Chocolate cake

During birthday season we make a lot of cakes. Especially since many birthdays are celebrated multiple times.

 Chocolate cake is very popular and this is our current favorite recipe. It is moist, delicious perfection.

For the cake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and cocoa two 9-inch round baking pans, or put papers in two muffin pans.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixer bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes. Mix in boiling water - the batter will be thin. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (Bake cupcakes for 15-18 minutes). Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack, then tap the cakes out of the pans. Cool completely before frosting.

I usually make one 9-inch round and a dozen cupcakes. It freezes beautifully so having more than we can immediately eat is not a problem. The frosting recipe makes enough to generously frost one split 9-inch layer (pictured above) or two dozen cupcakes.

For the frosting:
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Using the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.
Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the vanilla, mixing until combined. Add the melted chocolate and whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.

Follow the links to the original recipes.

Dinosaur

Henry wanted to sew something after Nora got to make her little dog. We settled on a dinosaur. He made some sketches.

I didn't know how well we could render spikes on our first effort, so we changed this one to a lumpy dinosaur.

I cut out the two sides and then Henry whip stitched them together in short sessions over the course of a day or two.

 He turned the little guy right-side out

 and Henry helped stuff him. The stomach was sewed closed and eyes were added.

Playgroup friends

 We brought some cupcakes the next day to our playgroup to continue Penny's birthday celebrations.

We have been so blessed by our playgroup. In the fall of 2003 a lovely lady in our church invited some first-time and about-to-be first time mothers to her house to chat and get to know one another.
At that time there were two babies and six moms. We had pleasant conversations in the quiet.

These days there are eight mothers and thirty-one kids.

Over the years people have moved away and others have moved here and joined our weekly meeting. Two years ago we had to split into two groups to meet in the winter. We meet at parks as long as the weather allows so that we can be together but we are currently too many people to meet at a single house. It's been such a gift to have these people around us all these years to share our lives.

Penny's second birthday celebration

We invited Mimmu and Iso over for dinner. There was pizza, roasted broccoli, and carrots on the menu.  She asked for more broccoli before finishing her pizza, which is typical of the children here. 

 We had chocolate cake and homemade vanilla ice cream.

Mimmu is the best person to sit with when there's dessert.

Grandma left some gifts when she visited. The mouse puppet was an immediate hit.

She's checking out her Mars rover shirt (upside down and backwards) like she's seen everyone else do. I gave her some toys that we had stored away so they were new to her and Nora did not approve. Penny was happy enough with them.

Helena checks the voltage of a battery

It's good to have a dad with lots of cool gadgets.

Henry makes a pizza

Our kitchen helper system lapsed during the end of pregnancy and Millie's newborn days, but we've been back to it lately.

 He's getting to be a good dough maker.

Hiking

Mark, Nora, and Henry met up with some friends on a Friday morning to hike up Badger Mountain.

Everyone had a pretty good time. Nora was stung by her first bee when they were at the top. Henry was impressed with the rock steps that were built into the trail.