Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Daddy's birthday

I love that every year we get to celebrate the coolest, funniest person out there. Philip takes care of this family and is an awesome dad to my two munchkins. He's a pretty sweet husband too. There are a few things that he loves a lot, besides us of course, and that would be sushi and Boston cream pie. So for his birthday, to make it as epic as possible, we gave him two cakes: a sushi cake and a Boston cream pie cake. I also threw him a surprise party that I am so glad I pulled off.

I guess lets start with the sushi cake and planning of the surprise party. The first thing you should know about me is that I have a big mouth! I love to talk and I have a really hard time keeping anything from my husband. He's my best friend, so naturally I want to tell him everything! I prepped and planned, and secretly texted people until I finally had it all figured out. His sister was going to come over early the day of the party and take him away to go let him pick out his birthday present. She took him to a comic book store, which would keep him busy for as long as I needed him gone, to give people a chance to arrive. Then she said she had to be somewhere and got him home after everything was ready. We all yelled surprise and he almost fell over! It was amazing and I am really glad, that for once, I was able to keep my big mouth shut. His face was totally worth it! But lets back up to a few days earlier which was his actual birthday where we gave him a sushi cake and some delicious cupcakes!

I found this great bakery in Plano, Sugar Ray's bakery, that had a Boston cream pie cupcake. We also got a few others to try that were amazing! My kids loved our tasting party. LOL. We have top left, a peach cobbler cupcake, a nutella cupcake (my son's pick), a vanilla bean (my daughter's pick), banana pudding, the Boston cream pie cupcake (the birthday boy's pick) and finally, my pick, a chocolate caramel pretzel cupcake! I am not big on sweets, but I like to have a little here and there. I ate on mine for 3 days! It was so good, but oh so sweet!


As for the sushi cake, here you go! Super simple to make and a show stopper! I started with sushi rice, then a layer of sushi grade tuna, shredded carrots, then shaved ribbons of cucumber and then repeated the layers. Decorated with shredded carrot and a cucumber ribbon flower. This is something that can be done easily with any vegetable, meat and as little or as many layers as you like. I did it all in a spring form pan, refrigerated it for about 30 minutes, then carefully popped it out. It was a hit for sure!! 





This was the setup for his surprise party. Fruit salad, PB&J sandwiches for the kids, pulled pork in a crockpot in the kitchen and pineapple coleslaw. And for dessert, the Boston Cream Pie cake. It was all delicious and perfect! 


For the cake, I simply baked two boxes of yellow cake mix as directed in two separate pans. After the cakes had cooled, I poked holes in one of the cakes with the handle of a wooden spoon. Then I carefully put vanilla pudding on top, making sure to go slow and take my time layering it on, so that it could get into all the holes. I refrigerated it for about 30 minutes before I put the top layer on so that it had time to firm up some. Then after I placed the second layer on, I put it back in the fridge until party time. For the top, I simply melted some bittersweet chocolate with a little bit of milk to thin it out and then spread it on top right before guests arrived. This was the perfect combination of sweet and creamy. A little bit of chocolate, creamy vanilla filling and scrumptious cake made this the best cake for a birthday boy who loves Boston cream pie!


All in all, I think our birthday guy had a great day! He got to have a quiet celebration at home with cupcakes and a sushi cake. Then have a wonderful surprise party, filled with friends, family, laughter and his favorite dessert made into a cake. He said he had no idea and it was by far his best birthday yet. I can't wait to see what I pull out next year to make him smile. I love finding and doing different things that make this guy light up. Until next time...