As the younger sister, I spent a large part of my life looking up to Megan and even emulating her.  Those pink plaid bell bottoms that I wore in 6th grade were only worn in attempt to be as cool as my high school sister, and I’ll bet you wouldn’t be able to tell us apart on the phone if you tried.  She was always an incredible role model, inspiring me to be a better person and to be kind and thoughtful when I could.  I am so lucky to have her.  Happy Birthday to the best big sister ever!

See?  She’ll even give you her favorite stick.  I seem to be discussing something very important with that girl but she seems much more concerned about her eye.

Oh, and also, there’s cake!  Megan requested this delightful vanilla cake with strawberry frosting for the party.  I was feeling really proud of myself.  I buttered and floured the pans (not really sure if I was doing it correctly, but I did it) and remembered to leave out the butter for softening, and despite having to pick out some dropped eggshells from the batter I pretty much baked the cake correctly.  Unlike last time.  I guess I was just getting cocky, because I forgot to leave the cream cheese out for the frosting, with a slightly lumpy result.  Megan actually assembled the layers while I was out playing with streamers, as she is really much better at that stuff anyway.  Regardless of any lumpiness or unevenness, it turned out delicious.  I was cutting pieces and putting them on plates for people – wedding style – and those plates just kept disappearing.  That thing was pretty large and it was just about gone after 15 minutes.  So I guess the people like it.

Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Frosting

(via Perrysplate.com)

Ingredients:

Frosting

– 2 8-oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature (whoops)

– 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

– 4 cups powdered sugar

– 1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam

– 3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream

Cream

– 3 cup cake flour

– 3/4 tsp salt

– 1/2 tsp baking powder

– 1/2 tsp baking soda

– 3 cup sugar

– 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

– 7 large eggs

– 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

– 1 cup sour cream

– 6 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup seedless strawberry jam

– 2 1/4 lbs strawberries, sliced, divided (yah we didn’t use nearly this many)

Directions:

For the cake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Butter and flour three 9-inch round cake pans (they used two 9-inch rectangular cake pans but I wanted it to be round).  In a medium bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs one at a time, beating after each.  Add vanilla and sour cream and beat for 30 seconds.  Add flour mixture in three additions, beating after each addition.  Divide batter into pans.

Bake cake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and cool for 10 minutes.  The recipe said 50-60 minutes, but mine were done by about 42 minutes.  Run a sharp knife around the edges and the turn cakes onto rack to finish cooling.  I refrigerated mine overnight before assembling.

For the frosting, beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth.  Beat in sugar and then jam.  Beat cream in separate bowl, chilled, until peaks form.  Fold whipped cream into frosting.  Cover and chill until it’s firm enough to spread.

Place one layer upside down, spread a small layer of jam, followed by a small layer of frosting, covered in chopped strawberries.  Repeat for the second layer.  Place the top layer right side up.  Cover the sides and top evenly with the rest of the frosting.

Here is the free printable for the little watercolor birthday signs I made.  Just print, cut out, and glue onto a pie pop stick.

Happy Birthday Watercolor Printable