Happy birthday, Mommy!

 It's not everyday that one turns eighty and four...so I decided to bake my mom an extra pretty cake to celebrate.  Mom loves this chocolate cake recipe...so it's the one that kinda serves as our de facto birthday cake. LOL Though I do cut back on the sugar to 1.5 cups...I like a ratio of 2 to 1, sugar to chocolate. And I didn't cry when an extra sploosh of vanilla landed in the batter.  And in the frosting.

Cake cooling and frosting readied, I set out in search of little dainties to put on the cake.  There were still some redbuds left, so in my bowl they went, along with some remaining violets, dead nettle flowers, dandelion petals, catmint flowers, and viburnum* flowers.  They made a happy mélange scattered across the top of the cake.  It was almost too pretty to cut....almost.

* We didn't actually eat the viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium) flowers.  I picked them off and thanked them for their beautiful contribution.  Better safe than sorry. ;)