If I'd-a known you were comin'

...I'd-a baked a Four-Layer Lemon Torte with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting!

Yesterday my best-friend-and-sister-in-law Melissa turned thirty, so Saturday night Mike and I got the chance to test out our new apartment for entertaining. And, I got to test out my baking skills by making a full-on, fancy, four-layer cake!

Regretfully, I neglected to take a beauty shot of the cake with natural lighting, etc. (My friend Amanda was kind enough to send me these fun candids. Isn't Melissa a cutie? I hope I look like her when I'm thirty ... in eighteen months ... hm, better lay off cake!) But the cake came out quite nice, if I do say so myself! I was in a mad rush to finish it in time for the party, when I had the idea to forgo the painstaking piped icing, and just press some thinly-sliced lemons around the outside and sprinkle some curls of zest on top. The inside had three layers of red raspberry filling.

So now, I am in love with making cakes. It's the ultimate in creative baking – from concepting fun flavor combos to, of course, the decorating. And, better than any knitting or silkscreening project, it's got a yummalicious finale!

My next baking endeavor: Bakerella's Fourteen Layer Cake (shown to me by the birthday girl herself).

Or, maybe I need an intermediate project first...