A birthday!

Last week was my son's 9th birthday, so I've been busy baking.  I made a big batch of snickerdoodle cookies for him to bring to class on his birthday.  Then we had his party this weekend.  His choice venue for his party is our local climbing wall.  This year his grandparents, an aunt and two friends joined us but, due to the location, I decided to forgo the cake & ice cream until we got home.  Since we were there during mid-day, I brought an assortment of snacks, including a batch of oreo cookies, which the kids inhaled.

Once home we enjoyed cake & ice cream which were also a hit. The cake turned out denser than I had planned - more like a pound cake, which may have been due to doubling the recipe.  The taste was still delicious and I can't wait to make it again for strawberry shortcake once strawberries are in season again. 

 
This is a yellow cake with a vanilla "buttercream" frosting, sprinkled with crushed oreos and decorated with a soccer set I'd gotten years ago.

Quick Gold Cake

adapted by Raechel Medina from an original recipe in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham

2 c. Featherlight flour mix

1/4 c. tapioca starch

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 1/4 c. sugar

1 tsp. xanthan gum

1/2 c. canola oil

1 c. hemp milk or water

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and lightly flour two 8-inch round cake pans.  Mix the flour, starch, baking powder, salt, sugar and xanthan gum in a bowl.  Stir in the oil and milk/water, and beat for 2 minutes.  Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat for another 2 minutes.  Pour into the pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto racks.

*I doubled this recipe to make the above sheet cake and baked it in a deep 9x13-inch cake pan for about 70 minutes.