Two

Ava turned two and we had a small birthday party for her at our apartment.



As with Vera's birthday last year, I made the birthday cake. Again, I went with a recipe in Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. This time I chose the Perfect Party Cake: a lemon scented layered cake slathered with buttercream and coconut powder. It is not a difficult recipe and allows for a lot of variations. Since I didn't have any berries, I played it straight using raspberry jam and buttercream between the layers. The cake turned out quite well.

Since I wasn't sure if Ava would like the cake, I baked another one that I know she likes to eat - Banana Cake; the recipe is also from Greenspan's book.  

Ava seemed to enjoy her party, let's just hope she won't be too terrible in the upcoming year.