On a Birthday Roll

As you can tell from my last posts, we were certainly on a birthday roll in February. From the 11th to the 23rd our new Two was thoroughly celebrated.  But we weren't done yet!

Quietly on February 24th Cecilia had a birthday request for her special day.  She wanted to come over and try her hand at a special cake while Daniel napped.  The cake is called Rocambole in Brazil--Jelly Roll here.  Neither of us had ever made this type of cake. C was brave enough to try; I was excited to learn some new techniques.

Together we made a really delicate, golden, rectangular sponge cake (if I do say so myself!).  Separated eggs, not much flour or sugar, lots of high speed whipping with my 40 year-old Sunbeam Mixmaster (a wedding gift that keeps on ticking), parchment paper lining, good guesses about when to remove it from the oven.  We were in virgin territory there, but Cecilia's deft hands got the cake turned out onto a clean, damp, sugar-dusted kitchen towel.

Earlier the kitchen was noisy with a pressure cooker's hisses, as Cecilia magically turned a can of condensed milk into doce de leite. According to C, this may be the first thing every Brazilian cook learns how to master.  It amazes me to watch her place an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a small amount of water in that pot and, in a short time, open up that can of dreamy creamy caramel sauce.

BTW-When I was little, my mother used a pressure cooker on rare occasions.  She taught me basically that it was a tool of death--a scorching bomb destined to explode.  Evidently my mother was wrong, because millions of Brazilians use pressure cookers safely every day.  But even if there's a hint of truth to my mom's lesson, doce de leite is definitely worth the risk.

Back to the cake.  C spread the fresh, creamy, caramel over the sponge cake.  Then I watched her perform this tricky maneuver that resulted in the sponge cake being coiled up around the filling to make a roll.  It was a Tah Dah! moment, for sure.

Here's Cecilia putting the final touches on her birthday cake:

 

powdered sugar sifted over a doily stencil



Pretty awesome!
See that doce de leite oozing out?
Shut my mouth!



Here's the Birthday Girl.

And here are 3 guys wondering when they can devour the cake.

I made a big pot of Lamb Curry for Cecilia's birthday dinner. She's in love with Indian food.  It's in the tradition of Steve's mom Joy; every child gets a homemade family birthday dinner and the cake of his/her choice. Of course, Joy made both the meal and the special cake.  This time, it was the Birthday Girl who requested and made her own treat.  C even brought her own candles.

I got the cart before the horse after dinner, and brought C's gifts for her to open.

CHEESE!

There are a couple of things on Cecilia's bucket list that I know about.
One of them is to see the ballet Swan Lake.
So in her purple bucket were 2 tickets to
the Houston Ballet's Swan Lake.

Happy Birthday, Mamae!

One candle for each decade + one to grow on.

Daniel tells Papai a secret after dinner.

It's no secret.  How good is this Rocambole com Doce de Leite!

Wow.

Happy Birthday, Dear Cecilia.  Thanks for the baking lesson!  It was a good day, and I'm blessed to be part of your life.