This boy is 7 years old!

A birthday is not a birthday without presents and a cake. That's it. Simple.


Licking the beaters is just icing on the cake*, so to speak.

A syrup cake was on order - from the Friendly Food cookbook put out by the RPAH Allergy Consulting Unit. I have never had what I would call success with this cake. It cooks for about an hour. The outside becomes overcooked and rock hard (like, saw it rather than cut it) and the inside is questionably cooked (like, hmmmmm, maybe needs another hour).

Anyway.
Here it is in all its undecorated glory with the imprint of Hudson's sweet fingers - they match his sweet tooth*.I wonder if he managed to eat any.


Speaking of sweet tooth...
While a few of us were sitting at the table Hudson off-handedly commented "Mum, I lost my front teeth." It was so nonchalant, so understated, that it barely registered on my consciousness. Then it did. Hudson lost his front tooth. Just one. Just like that. Did we know it was wobbly? Maybe. Where was it? We all headed off to look for it in his bed. Found it. On the floor!!! So there you go.

When we got back to the table there's poor little Declan with tears streaming down his face - not the centre of attention as he had expected of his birthday. So we quickly swung back into birthday celebration mode to save this little guy from a big inferiority* complex.

The cake is always a challenge but a challenge I am prepared to take up. This time around Caitlin and I had already discussed what we thought we would do. We were prepared.


The cake eating time was set for 5pm - that gave time for Soph and Nick to get back from the beach and Alan and Annelise to pop around from home. Having visitors is the cachou (I think that is plural as well - like sheep) on that icing on the cake*. In this family a cake without cachou on it is probably not appropriately decorated.

So here's the boy - 7 years old. He sung "Happy Birthday" heartily - as you should.



PS See all those white choc buttons? Later, after the candle-blowing, cake-cutting and cake-eating, I came back to clear up the table and put the left over cake away and lo and behold all the white choc bits were gone! I wonder who ate them. :)

* All puns, idioms, proverbs and oxymorons intended. :)