Sunday, February 3, 2008

Zebra Cake

For as long as I can remember, my signature birthday cake has been Zebra Cake. The recipe only requires two ingredients, chocolate wafer cookies (a bit hard to find, increasing the allure of Zebra Cake) and whipping cream. We've added peppermint and almond extracts to the whipped cream for flavor diversion, but the best kind is straight-up chocolate cookies and barely-sweetened cream. The cake is made by stacking and lining up chocolate wafers with whipped cream in between and slathered all over, shaped in a traditional log, circle, "U," or "double-wide." Refrigeration softens the cookies and when cut on the bias, the cake is stripey like the animal for which it's named. YUM.

We had some tonight, complete with three and seven candles in honor of my birthday, and a chorus of little cousins singing off key.

There used to be anxiety about Not Enough Cake for some leftover to take home (everyone wants seconds of Zebra Cake). But my mom made me my own little cake for tomorrow.

As my daughter likes to say, "Happy To Me!"

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