The Special Morning
The morning sun’s rays were streaming into the
window and onto my face.
“Get up!”,
The sun seemed to say, “It’s your mother’s birthday.”
While I washed my face and tried to make my curls
presentable, I recalled the events that lead to this bright January morning.
There really were no plans to celebrate my mother’s
birthday this year. My siblings and I
had agreed to wait until my mom turned 80 to have that one big bang of a
celebration.
“But hey!”, One of us declared, “Why wait until mommy
turned 80? Every year after 70, nay 60 is cause for celebration.”
So being the obedient (read: submissive) eldest of
seven siblings, I had been requested (read: appointed) to take on the role as
party planner. I was the natural choice: retired and available. The five were abroad and could not join in
the celebration. I was comforted by the
thought that G, a sibling, was able to get off from work and help out.
The day before my mother’s birthday, I had arrived
in Cebu to put the final touches to preparations for my mother’s dinner party.
G followed in the evening. G had been in Cebu a week earlier to set the ground
works, while I guided (read: instructed) her on venue selection from Manila.
As I went down the stairs in my duster (house
dress), I saw G knocking on my mom’s bedroom door. My mom, also still in her duster, received
our kisses and embraces. As we settled
on her bed to discuss the day’s activities, we heard the doorknob turn. As the door slowly opened, my mom’s yaya
(caregiver) and the rest of the house staff came in with a robust rendition of
the birthday song. They came prepared with candles on a chocolate roll,
greeting cards and flowers.
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My mom then took time to read the greetings inside
the cards given.
Every now and then, she
would have to stop to take telephone calls that were starting to come in from
the rest of my siblings, relatives and my mom’s friends.
What a wonderful way to start the first day of my
mom’s 78th year. And as a bonus, we were all going to have a
piece of the roll for breakfast.
---xoxoxoxox---
That Evening
I had gone ahead to the venue to make sure everything was in order. While busy talking to the head waiter, I spied her seating quietly with her dedicated
yaya. They had come in quietly and taken a seat at a corner table.
My mother, a bit nervous, wore her
favorite green mid-calf tiered shift dress.
She flashed me a smile but her eyes belied the anxieties going through
her mind. Will her guests show up? Will there be enough
food? Will everyone have a good time? The same thoughts going through my mind.
The previous days saw a rush to find a senior
citizen friendly venue; texting invitations and calling for confirmation; ordering
the cake; and, hurriedly putting together a short video of pictures and
greetings. The lists of party to-dos went on.
My events management skills were taken out of the storage and put to a
test.
Then on cue, the guests started to
arrive. The comfortable pace at which
the guests arrived gave my mom a chance to exchange pleasantries and pose for
pictures in a relaxed manner.
The head waiter signaled to me that the
buffet table was ready and dinner could be announced. The guests, again as if on cue, broke into a boisterous chorus of the birthday
song. The candles on her cake were lit,
and my mother closed her eyes to make her wish before blowing the flames
out. There was much applause and my
mother graciously invited them to enjoy the dinner.
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As in all events, there would be minor hitches. But
because everyone was having a good time, the party progressed steadily. The party took on a more energized vibe as
guests took to the floor to line dance or take turns twirling with the lone DI
(dance instructor). No matter that the
DI was a senior citizen himself, he managed to work up the guests into a
cohesive dance group with one dance number after another.
It was 10:30 in the evening when the last smiling
guest was ushered out of the party venue.
Seeing my mom’s beaming face and hearing her happy chatter in the car on
the way home was more than enough reward for the effort put in.
My siblings and I are already planning her next
birthday celebration. Hawaiian? Barn
Dance? Karaoke? I am hopeful that God will continue to bless us abundantly with
reasons to celebrate.
---xoxoxox---
Besides the celebrant, the star of any birthday celebration is the cake. And my mom’s cake was no exception. To facilitate the quick distribution of a
piece of the birthday treat to all the guests, I ordered cupcakes and requested
that the décor reflected either her love for dance, jewelry or the game of
mahjong. I placed my full trust on
“Torta ug Uban Pa”, a bakeshop newly opened and owned by my god-daughter,
B. Not only did B make the cupcakes, she
topped each of cakes with tiny paper standees of dancing couples, diamond rings
and mahjong characters.
