VANILLA POPPY SEED BIRTHDAY CAKE

I scrambled around looking for the cake pans I bought at the Lakeland kitchen store in Scotland during my trip last year. The 6-inch cake pans. I had one but the other must have been packed away in one of the many unpacked boxes piled in the family room I have been using as storage.

The minutes passed and I decided on a change of plan. I would simply use three 5-inch pans. I wrote a revised recipe of my lemon poppy seed cake to exclude lemon and include vanilla bean paste. After the cakes cooled, I ended up using two of the cakes which I split in half and which resulted in a tall four layer cake.

The icing was made from cream cheese and butter along with heavy cream, icing sugar, and vanilla bean paste. Fresh berries I placed on top with a dusting of icing sugar. My birthday girl was pleased with her cake and I was glad to share this special day with my now eight-year old, her older sister, and younger brother.