The girls have been making cards and pictures for Abe’s birthday all week. No exaggeration, Mary has used almost all of her free time running into my mom’s room and preparing all sorts of surprises for Abe. On Monday evening they made him go to bed early so they could set out a trail of cards around the house so he would be surprised on the morning of his birthday. Abe is the most amazing dad, and I was so thrilled to see that the girls seem to have internalized that fact and expressed their appreciation for him in such colorful, creative, sweet ways.
I basically spent the whole day cooking Abe’s birthday dinner. I made borscht, cabbage pie in a yeasted dough, rye bread, and honey yeast blinis with creme fraiche, dill and smoked salmon.
Thankfully, Lydia made Abe’s cake ALL BY HERSELF and so I didn’t have to do a thing for that. (Okay, I wiped up a powdered sugar spill, but that was it.) It was honestly the best tasting chocolate cake I have ever had. We were all so impressed.
Lydia baked this beautiful, delicious cake from a recipe in her Look and Cook cookbook. I didn’t realize that cookbook had any recipes that were worth noting, but apparently this one is. The cake didn’t look the color of chocolate cakes I normally love, but it was so moist, perfectly textured, and so delicious. I am hungry just thinking about it.
