"Happy Birthday, Jesus" Cake

In an effort to teach our boys about the real reason for Christmas, we bake a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" cake each year. We eat it for dessert Christmas night after dinner. Last year Alex didn't really understand the whole concept, but now that he's almost 4, he totally understands what a birthday party is. So, Christmas is a day-long birthday party for Baby Jesus - we just get to open the gifts instead of him.

A month or two ago my mother-in-law and I spent probably 4 hours in the kitchen doing a test-run of one of Martha Stewart's desserts of the month: Butterscotch Pecan Cake. It was my first time attempting a triple layer cake, and this recipe was an INSANE amount of work. But after it sat for a day or two for the flavors to set, the results were TOTALLY WORTH IT! So, it won the contest, and will be this year's cake. This past weekend, my mother-in-law drove the 1.5 hours to our place to help me make it for Christmas.

Virginia making the homemade butterscotch
that later was turned into frosting.

When we weren't looking, Alex decided to help bake a cake too.
Just wish he didn't fill my brown sugar canister with flour!

"I'm sorry that I made a mess.... But it WAS FUN!"

Trimming the tops and bottoms of each layer so the
butterscotch sauce could soak in. We finally had
some samples to taste. Yumm!

Assembling the layers.

Virginia icing the cake.

The finished cake.
Waiting until Christmas is going to be really tough!