Grandpa's Milestone

My Dad turned 70 this year.

We threw a party and invited the relatives.

All of the grandchildren were there. My girls got creative and wrote their own birthday cards for Grandpa. Middle DD's was especially nice. She studied poetry in school this past year, so she came up with a poem. (And I can't believe I didn't save a copy.)

And, for unknown reasons, the cake was a big hit this year. It was made from scratch (like always), a recipe that I've used before, but this time people couldn't get enough of it. So here's the recipe (from Betty Crocker):

Silver White Cake

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 5 egg whites

Preheat oven @ 350. Grease and flour 13x9 pan (I used a double sized pan, so I doubled the recipe). Beat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, shortening, milk and vanilla. (Yep, everything at once. No creaming sugar and shortening together first). (Oh, I also didn't have a lot of shortening, so I used a half stick of butter plus shortening for full amount). Scrape bowl, beat on high for 2 mins, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan. Bake for 40-45 mins until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 mins, remove from pan, cool completely.

When I went to make the frosting I realized that I didn't have any powdered sugar, so I used this recipe instead (Not a great consistency if you want to decorate like I normally do, hence the sprinkles).

White Mountain Frosting

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2T water
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla

(I had no corn syrup, so my first task was to create my own simple syrup, then I proceeded with the recipe). Mix sugar, corn syrup and water in saucepan. Cover; heat to rolling boil over medium heat. Remove cover and boil rapidly to 242* on candy thermometer (soft ball stage). As mixture boils, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Pour hot syrup very slowly into egg whites, beating constantly. Add vanilla; beat on high until stiff peaks form. (This all felt very similar to making marshmallows, but without gelatin in it, it doesn't harden into a marshmallow).