celebrations · food · raising boys · recipes · slice of life

Half of a Cake for a Half Birthday

Last year, Kristi Lonheim, a fellow Slicer, commented on a Facebook post I shared about Ari’s half birthday.

Last year, I created a granola bar tree on Ari’s half birthday.

And so began the idea for making half of a cake for Ari’s half birthday.

Several weeks ago, I floated the idea of half of a cake to Ari. He told me he wanted chocolate cake (doable), cream cheese icing (doable), and it should be a drip cake (WHAAAAAAT?!?!?). After a momentary panic, I reached out to my next-door neighbor, who has fabulous decorating skills, and asked her for help. She suggested a chocolate ganache drip cake. After going down the Google rabbit hole for chocolate ganache drip cakes, I settled on a recipe. I considered buying a turntable, but landed up only purchasing a squeeze bottle instead.

This morning, as planned, Ari and I started backing at 7:00 a.m. Here’s a peek at our cake baking and decorating:

We will celebrate tonight with buttermilk-brined roast chicken, green beans, and french fries. (Ari is hit-or-miss with green beans, but the rest was requested.) Then, we’ll devour half of a cake in honor of Ari’s half birthday. I cannot wait!

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26 thoughts on “Half of a Cake for a Half Birthday

  1. Half birthdays cakes! This is the idea I can really get behind! More than the recipe, where did that 1/2 come from? Ps. Hope you had it with that amazing ice cream you’ve now got me hooked on!

    1. The half cake idea evolved over time. We talked about it for months. Ari was totally into it. We even took out a ruler and measured it in centimeters so we could cut it into two even halves.

      No ice cream though. That would’ve been too much before bedtime.

  2. What a fun idea – a half cake for a half birthday! As someone whose birthday is in the summer, I’ve always been enamored of the half-birthday celebration because it’s the one I could celebrate in school. It never quite caught on, but oh! if only I could have gone the half-birthday cake route. I love it!

      1. I remember I got sung to when I was in Kindergarten. The kids sung “Early Morning to You” instead of “Happy Birthday” – which, I believe, may have been the actual first lyrics of the song?

        But as the staff birthday treat giver at one of my schools, I TOTALLY put half birthdays up on the lounge calendar and give treats on half birthdays. It does not go unnoticed. =)

      2. Why didn’t I ever work in a place where there was a staff birthday treat giver!?!? That’s an awesome job title to have! LOVE that you celebrate the half birthdays!

  3. I love seeing this come to fruition. Celebrating life’s moments, big and small, is something I appreciate. Hopefully the green beans are uneventful and don’t inspire tomorrow’s slice. 🤪

  4. Yes to all of this. I appreciate your visual narrative these are so much fun. Half birthdays and all days are worth celebrating when we are with the ones we love.

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