Birthday Birds and Birthday Cakes

Family tradition dictates that not only to member of the family have a birthday bird, but also a birthday cake.  TJs bird is the kingfisher, mine is the oystercatcher, O's is the lilac breasted roller, FPFJ's has yet to be determined.  It'll come to him...maybe it already has.  You don't really get to choose your birthday bird.  It kinda chooses you.  (FPFJ's could be the coucal. I'll have to check.)

Now, birthday cake? Well, that's a different story.  Mine is a chocolate torte with raspberry sauce and TJ's is a blueberry sour cream coffee cake. Papa's is the amazing torte marguerite.  Owen and Finn are still experimenting....baked alaska with 6 kitties skiing down? that was the last one.  You don't have to have the same cake every year but eventually you find that every year you request the same cake. And that is your birthday cake.

Today is the big guys' birthday and I could put together so few ingredients from the actual recipe that I had to abandon the birthday cake.  All missing from the list of ingredients?  Blueberries for starters. brown sugar (boo, no struesel topping), no pecans (double BOO), no unsalted butter, and of course no sour cream.  (We have sour milk!  but no sour cream.)

Boo-Hisssssss.

So, instead of substituting the whole essence of the recipe away, he ended up with a dimply plum cake with cardamom.  And an orange glaze.  Super-yum.  Some one will have to do a make up cake in July.

In the meantime, here is your piece: