If you want to do birthdays right, make homemade cake

By Barb Randall

The Lake Oswego Review, Jan 18, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Using the theory that cake tastes best in big bites, Cole Randall enjoys a piece at a recent birthday party.

Barb Randall / The Lake Oswego Review

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Everyday is someone’s birthday and tomorrow is my son Cole’s! He will be 14 years old on Jan. 19, 2007.

The celebration has already begun at the Randall household. Cole’s baby and youth pictures are on special display on the dining table. For weeks, he has been weighing options of how to celebrate his birthday from sunup to sundown.

My big concern has been what kind of a birthday cake shall I bake him? He has had a birthday cake made from scratch every year of his life. Though it may look complex, preparing a scratch cake is “as easy as pie,” as the saying goes. Either from scratch or from a boxed mix, nothing says “you are special” more than a cake made especially for you.

I took a cake decorating class a few years ago at the Decorette Shop in Tigard. Under their tutelage my decorating skill level soared. Practice does make perfect, but your cakes can look more finished instantly if you follow a few suggestions from the pros.

Ever wonder how a store bought cake gets its height? They simply use more batter! For a taller cake use one and a half cake mixes and be sure to adjust the baking time.

Every baker has stories of cakes sliding or splitting apart. You can prevent this tragedy by making sure your cake layers are flat instead of domed. Simply cut off the domed center of each layer. The Decorette Shop sells an insulated strip that you soak in water, then secure around your cake pan. The cake is baked with this insulated strip around it, causing the cake the bake more evenly. No dome develops as the sides and center of the cake bake at the same rate.

When you have stacked your cake layers on the cake plate, give the whole cake a base coat of frosting thinned with a little milk. Professional bakers call this a “crumb coat” and it gives you a more workable surface for decorating.

As for decorations, be creative and step way outside of the box! We’ve had some pretty wacky cakes at our house, looking more like Dr. Seuss made them than Wolfgang Puck. These family birthday cakes are memorable and obviously made with love.

Cole asked for a chocolate cake with white frosting for this year’s cake. Snowboarding has become his new passion, so I plan to make his cake a snowboarder’s dream, complete with rail and half pipe. This recipe for Perfect All-American Chocolate Butter Cake and Mousseline Buttercream Frosting should be perfect!

Bon Appetit and Eat Locally!