Every family has their own birthday traditions.  When I was growing up, birthdays were celebrated with a “Deluxe Bakery” (Deluxe was actually the name of the bakery) cake, complete with pink buttercream flowers, which my sisters and I fought over.  Now that I have my own children I let each of them choose their favourite cake and I bake it for them.  My youngest always picks chocolate.  My middle child usually selects something challenging for me to recreate.  One year it was a treasure box, another year we made a swimming pool, complete with bright blue Jell-O as the water.  My oldest, whose birthday is in December, always requests strawberry almond shortbread cake.  It’s not always easy to find great berries in the winter.Yesterday was my birthday and I began the day by baking my own cake.  Now don’t go feeling sorry for me.  I have been baking my own cake for many years now.  When I was younger, my sister had a friend who worked at a bakery.  Every year she would bake and decorate her own birthday cake.  We always thought it was the saddest thing.  However, now that I’m grown up, I think that baking your own birthday cake is a joyous thing to do.  Think about it.  No having to be gracious and pretending to be thrilled when someone brings you a chocolate cake, when what you really wanted was carrot cake.  

Not that I would know anything about being gracious!  I am ashamed to admit that one year my good friend bought me an over the top artisan bakery creation for my birthday.  We were at my cottage for a girl’s weekend.  I told her, “Thanks, but I made my own cake for tonight.  We can serve yours tomorrow night.”  So, no I don’t get any points in the generosity of spirit category for that one, but I did get to eat my carrot cake on my birthday.

The carrot cake I’m takling about here is not your standard issue carrot cake.  I am talking about a dense, moist carrot cake with lemon curd filling and cream cheese frosting, showered with toasted coconut.  The lemon curd filling keeps it from being too cloyingly sweet, something that too many carrot cakes are guilty of.  This cake was created by my friend Pam.  This is not one of those cakes that you mix up in one bowl and then bake.  Baking it requires you to dirty pretty much every bowl, measuring cup, spoon, spatula and whisk you own.  This cake is a labour of love.