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Food Friday: The Best 6th Birthday Treat Ever

Posted by | May 07, 2010 | FOOD | 3 Comments

In Waldorf Schools, the kindergarten birthdays are very special. Great care is given to the celebrating of them. We had Kyle and Owen’s “school birthdays” on Tuesday. Since they are in two separate classrooms, we had two separate celebrations. Braydon and I were there the entire morning (crazy!). One of the things that happens during the “school birthday” is that the child’s parents are asked to bring in a special treat for the class. Typically people bring a cake, or cookies, or brownies, or something special to the child. Kyle and Owen are not huge sweets/desserts fans. There are a couple of specific things they love (whipped cream, for example! –and– Owen only: frosting!), but they don’t really have a favorite dessert. They love fruit. They love ginger cookies (although they associate them with fall and/or Christmas). Kyle loves fig newtons and Owen loves chocolate chip cookies. But I wanted it to be really special. I was kind of stumped as to what to bring in this year. In the past I’ve always brought store-bought cupcakes for their school and daycare birthday celebrations. But this year I really wanted to bring something homemade– the boys are old enough now to ‘get it’ and to appreciate something truly good and special and made-with-love-by-their-mama. I discussed it with them several times, but we couldn’t come up with anything that they really wanted. Owen finally declared that he wanted a “cake with lots of frosting with no cake inside it” (i.e., a big pot of frosting!!!!!!!!!!) LOL!!! But I knew that wouldn’t go over well with the teachers. 😉 And I also know that Owen is actually very picky about his frosting. So, I set out to create the best 6th Birthday Treat Ever. And, boy, did I ever!!! Seriously… it was incredible. Two classrooms of kids ages 4-7 and not one child didn’t love this. Kids were begging for seconds and thirds. We witnessed more than one child literally licking their plates (and that doesn’t even include Owen, who regularly licks his plate). The teachers told me it was the biggest hit ever– they’ve never seen the kids in their classes love a birthday treat so. I highly recommend this whole spread for any occasion… but if you’ve got little kids to charm… this is the way to do it!!!! Make it and you will not be disappointed! I cannot rave enough about this (and neither can Kyle and Owen). By the end of that day Tuesday we had nothing— nothing!– left! Nada! And believe me, we started out with a lot that morning! (Braydon and I made all of it the night before)…

Kyle and Owen’s 6th Birthday Treat — the Best Ever!!!

Pound Cake, Strawberries, Buttercream Frosting, and Whipped Cream

Owen loves buttercream frosting and they both love whipped cream. I made both for both classes. I had everything in separate containers so that kids could pick and choose their toppings for their cake. Some chose just strawberries, many chose either the buttercream or the whipped cream, but most chose to load it up with it all. Everybody left happy!

POUND CAKE

I got this recipe from the foodie blog Black Girl Chef’s Whites (a great food blog). I altered it only a tiny bit (using fresh lemon juice instead of lemon extract; omitting the glaze/frosting that she calls for; and using two large pound cake pans instead of one large angel-food-style-pan).

1  lb butter, room temperature

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs, room temperature

4 cups flour, sifted

3/4 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter and flour two pound cake style baking pans.

In electric mixer cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, beat until incorporated.  Add flour and milk alternately, ending with the flour.  Add vanilla and lemon, beat well, making sure to scrape down bowl as needed.

Pour batter evenly into prepared pans, bake for about 1 hour or until pick inserted in cake comes out clean.  Cool in pan on rack for 30 minutes, then remove cake from pan. Let cool completely before storing in airtight container until serving.

STRAWBERRIES

Cut up, or slice, fresh strawberries (I used five pounds of strawberries total for the two classrooms). Sprinkle with sugar. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

I doubled this recipe.

1/2 cup butter, softened

4-1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5-6 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add in sugar, vanilla, and milk. Beat until light and fluffy. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Bring to room temperature before serving.

WHIPPED CREAM

This was Braydon’s contribution. He’s the best whipped cream maker ever. He doubled this recipe.

In mixer, whip together 1 pint heavy whipping cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Beat until desired consistency. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

P.S. Meera loved it too! She could not stop taste-testing it the morning of their school birthdays!

And, yes, I am crazy for doing this kind of stuff for my kids. I know that. And yes, we were up ’till all hours on Monday night making all this stuff (although that [the up late working our tails off part] is not unusual). When they were 3 or 4 or 5 it wouldn’t have been worth it (they wouldn’t have appreciated it), but we’re raising quite the little foodies here and they are now old enough to truly appreciate these things–  it was so, so, so worth it!!!

3 Comments

  • meghanmw says:

    I LOVE this – mostly because it is our own hands down winner for birthdays/special events! We had angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream for Blueberry's 2nd birthday. But….but but but – your recipes will make our own tradition of pound cake (or angel food cake) and strawberries go the distance. Thank you thank you thank you. And, happy DAY BEFORE 6!

  • rdzomer says:

    This looks amazing!! (And happy birthday to your boys today!). I am wondering, when you say "pound cake style baking pans", could you use a large bread pan?

  • Sarah and Mark says:

    Mmmmm…strawberry season is just starting in the PNW, and I'm going to have to make this! Sounds like it might be good as a layered dessert too. Thank you!!

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