ENCHANTED SIXTEEN
‘Thank you so much for everything, I really loved the cake’, came the text from my oldest child after I dropped her off at her father’s house. Today we celebrated her birthday. My first sixteen.
My son helped decorate our balcony whilst I put together the three-tiered cake. The ricotta cake that is a favourite of ours. A recipe developed ten years ago for her sixth birthday in Berlin. This time I doubled the recipe, but I had leftover batter and made an extra 5-inch cake which I gave to my daughter to take with her.
When my daughter let me know which cake she wanted me to make for her birthday, she challenged me to make a semi-naked cake and sent me photos of examples. Since I had never made such a cake, I used this as an excuse to buy a cake turntable for the occasion, something I had wanted for many years. And I always love a good challenge.
One of the photos had the cake sitting on a slice of tree. After some research on Etsy, I found a shop where I was able to order a rather thick slice of a tree. I messaged the shop owner to ask if it would arrive in time. She assured me that it would. So, I placed the order and the shop owner’s husband cut a slice of a fallen tree in their forest for me to my desired diameter to fit the 6-inch cake.
Her siblings and I wrapped our presents so that Saffron had 16 presents to open from us. My son and younger daughter also got a gift. A tradition of mine that the children have enjoyed. A cable management kit for my son and flowy white shorts for my daughter. The shorts were still in transit, so I placed the gift receipt in a box for her to open.
The cake was first, as we sung ‘Happy Birthday’ and she blew out the two numbered candles. We all then sat on the floor of the other half of the balcony, which was covered with a duvet cover, and enjoyed the cake.
Presents were next. She asked if I had a card, as I always do, as she wanted to read that first. Then she enjoyed the discovery of finding out what we had gotten her as she opened all sixteen presents.
There was a little of everything. Beauty supplies from Truly, acrylic paints, palette paper and a painting knife, a gift card from Pink from her brother, a Mancala game and a set of acrylic nails from her sister, stickers, 16 one-dollar bills wrapped in a box, earrings from an Etsy shop, washi tape, a pack of canvases and a snack basket from her brother, more candy from her sister, and a vivid lemon-coloured cotton shirt from lululemon. Her sister had a few more things she had ordered but had not yet arrived.
Though it wasn’t the Enchanted Forest party she wanted and planned for, we all enjoyed our time together on our balcony. Our own ‘enchanted sixteen’. Sometimes the simple things in life turn out to be our best memories.