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Plus, a mini cake decorated with sugar flowers and
birthday candles was placed on top of the tiered cupcake holder stand—kind of
like a Christmas tree. (Click here for
more info about the bake shop)
The chocolate flavored cupcakes were iced with mocha
cream. While the mini cake was a butter
cake with raspberry filling and iced with swirls of butter cream.
Not only was it lovely to look at, it was
delicious! Everyone at my mom’s house enjoyed having a slice for desert for the
next three days after the party.
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---xoxoxox---
I was so taken by the cake that I had to do
something similar myself. The baker
inside of me was eager to put my skills to a test. Happily, I did not have to
wait long. A good friend was visiting
from Switzerland and I thought it the best reason to bake a “welcome back” cake.
Here’s what I did:
A. Bake a Butter Cake (recipe taken from Hallmark
Magazine)
Ingredients
o 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
o 1 1/2 cups sugar
o 3 large eggs, at room temperature
o 2 cups all-purpose flour
o 1 teaspoon baking powder
o 1 teaspoon baking soda
o 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature ( or 1 T vinegar and
enough milk to make 1 cup)
o 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Directions
1.
Preheat
oven to 350 with rack in the middle of the oven. Butter 1 8-inch round cake pan
and line the bottom with wax paper or parchment paper cut to fit. Butter the
paper. Prepare 12 cupcake pan by using paper liners.
2.
Beat the
butter and sugar at medium speed with electric mixer until light and fluffy in
a large mixing bowl. Beat in eggs one at a time. Scrape bowl and beaters to
incorporate.
3.
Sift the
flour with the baking powder and baking soda. Add one quarter of the dry
mixture to the butter-egg mixture and then add the vanilla and a third of the
buttermilk. Repeat beginning and ending with the flour mixture and scraping
well after each addition.
4.
Pour the
batter into the prepared pans and spread to the edges with a spatula. Bake 25
to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
(Shorter baking time for cupcakes)
5.
Cool in
pans for 5 minutes. Turn cake pan onto a plate, remove parchment paper
or wax paper and cool completely before frosting.
Assembly:
Carefully cut the cake cross-wise and spread good
quality raspberry jam on the sliced layer of cake. Return the top layer.
For cupcakes, remove paper liner and cut cupcake
cross-wise and spread the raspberry jam (like making a sandwich). Place cupcake in new paper liner.
The Icing Finale
Ice the cake with rose-like swirls of Swiss Butter Cream --Swiss because my
friend came from Switzerland
Recipe was adapted from this site :
You will need:
1 ½ c butter,
unsalted
1 c powdered
sugar, sifted
1 t vanilla
3 egg whites
¾ c sugar
Over a double boiler, in a large metal
bowl whisk together the granulated sugar and the egg whites stirring constantly
until the sugar grains have dissolved
and mixture is not gritty to the touch.
Pour
this mixture into the metal bowl of your mixer and whip on high speed
until it is thick, glossy and white in color. The peaks should be firm. In the meantime you can sift your powdered sugar,
and once you have achieved STIFF peaks meringue, add the powdered sugar all at
once with the mixer on very low speed to
avoid having a snow shower of sugar all over your kitchen! (a good advise from the site)
Once all of the powdered sugar has
been incorporated you can turn the mixer speed to med-high until it is all
nicely mixed in.
Be sure your butter is at room
temperature. Add it in about 2-3 additions, but make it FAST additions.
A few more minutes of beating and
you’ve got your swiss butter cream icing. If icing needs more hold, beat in more
powdered sugar.
As for decorating the cake, I went to youtube to
find a quick tutorial. And this site was
quite helpful.
Viola! I just baked and iced a pretty "Let's Celebrate" cake with matching cupcakes!
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