Cake this place up

I think birthday cakes should be homemade. Call me an old-fashioned, 1950's housewife.

For Zoe's 1st birthday, I made a vanilla cake with mango lime frosting and strawberry filling.
It was pretty delicious.

Oh, and it was in the shape of a Z.

I also made her a tiny square cake that should could touch and smash and have all to herself.

Don't let that face fool you. It was good.

That's better

I modified a cupcake recipe I found (decreased the sugar and salt) and baked it in a 8x8 pan. I cut two little squares out of one corner to make the smash cake. I didn't have a plan for the rest of the cake, but then I saw if I divided the rest into thirds, I could make a Z.

I sliced each piece horizontally so I could make it a layer cake. I wanted her smash cake to be a cube, so it was actually 3 layers in order to get the right height. I chopped up strawberries and placed strawberry and frosting in between each layer. Here are what the recipes turned out to be.



Vanilla Cake Recipe
1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup cold whole milk

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, stir together all dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Stir in milk. Bake about 25 minutes.

Mango Lime Buttercream

1/2  cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ataulfo mango, pureed

juice of one lime

zest of 1/2 lime
2 tablespoons mild honey (I used my Aunt Tammy's tupelo)
4-5  cups powdered sugar
 

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add mango purée, lime zest and juice, and honey; mix well. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until desired spreading consistency.

(I did 3 cups and then frosted the baby's cake even though it was not a great consistency, just to have a little less sugar. Then I added another cup to get a better frosting consistency for the rest). 

aww Honey Honey

I had a guest post over on SuperNOVAmommy about letting the small stuff go as a parent. One of the things I listed was the fact my daughter had been fed honey in Greece and people completely flipped out over it.

The whole point of the post was to share some occasions that parenting didn't go exactly as planned. I'm 100% sure that if you have a child, this has happened to you. I'm also 100% sure that if you are a parent you've judged another parent on these occasions.

I'm not here to say judging is wrong because it's natural and it happens. I'm judging you right now. I probably think your shoes are ugly and that obviously makes you a horrible person.

When Zoe is attached to one of those baby leashes because she runs away from me and I can't chase her because I have MS - people are going to judge me so hard their brains explode.

If I were healthy, we wouldn't need one of those. But I rather have a living child than a pancake, so I will be happy with the other 99 decisions I made the past week and tolerate this one. People won't know all the thought that went into making this decision. They will only "know" that I am a horrible person and leashes are for dogs, and the baby store should have never sold me that baby.

But back to botulism! Oh, we weren't talking about botulism? We are now.

We're pretty conscientious, knowledgeable, educated parents. I would even say we are sciency - that's right.

We are a made up word.

Sciency.

My husband is a science teacher and I have a doctorate in a medical profession. We are of a scientific nature. We care about scientific things. We like to read scientific facts and research before we go freaking out over something. Fine, whatever. We are nerds. Which is why I have to talk about this botulism thing.

Some people are bothered that I let Zoe eat honey. For those of you who haven't recently had a baby, honey is now on the no fly list before the age of 1.  

FACT: There is a disease called botulism

FACT: It is caused by a spore-forming organism (Clostridium botulinum) that is commonly found in nature


FACT: Most of the cases of infant botulism are caused from inhaling microscopic dust particles that carry the spores

• Parents do not like it when they can't do anything to prevent a disease from happening, so we have to keep going.

FACT: Honey can contain Clostridium botulinum
 
FACT: You don't have to feed your baby honey

Parents win! All they hear is, "honey will kill your baby."

There is something you can do to protect your child from this incredibly obscure, rarely fatal disease. Honey became the bad guy because it is a food substance that Clostridium botulinum has been traced to.

And on a personal note...

FACT: Clostridium botulinum has been found in honey from the United States, Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Japan, and Central America

FACT: Greece is not on the above list

FACT: Greek honey is delicious

So yes. If you are caring for an infant, you should probably avoid feeding them raw honey because it has occasionally been linked to a disease that rarely has any long term complications. Let's be serious about things. Is this something you should be horribly afraid of? Absolutely not. Your baby is more likely to be attacked by a pack of wolves.

Ok, that last part I made up. But, all other info is from the CDC, NIH, and Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program.

More fun facts for nerds!

• There are approximately 77 cases of infant botulism in the US a year

• They are most susceptible under 6 months of age

• Mean age of onset is 13 weeks, with a range from 1 to 63 weeks

• Honey has been the known cause of botulism in only 35 instances worldwide (the toxin of the spore in the infected individual matched the toxin in the ingested honey)

• Botulism rarely has any long-term side effects and death is an uncommon complication 

• Clostridium botulinum is heat-labile meaning it breaks down when heated to a certain temperature. Heating food with honey to a cooking temperature of 80°C/176°F for 10 minutes greatly decreases any risk.