Dad’s birthday cake
There’s a running joke in our family that every time I ask someone what they want me to make them, I make something different. I do this a lot to John when it comes to cooking dinner, but it started with me doing this to my Dad. To clarify, I don’t do this to be cruel, I just sometimes have things I don’t like to make as much.
When I got into baking as a tween, I insisted on making desserts for all family occasions, but with a catch of course. I wanted to make what I wanted to make, even when the occasion wasn’t about me. So for Father’s Day and birthdays, my poor Dad always requested pound cake, butter cake, carrot cake or something along those lines, and those all bored me. Often, he relinquished his request and let me make what I wanted, which sounds like parenting in a nutshell to me.
I finally made him something I knew he would enjoy. And in true fashion, I didn’t even ask him first (because I knew it was on his shortlist!). I’m grateful for him and even more so that we got to celebrate in real life together this year. He’s tough to impress with cooking because my Mom does such an amazing job, but he’s also the best food audience. He will have multiple servings and even eat most desserts for breakfast the next day.
Dorie Greenspan’s Carrot Cake via NYT Cooking
Pro Tips:
Double the batch of frosting (or do 1.5 times) unless you plan to leave the outside naked — while this looks cute, let’s be real, you want the outside frosted.
I also left out the lemon juice here because I forgot — it tasted amazing as is, but I’m guessing the lemon adds some brightness.
Layer cake recipes don’t usually say this, but make sure your layers are flipped so the flat part is on top. Way easier to frost and your likelihood of staying symmetrical is higher.
