coconut cake for the birthday maam

today i have moved on from the 20 somethings in life and into the 30 something realm. how am i coping? well, if panic attacks and horrid thoughts of mid life crisis and death are well, then color me fabulous.

today is the day all things scary have been building up to but i am calm, cool and collected. i have my 2 favorite boys by my side, i plan on eating my weight in italian food tonight and afterwards i get to come home to this yummy cake.

yesterday at the store, while buying the ingredients to make this cake the unknowing college thing said to me, "you forgot your reciept, maam." ahhh holy hell, when did i become maam?

i made my own cake this year cause its theraputic and i needed that. the recipe comes from cookinglight..nothing fancy but it came out moist and slighlty coconutty. the frosting was light and airy. i made the recipe just how it goes on the site except i did add a pinch of cardamom, some mandarin oranges in the middle layer and toasted coconut all around the cake. the picture was taken at a terrible angle and i promise it looked way more appealing and purty to the naked eye. so happy birthday to me...i can eat all the cake if i want to!

enjoy!