Happy Birthday Uncle Dean!

Today is Dean's birthday. To celebrate, we had people over last night for what was supposed to be a 'play cards and eat cake' night. Ended up just being a 'eat snacks and chatting fest' but I think everyone had a good time.

Birthday boy!

Not wanting to be overwhelmed with serving an actual dinner, I kept it to finger foods and guests could help themselves.

We had veggies (zucchini, cauliflower and celery), spinach dip, olive-cream cheese tea sandwiches with pumpernickel bread and herbed goat cheese bruschetta.

Our kind neighbors brought over a cheese and salami tray which was great because it fit in beautifully with the spread.

Dean thought there should be a picture of me so here it is.

For dessert we had German Chocolate Cake. We made it for Dean last year and he requested it again this year. We had a few issues last year (over beating the egg whites and the frosting never set up) but practice makes perfect and it turned out great! Next thing I need to work on is how to decorate.

The recipe called for 3 9" round pans. We only had 2 and used a square pan for the third.

This year I cooked the frosting for 30 minutes instead of the 12 minutes which was the suggested time on the recipe. It set up beautifully and I was so happy not to have to frost the cake with a slotted spoon again!

It was moist and the frosting held up well on the cake.

I placed the square layer on the bottom so even with a round cake, if someone wanted a corner piece, they could have one! :-) A Carrie original.

Happy Birthday Uncle Dean!!