My birthday was Wednesday. Dave and I always make each other a birthday cake.
My favorite cake is Harvey Wallbanger. This cake (boxed yellow mix doctored with vanilla pudding and the ingredients of the Harvey Wallbanger drink–vodka, Galliano, and orange juice) was a childhood favorite. In my family, there were two schools: cream cheese frosting/normal cake pan (my Gram) and powdered sugar glaze/bundt (my Great Aunt Gert…and apparently everyone else in the U.S., as evidenced by my futile search for an online recipe that matches mine–this is the closest I could find.). While I’m not going to turn down a slice of Harvey Wallbanger bundt cake with glaze on top, I’m on Team Cream Cheese (yea, Gram!). Everything tastes better with cream cheese frosting.
Bundt??? It’s a cake!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGZT5fYiE6A
Here is Dave’s handiwork this year:
Here is some physics humor:
ME: Is the pattern on the top some sort of scientific notation?
DAVE: It’s the signature of the Higgs boson.
ME: Really?!?
DAVE: No.
END PHYSICS HUMOR.
This year’s worst birthday present: Timeline, thanks Facebook!
This year’s age: 39.
I have some thoughts about turning 39, or more accurately, being 363 days away from 40, mostly along the lines of, “fuck!”
But since my period will start anytime in the next 0 to 14 days, (it’s like broken-clockwork) perhaps I’m just generally cranky, not age-specifically cranky. So I think I’ll mull it over more before sharing my deep and meaningful and bitchy feelings.
Hey, speaking of broken clocks…did anyone else find Ato Boldon’s Olympic sprint commentary sort of bizarre? It’s like he talked until he stopped making sense. He’d just throw random shit out that sounded like it could be relevant, such as: “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.” Um, right. Wait, what? Hey, a stitch in time saves nine! He who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day! Insert random saying mentioning time or running here!
I’m going to eat more cake now.
Happy belated birthday, Tracy!
I’d never heard of Harvey Wallbanger cake before your post. My dad is the cake maker in my family. It’s always two boxed cakes in the flavor of the birthday boy/girl’s choosing. He’s a scientist and says the cakes are scientifically engineered! We’ve tried to get him to make just one box so the cake isn’t so dense, but that has only succeeded for one birthday — my husband’s.
Thanks! I don’t know if it’s just that I grew up eating it, or what, but I love Harvey Wallbanger cake so much.
I think your Dad is onto something…a few years ago, I found a recipe on the King Arthur Flour website for Harvey Wallbanger cake from scratch (no mix). Dave made that instead that year for my birthday and it really wasn’t as good. The flavor was fine, but the from-scratch cake was dry. So we went back to doctoring up the mix.
I had no idea the most awesomely named drink in the world had a cake. THANK YOU!
Hey, my blog is educational for once. Amy, the cake is seriously SO good.
Happy birthday!
The cake sounds yummy. I’d never heard of that before. I’m guessing I would be Team Cream Cheese Frosting, too.
I’ve had this cake twice in a week–we went to visit family for my youngest nephew’s birthday and this cake is his favorite too. His Mom made the bundt/glaze variety and I ate two slices even though I’m on Team Cream Cheese.
Happy belated birthday.
When I was a kid my mom used to make elaborately decorated cakes . . . that I didn’t eat because I don’t like cake.
I’ve met a stunning number of people who don’t like cake. I’ve certainly had bad (dry) cake, but if done well, I love it.
What special treat do you have for your birthdays now?
Denial.
This made me laugh out loud. As a 39-year old who is already planning on celebrating the “1st anniversary of her 39th birthday” next year, I’m totally with you.
I also love that you mentioned your period on your blog. When I talked about mine in relation to traveling, my mother was mortified! (http://halfempty4now.com/period/)
OMG, I totally remember that post! I’m not sure I could ever forget it. I was horrified too, not because you wrote about it, but just horrified thinking about being in that situation. One of my most frequently recurring nightmares is about needing to use a bathroom and not being able to find one (or an acceptable one — I’ll never forget asking for directions to the restroom in a cafe in a small town in France and being directed to a hole in the ground) — so your experience played on that fear of mine, only worse!
I’m absolutely loving the green cake! Happy birthday!
Thanks, Sara! Sadly, the cake is now gone.