot food, feathers, etc hoping she would be able to blow out her birthday candle. No dice. (She blows everything else now.) After dinner we quickly had some cake, then put her to bed at the neighbors' house. We had tickets to see violinist Itzak Perlman at the Broward performing arts center. (He & his pianist were really amazing, especially when we could see his hands after we moved down from our nosebleed seats.)

Happy 1st Birthday to our wonderful little girl.