Birthday Baking Traditions + A Zebra-Print Cake Almost Too Cute to Eat

Ecclesiastes 11:8  NIV

"However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all."

It's that time of year for us! The month of May. This year we have two birthdays, Mother's Day and a high school graduation.

When I first became a part of this family, I wanted to incorporate all sorts of my own traditions into it. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Now I see importance of making new traditions when you're part of a blended family. So, when it comes to celebrating Grace's (now almost 14) and Sarah's (just turned 18) birthdays, that's exactly what I did. Every year, I ask them what kind of cake they want me to make them. It can be absolutely anything. We've done basic cakes, rainbow cakes and a few different cheesecakes so far. I do it because I love them, but I would be lying if I didn't mention how much joy baking brings me too.

Sarah's birthday has passed (I made her a chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake and will save that for another post), but Grace's approaches. Tonight she has six of her closest friends spending the night. In fact, they've painted designs all over their faces because they're about to play flashlight tag in our backyard. I believe this is the part where I hear their joyous high pitched screams. Anyway, this birthday, Grace asked me to make her a zebra striped cake. So I perused Pinterest, as I almost always do, and came across this.

I usually bake everything from scratch, but I must admit that I was nervous about this one. I was worried my cake would turn out marbled rather than zebra. I didn't want to put the extra effort into a scratch cake if I wasn't going to be 100% happy with it. Plus, it's a great time saver! A couple of boxes of cake mix and an unbelievably delicious Martha Stewart frosting recipe later, I got this!

Let's just say, not only did we celebrate a sweet young lady's birthday, but we celebrated the zebra surprise inside this teal beauty. The gasps from the other girls made me giddy. It actually worked!

Baking a Zebra-Print Cake

1. Take a box each of white cake mix and devil's food cake and mix according to the directions on the packages. Put each mix in a separate pourable container. I used Pyrex liquid measuring cups.

2. In two greased round cake pans, starting from the center, pour a bit of white cake mix into the center of each pan. Next, pour the chocolate cake mix into the center of the white you just poured. Keep doing this until your cake pans are half full. They will appear to have rings in the alternating colors.

3. Bake (according to directions or recipe) and cool your cakes. Once cooled, I level them with a serrated knife.

4. Now it's time to decorate your cake. I used Wilton's gel icing colors in blue and green and the above mentioned recipe to create this teal frosting.

5. Slice and be amazed! It really is that easy!

Well, I should go finish my slice and there's more celebrating to be had.  Remember to enjoy each day that God has blessed you with and maybe do a little something for someone else to help them enjoy theirs.

Bake a cake. Share a slice.