Making a birthday cake in Spain

My birthday is tomorrow. I will be turning 27. Does that now make me in my late twenties? Ah! Here in Spain oddly enough it is the person celebrating the birthday who is responsible for treating their friends on their special day. I guess we do the same things as kids in the States by bringing cupcakes to class but here this tradition continues into adulthood. In order not to be shunned by my co-workers (who I love) I figured I would make something to bring tomorrow. Anyway, I decided to make myself a birthday cake which has been a more complicated process than what I originally expected. I shouldn´t be surprised since this tends to be the case. 

 First off, I love funfetti cakes. When I was back in Michigan for my sister´s wedding I bought two boxes of Halloween cake mix (it was half off since we were shopping the day after Halloween) and brought them back to Spain with me since you can´t have a birthday without funfetti. This afternoon I baked the cake, adapting pretty well to the metric system here. I had to consult the internet a few times to get the measurements and temperature right but things went off pretty well. I even used my new oven for the first time!

Here is the cake, please to note the black and orange "fettis" making it quite fun. After having finished the cake itself, I began to lament not having any frosting to top it with. Here in Spain I have never seen frosting available at the grocery store. My co-workers say you can buy it at a few specialty stores but that it costs a lot. Even if I decided to spring for a can of frosting since it is my birthday and all, it is Sunday and NOTHING is open. This is a case of bad planning on my part but what can you do? I was too busy buying a bunch of different kinds of beer for our party on Friday to worry about cake. I decided to Google recipes for homemade frosting, hoping that I would have all the ingredients on-hand.

 This one seemed to fit the bill and got very good reviews. Bonus, it doesn´t require powdered sugar, something I didn´t have in my cupboards:

 http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/thate28099s-the-best-frosting-ie28099ve-ever-had/

I kind of had to cobble together the recipe since my kitchen isn´t exactly fully stocked. I added a bunch of sprinkles in the end since everything is better with sprinkles. Actually the frosting tastes pretty good even if it is a bit ugly. 

After a long afternoon this is how the cake ended up. Let´s see if we can choke it down tomorrow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Simple Spanish recipe: Chipirones a la plancha

Image
Ok so I know this picture is a bit blurry and I apologize but it is the final result of my having cooked chipirones a la plancha for the first time. Let me explain, chipirones are small squid and a la plancha means grilled. They are served in an olive oil, parsley and garlic sauce. At first I wasn't sold on the idea of this recipe but believe me, it is pretty awesome and super healthy. It is a really typical tapa that you can order at almost any bar here in the south of Spain. Chipirones a la plancha is usually served on a bed of lettuce or with a small side salad. Yum! Here's the how: First you need the chipirones (small squid that come with the heads and tentacles attached). I can buy them at my local grocery store in the fresh seafood section. I bought a package of 400 grams though the good thing about this recipe is that you can make as much or as little as you like. Allow me to also explain that here in Spain people tend to eat a lot more fish and seafood than...
Read more

La mesa camilla

Image
The mesa camilla is a very Spanish invention (in fact I believe it to be a very southernly Spanish invention). It consists of a table, a heater and a heavy, long tablecloth-like fabric that drapes over the sides. The idea is that you put the heater under the table and when you sit down you put the fabric over you like a blanket. The truth is that it does keep you quite warm. The downside is that once you get up and move, you lose the heat. Since the houses and apartments here in the south of Spain are not created for the cold (no central heating) a mesa camilla can be found almost every where.  We didn't have one last year and survived with blankets, space heaters and flannel pajamas throughout the winter. This year Jose decided we needed to get a mesa camilla. I fought the good fight (since often times they look very similar to the option in the picture above) but we ended up ordering one not too long ago.  Typically the mesa camilla is made of wood and can be stored ...
Read more

Spanish names

Image
Maaaaaaaria, I just met a girl named Maria Hopefully you just read that and sang the song from West Side Story in your head. Let's just say that from what I have experienced here in Spain, people really, really like this name. In fact, there are times when it seems like EVERY woman or girl is named Maria (or Maria de/l something) and though they might go by the second part of their name, their given one is still Maria. People definitely opt for traditional names here, unlike the US where names go through trends.  Recently a friend on Facebook posted a link which contained a GIF  (originally from The Atlantic)  showing the different female names that had been popular in the US since 1960. It is interesting to see how a name like Jennifer would be popular in one region and then would sweep the nation. Such a map would not be as cool here in Spain since not a whole lot would change. Maria. Maria del Carmen. Miriam. Marian. Mirian. Variations on a theme. Religious...
Read more