Some birthdays are show stoppers with meaningful presents and surprises that are so happy they bring a tear to the eye. Some birthdays, just slowly sort of slip on by. A tiny reprieve in a normal week. It’s never meant like that, but occasionally that’s just how things fall, (well for the big people anyway.)
Not for this birthday though for him. No, no. For this birthday I was jumping out of my skin with excitement on giving a little piece of paper.
No flashy expensive pieces to gather dust on a mantel. No clothing vouchers and stiff napkined dinners, because seriously it’s not our style.
What he did have was an afternoon and evenings trek up a mountain to watch a sunset with a lunar eclipse. Followed by a little star gazing. An opportunity to take an obscene amount of photos and maybe, just maybe throw a birthday wish on a shooting star.
And in the mean time, we had cake…well, there will always, (always) be cake.
The Lamington Cake was revisited…and yes sticky fingers, VERY sticky fingers. The temptation was a little too much for her.
Lamington Cake
125g butter
3 eggs
150g (2/3 cup) sugar
2 tsp vanilla
225g (1 1/2 cups) s/r flour
50g (1/2 cup) desiccated coconut
125mls (1/2 cup) milk
******
1 can condensed milk
50g cocoa
Cream butter and sugar. Add in vanilla, beaten eggs, and milk together than fold in dry ingredients. Bake in a greased and lined spring form pan (approx 23cm) at 180C for about 35-40 minutes. Bake until golden in colour.
While cake is still hot, leave it in the cake tin, prick it all over with a skewer or fork then pour on the condensed milk mixture. (Whisk together in a bowl, condensed milk and cocoa together beforehand.)
Leave cake to soak up mixture, occasionally bringing the condensed milk back to the centre to soak in at the top a little more. Once room temperature, pop into the fridge for a couple of hours (or over night- you want as much of the condensed milk soaked in as possible.) Take the cake out of the tin and cover in desiccated coconut.
cityhippyfarmgirl 
Oh what a beautiful gift!!! I bet he absolutely loved it and that the weather wasn’t too bad! He’s a very lucky man! As our your kids with all these yummy cakes!! x irene
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He did love it Irene 🙂 Yay to that!
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what a great birthday present brydie..happy birthday monsieur chocolate!
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Giving an experience is a wonderful birthday gift idea. Cake is always good too! 🙂
Anne xx
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A lunar eclipse … What a lucky birthday present from the Universe!! We saw it last night too and it was absolutely stunning :-). Your cake looks pretty spectacular too!
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Lucky thing! I didn’t get to see it at all, too much cloud at the bottom of the mountains.
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I bet you all felt very refreshed after your walk and day outdoors. I love how you decorated your lamington cake with the stars – it’s very pretty and I’m sure the birthday boy felt very special xx
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what a great gift – I think that experiences are really the way to go with birthdays – experiences and good food and most of all fun cakes (and aren’t sticky fingers part of the fun!)
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Oh Mr Chocolate! How awesome. I hope that the skies weren’t cloudy at the top of the mountain.
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A mixture Rose. Still a great experience but there was some cloud as well…and beautifully cold 🙂
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I absolutely love this post. 🙂 Your cake is simply gorgeous and love how your spent the birthday. Sounds like my idea of a perfect celebration.
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A luna eclipse for a birthday present is pretty special! That cake looks delicious 🙂
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Yep, I think that’s a pretty cool way to spend a birthday…beats new cuff links.
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That is a loving and thoughtful gift! And the cake looks perfect! Love those little sticky fingers…<3
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sticky fingers are a constant Heidi. xx
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What a great gift….love the cake too.
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Hooray for your lamington cake Brydie! Sounds like a lovely birthday x
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Jane I swear that condensed milk works on it. I know the CWA would frown upon it…but, but, but.
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We seem to have that same finger problem here in North America also…
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hehehe Katie…they are everywhere apparently.
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Nope, every single birthday should be celebrated with balloons, awkward singing, party poppers, booze, your fav food and truck loads of cake (cause we all know calories don’t count on your birthday). I adore birthdays, everyone’s birthday… I am glad you were able to celebrate with the moon and this beaut cake too.
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What an excellent birthday adventure. I’m delighted by the stars on your cake, I can’t imagine what your “big boy” thought. Little finger is precious.
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The cake looks beautiful, I love the stars! I just made a star cake for a friend but in a very different style…
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We would get on very well, I think, if we shared birthday celebrations in real life 🙂 This sounds like a slightly fancier (lunar eclipse!) version of my husband’s recent birthday and as such, just perfect. I love your cake too.
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