And Friday?!?! And celebrations!?!? Me, me, me, ME!! ? Over here in my little world, it’s been a big week and a half. First things first, Asher’s eighth birthday. I think the little girl had a pretty fun week. She seemed to love all of her presents and the finale to her celebrations was her Harry Potter birthday party with four of her closest friends. The fun isn’t completely over, come October 1, we will finally be heading off on our trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando (thank you to those of you who recommended Orlando). I must say, I’m pretty psyched to go myself. Second, BABY goats!!. Oh those baby goats…aka kids, as they’re officially called. These two little goats are the cutest little animals I have ever seen. Like puppies have nothing on them. What’s even cuter though? Watching Layla, their mom, play her motherly role. Since Layla is a first time mom, she didn’t quite know what to do for the first day, but her motherly instincts have kicked in, and now the only time she ever leaves their side is to eat, and even then, it’s never for very long. Watching their bond grow stronger each and every day has been incredibly awesome. Layla will not even let my cat Snape (or Snap or Snappers as Asher calls him) near them. She stairs him down until he runs off. <–for real. Third, my sixteen year old brother, Red, got his driver’s license. Ahhh, what? How is that even possible? It feels like yesterday that he was the baby of the family. I cannot believe he is driving now…YIKES. Fourth, this little site of mine is growing and I could not be more exited about it! Woot Woot! 🙂 So you see… it’s clearly a cake kind of Friday… obviously the best kind of Fridays. OK, so here’s the deal with this cake. Typically I would never bother with a vanilla cake, but my cousin Abby convinced me that a vanilla cake with sprinkles (nonpareils…the round ones) was something I had to make. I’ve had it ingrained into me from a very young age that the only cake worth eating was chocolate. No seriously, I never, ever, ate vanilla cake growing up. I’ve probably only ever had just a few bites before making this cake. I know, I know, that is kind of crazy, but you just do not know my mom. It’s all chocolate, all the time. The other thing my mom tried to instill into me? Sprinkles = BAD. I think she did this, one, because they messed too much with her pure chocolate on chocolate flavors, and two, because she knew they just added more unnecessary sugar, and three (and probably most importantly), she HATED to have to clean them up. Sprinkles and Nerds (do you guys remember those?) were pretty much outlawed in our house. Well, I am breaking all the rules today and making a vanilla cake… and even adding (just a few) sprinkles…ooops. Thankfully, I no longer live at home, and thankfully my mom never saw the ENTIRE BAG of sprinkles I spilled on my pantry room floor. Totally serious, I am forever a klutz. Anyway, I made a vanilla cake, but since I love my chocolate too, I had to go with chocolate frosting. Like I just couldn’t do vanilla on vanilla. Maybe someday in the future, but just not today. Today needed mounds of whipped chocolate buttercream (again, cause we are celebrating baby goats over here, with more to come any day now!) atop my moist and fluffy vanilla cake! Alright, so this cake?! Even though it is vanilla. I still LOVE it. It’s fluffy and moist, and has an intense vanilla flavor, which is possibly my favorite thing ever. That moist and fluffy and vanillay cake is the perfect pairing with my favorite whipped chocolate buttercream, like it is SOOOO GOOD! So good, that even my sprinkle hating, chocolate only, freak of a mother had a piece… and truly enjoyed it! Um, that’s what I call a successful vanilla cake! 🙂 You may have noticed that I didn’t cover my cake fully in sprinkles…ahh, sorry, but like I said, I spilled them all over the floor. If you have a serious love for sprinkles, feel free to go as crazy as you’d like! I do actually prefer a cake probably minus the sprinkles. Well, I think just a few can be awesome, cause they’re so fun, but too many and, I dunno, they start to take away from the flavor of the cake. I guess it’s true what they say, like mother like daughter. ? Ahhh, sooo here’s what I’m thinking, birthday or no birthday, this Vanilla Birthday Cake with Whipped Chocolate Buttercream should probably be made… ASAP… just sayin. Cause really, all Fridays should include some kind of cake!