June 20, 2012

June is for Jalen

I mentioned that June is a busy month for us (and probably for you too), and that's mainly because we celebrate the little guy's birthday this month.  So because of that - for us - "June is for Jalen".  He just turned 7 so he's not quite so little anymore...
The birthday boy's Chocolate-Coffee Ice Cream Cake - recipe to follow in upcoming post
You know the saying, "The days are long but the years are short"?  I feel the truth of that as my son marks each birthday at what feels like warp speed sometimes.  So here we are at another year, with another milestone to celebrate.  I thought I'd post some highlights here, starting with this birthday cake I made him. 

I have a thing for ice cream and conveniently, so does my son.  His birthday falling in June really makes me think ice cream cake so I made another one this year for us to enjoy at home.  This ice cream cake (recipe to come in another post) is based on a layer of fudgy dark chocolate cake, coffee ice cream, and topped with a final layer of dark chocolate ganache.  I added some chocolate curls that I picked up from Buon Italia at the last minute.
The coffee ice cream was the birthday boy's choosing!  You could certainly use any flavor ice cream you like.  Happily, the cake was a big hit with the star of the day, who requested 2 slices in one seating.

The little guy's birthday coincided with Father's Day this year so we had his party the evening before.  It was again, as requested, a party at the bowling alley.  Even though you're having your child's party outside the house, there still seems to be a million details to attend to before the actual event.  But it was well worth it in the end to see the enjoyment on the birthday boy's face and to watch the kids have a great time together.  As they get older, the connections and friendships seem to grow tighter. 
Lightening McQueen was the star of the show at the bowling alley.  Little one once again rejected my overtures to make a cake or cupcakes for him at his party and requested another colorful supermarket creation in the form of the Cars characters this year.  I think I'm secretly relieved he wants one of these store bought cakes at his party; it's a lot of pressure providing and transporting the birthday cake for a big group of kids.
Not happy leaving well enough alone, I did make some cookies for the party.  Last year, I made sugar cookies (you'll see I made some ice cream cone ones) and this time, I went with butter cookies, or sables.  They're actually the recipe for Poilane Bakery's punitions®, or "punishment" cookies.  I know it's funny I choose to serve the children "punishments" but they're really quite tasty and a nice non-chocolate treat to go with the chocolate/chocolate pudding Cars cake.
Poilane Bakery's recipe for their punition® cookies - more details in a little post as well 

And I wasn't kidding when I say I've always got ice cream on my mind around this time.  June is a great month to celebrate a birthday - with summer's arrival, you think long days, vacations, barbecues, lemonade, and cold desserts.  I worked ice cream into the party favor theme.  The ice cream "shooters" were a big hit with the kids!
That's a wrap for this birthday...

Happy 7th Birthday, Jalen!

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