If there was a bright side to hurting my foot and not being able to travel to Seattle this week, it was being able to spend my dad’s birthday with him yesterday.
63 years young with trick candles in his cake. A delicious cake too. More on that in a little bit but first let’s back up since it’s what I ate Wednesday and the last one in this month’s love your veggie theme.
Breakfast was inspired by this girl. She always has these amazing waffle stacks that leave me drooling even after I’ve just eaten breakfast. Nothing fancy, just really pretty presentation. And since pretty food tastes better, I decided to go that route with breakfast. Blueberry waffles with a chia/yogurt mixture in between and topped with strawberries, almonds and coconut.
Lunch was just a quick egg scramble with lots of veggies on a pita bread since I had a leftover egg white after the cake we’re about to talk about (huge pet peeve of baking…I hate separating eggs!). It should be noted that there was no mid afternoon “oh my God, I need chocolate or something sweet” snack because I was saving up. Big time.
Dinner was on mom. BBQ chicken thighs, broccoli rabe, roasted baby artichokes (so good!) and a Trader Joe’s grain mix.
And then the time came…
This isn’t my recipe but I knew it would be delicious from the start. I mean her cookbook dropped yesterday. Girl knows her ish if she’s got a cookbook, right? I followed the recipe exactly except I left out 1/2 a cup of sugar. My hands just physically wouldn’t let me pour in 2 1/4 cups of white sugar and I’ve never met a bundt or pound cake recipe that can’t withstand a little less of the white stuff. It still tasted delicious, you’d never know it was missing.
I took a little more leniency in the frosting department since I didn’t have many of the ingredients on hand.
Here’s what I ended up whisking together:
-1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
-1 tablespoon butter
-1/4 cup powdered sugar
-2 tablespoons cream cheese
-brewed coffee until I got it to a “pourable” consistency (there’s coffee in the cake too)
Bam. Tell me you don’t want to lick that off the screen.
Ulysses left half of his piece on the plate since chocolate isn’t really his thing and it made me twitch a little. Wasted food always bugs me, but wasted chocolate? Sacrilegious.
Luckily the cake stayed at my parents’ house. There’s no way I could be trusted alone in the house all day with it steps away.
As far as family birthdays go, I’m next in line. Would it be weird to bake myself this cake? Because I’m seriously thinking about it.
{ 49 comments… read them below or add one }
LOOK at that big, fat, chocolate cake. Yes, I do want to lick my screen but past experience tells me that dust and dog hair doesn’t taste very good.
Mine too. It’s amazing the how dog hair can get EVERYWHERE!
Ahhh….my mouth’s watering and it’s only 8am. That dinner sounds amazing, especially the roasted artichokes!
I love bundt cakes. This glaze sounds dreamy!
Yum
IT’S A BUNDT!!! Love that movie. And your dad is adorable.
oooo beautiful cake and I love that there’s coffee used with this cake
happy belated birthday to your dad! I’m sure he was thrilled with this delicious looking cake!
Happy Bday to your dad…and the cake looks wonderful and I’m sure he LOVED having you celebrate with him.
Blueberry waffles with a chia/yogurt mixture in between and topped with strawberries, almonds and coconut = wow, that’s a great looking breakfast too!
I am salivating right now. Seriously. First for your pancakes, then for the cake. Happy birthday to your dad
Dinner sounds SO good- I want those bbq chicken thighs for breakfast right now
I wouldn’t have had a problem with Ulysses leaving some of his cake. That just means more for me. I usually eat half of Mike’s desserts anyway. I have issues.
Your dad does not look like he’s 63! Why do men age better than women? Unfair! I hear you about not being able to pour in the directed sugar amount or chocolate amount. Most of the time, you just know it’s NOT necessary and you don’t even miss it once you have a bite! This looks divine!
I am hungry now:)
Looks fantastic! and yes, I kind of do want to lick the screen.
yuuuum.
Gorgeous gorgeous cake and icing. Hope you enjoyed your family time!
I’m always intrigued by how people get the icing to stay “Just so” on their bundt cakes like that! Yours looks great!
Aww, that’s nice that you at least got to spend your dad’s birthday with him. I’m sure he appreciated that bundt of lusciousness.
This all looks fantastic! I really did want to lick my computer screen that cake looks so good! I am trying to refined sugar free for a bit and looking at this cake is torture!
Yeah this cake is definitely not something I would normally make. The amount of sugar was disturbing. haha
Yaaaaaaaaay I love the waffle stack!! Yours looks GOOD. And I agree – pretty food most definitely tastes better
Can we just talk about that bundt cake though?! OH MY GOODNESS. I want to dive head first into it right now! Happy Birthday to your dad! So glad you got to celebrate together (you guys look SO much alike!)!
Your cake came out GORGEOUS! Nice job! I wanna reach through my screen and snag a piece lol
Every single thing in this post is to die for! …and that cake?! My mother-in-law and grandma-in-law’s birthdays are both in March. They are used to store-bought cake unless I jump in there with something homemade — I’m thinking it’s a homemade kinda year – what a perfect excuse to make this
My gosh girl! You photography makes me drool. Love your dinner plate… oh ya, and come over to fix breakfast for me. Will you?
Nice pic of your dad.
Everything looks great! I have never made a bundt cake, but I just purchased my first pan last weekend!! I’m like you, I never put as much sugar in stuff as they say, I usually cut it in half. To sweet!!
I know, I would’ve cut out even more sugar if it wasn’t for my dad but he wanted something “not healthy” haha.
Happy bday to your pop! I should make myself an un-bday chocolate bundt cake just so I can eat a slice of it for breakfast every day for the next week. Gorgeous photos, lady!
best pics of any food blog I have seen I think. Some bloggers food pics are just TOO big and slap you in a face that is not fun. Your pics are always so perfect. And that one of your dad. Love it. And I can pretty much taste that cake even though I am sitting here at my computer at work with no chocolate anywhere near me, so thank you.
Aw, thanks. That kinda made my day
I always bake my own birthday cake, so its not weird at all. Looks delicious!
Every time I come to your blog I feel inspired to actually learn how to use my fancy camera (your food always look so beautiful in photographs), but then I get sidetracked. Do you use a light box or anything? I always get glare off of my plates inside.
No light box, I shoot in the daylight between 10-4 usually. My dining room just gets really good diffused light, so that helps. the only thing I use is a white foam board on the opposite side of the food from the window to help with shadows. Just switch the camera to manual and start playing. Honestly, that’s the only way to learn!
that cake… seriously?!!? amazing. and happy birthday to your dad!
I totally wanted to lick the screen! That cake looks ridiculously good!
Oh my god that Bundt cake looks incredible!!!!
I’m kind of drooling over this… yum!
YUM!! Joy always has such delicious recipes for inspiration!
That looks delish!!!!
Wow that cake…I so want a bite of it!!!
Yes I want to lick that cake off the screen.
That cake….perfection.
I love the pancake idea. It looks like an amazing dessert!
What a wonderful photo of your dad! That cake looks incredible!
That is one pretty cake!
Almost too pretty to slice. Almost
LOVe the photo of your dad with the cake – especially the blue effect!
I always love the recipes you post. This is really something I’ve gotta try! Yummy…
it is a lot of sugar, isn’t it!? also… dad’s are absolutely THE BEST! your dad looks top notch!
ahhhh, that cake photo with the white pitcher in background – A-MAH-ZING! Seriously, way better than some recent food magazine covers I’ve seen lately. Oh, and the cake sounds amazing – happy belated bday to your dad, too.
Thank you Deanna! What a nice compliment
{ 2 trackbacks }