Another birthday - Karen - the Big Three Oh!!

Karen brings up the tail end of Birthday Season here.... no more birthdays until fall!

She was kind of tired of the buttercream iced cakes she makes from her Wilton class recipes.... so I decided to try something new....

I made a regular white (french vanilla flavor) cake, and planned to frost it with cream cheese frosting. I took strawberries.... cut them up.....

And made a bit of strawberry syrup, and strained it and poured it over some additional sliced berries.

These were put in the middle between the layers, with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting to hopefully keep the lower cake from getting soggy, and a dam of frosting around the edge to prevent leaking....

And then iced the rest, as usual. I think it worked!

We celebrated with dinner at T.G.I.Friday's. Her dear friend from high school, Dani, came by with flowers for her, at the restaurant. I was so blown away by seeing Dani, and hearing about her engagement and seeing her ring, that I completely lost my mind and failed to get a picture of the girls together! Dani, can I have a do over?

I did get a pic of Karen with the flowers Dani brought, later! Dani had to leave, and after she was gone, I had my "duh" moment and got out the camera!

Because Dani had brought flowers, the waiter was tipped off about the birthday and he and his crew brought Karen ice cream and sang. Karen produced her "red face" on cue!!

We came home and she opened presents and enjoyed her cake!

Happy Birthday Karen!!