August 14, 2017
My brother in law is mad at me because I didn't have time to make his favorite cake for a family birthday party Sunday night, where we served 13, with 6 of them "birthday boys and girls." His favorite is the Hershey's Chocolate Cake, only I add a bit more cocoa as my secret ingredient.
My stepdaughter was a bit disappointed in me too, because her favorite cake is the Magnolia Cafe version of Red Velvet Cake.
This year, I had intended to please them both by creating a 13 x 9 x 2 layer of red velvet cake, topped with cream cheese icing, then top that with a same-sized layer of chocolate cake, covering all in Hershey's Chocolate Icing. OMG!
This required a trip to the grocery. However, I spent all Saturday morning cleaning up our backyard for our guests. Right before I was to head for the store, our dog "Lord Byron" did what dogs do outside in the heat. He dug a deep nest in a flower bed...covering himself with wet mud and mulch that had been watered the night before and also hosed down by me when I cleaned up that morning.
As soon as I realized Byron was a mud-coated disaster, I hollered to my husband, "We've got to wash the dogs." This sent us to the Dirty Dog outlet up the way, a place where you can wash your dogs without destroying your home. Trouble is, by the time we got both of our thickly-coated dogs washed and dried, it was 6 p.m., and there was no dinner on the table.
Husband, being the understanding sort, took me out for Thai food and fed me a beer. By that time, the thought of making my extravagant two-cake-cake for Sunday evening's party was beyond my dogged desire to bake, bake, bake, especially since we got home from the grocery store about 9:30 p.m.
I couldn't play favorites and make just one of the "favorite" cakes, so a light bulb came on. I had bananas. I had a can of pineapple. I had cinnamon, vanilla, eggs, etc. I would make my favorite of all cakes, the Hummingbird Cake.
Let's Blame Lord Byron So I made the Hummer cake. Even though it was delicious, my brother in law remained disappointed. And my stepdaughter pouted a bit too. They'd both done such a good job of pouting, I found myself feeling guilty. Which led me to the only rationalization I could dream up: We can blame my dog, Lord Byron.
By the way, after we returned from the dog wash, Byron's sister "Meryl Streep" went out and rolled in some mulch too. Luckily, where she rolled had dried out, so the mulch was something we could brush out quickly. Dogs!
Hummingbird Cake Recipe In case you'd like to try it, here is a link to the Hummingbird Cake Recipe I use.
Again, many thanks for reading and rating my work!